The founding fathers' views on religion and government
After the recent flap over the 9th circuit court's pledge
decision (ruling the added phrase 'under God,' inserted into the pledge in
1954, to be unconstitutional), I've received a lot of requests for the thoughts
of the Founding fathers on the issue of Separation of Church and State. At
issue is the belief of many mainstream Christians that separation is a later
construct of the courts, and never intended by the founders. Another prominent
argument is that the founders only opposed the establishment of one Christian
sect over another, and not Christianity as a whole. Yet another popular belief
is that the first amendment only applies to laws restricting religion, and that
the majority should be able to do as they wish, using references to the
'Creator' in documents as a tacit endorsement of Christianity. I believe all of
these arguments to be incorrect, and who better to argue the issue than the
principal author of the constitution, founders themselves?
Quotes are arranged in a question/answer format, to highlight
common arguments.
Argument one: The phrase 'separation of Church and state' is
of recent origin, and the concept was not known or promulgated by the founders.
False. The Founders were well aware of the threats posed by
religion/state entanglement; it's what gave the world Kings with "divine
right."
The exact phrase was first used in Thomas Jefferson's Letter
to the Danbury Baptists, explaining the decision to seperate state and
religion:
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which
lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for is
faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions
only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the
whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and
State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf
of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress
of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights,
convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties."
James Madison, principal author of the constitution:
"The civil Government, though bereft of everything like
an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability, and performs its
functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the
morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people, have been
manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the
State." (1819).
Argument two: But the founders meant only that no sect of
Christianity was to be elevated above another, but still meant our government
to be Christian...
"Congress should not establish a religion and enforce
the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner
contrary to their conscience, or that one sect might obtain a pre-eminence, or two
combined together, and establish a religion to which they would compel others
to conform" (Madison, Annals of Congress, 1789).
"Who does not see that the same authority which can
establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with
the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other
Sects? that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three
pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force
him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"
(Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance)
"Because we hold it for a fundamental and undeniable
truth, "that religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the
manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by
force or violence." The Religion then of every man must be left to the
conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to
exercise it as these may dictate. " (ibid)
"How a regulation so unjust in itself, so foreign to
the authority of Congress, and so hurtful to the sale of public land, and
smelling so strongly of an antiquated bigotry, could have received the
countenance of a committee is truly a matter of astonishment ." (Madison,
1785, letter to James Monroe, on a failed attempt by congress to set aside
public funds to support churches)
Argument three: But one of the first acts of Congress was to
appoint a Christian chaplain!
This they did do, years before the ratification of the bill
of rights. Madison's objection:
"The establishment of the chaplainship to Congs is a
palpable violation of equal rights, as well as of Constitutional principles:
The tenets of the chaplains elected [by the majority shut the door of worship
agst the members whose creeds & consciences forbid a participation in that
of the majority. To say nothing of other sects, this is the case with that of
Roman Catholics & Quakers who have always had members in one or both of the
Legislative branches. Could a Catholic clergyman ever hope to be appointed a
Chaplain! To say that his religious principles are obnoxious or that his sect
is small, is to lift the evil at once and exhibit in its naked deformity the
doctrine that religious truth is to be tested by numbers or that the major
sects have a tight to govern the minor. " (Memorial and Remonstrance)
"If Religion consist in voluntary acts of individuals,
singly, or voluntarily associated, and it be proper that public functionaries,
as well as their Constituents shd discharge their religious duties, let them
like their Constituents, do so at their own expense." (Madison, detached
memoranda, 1820)
"That religion, or the duty we owe to our Creator, and
the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction,
not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the
free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience."
(Patrick Henry)
"I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the
path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To
this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation,
respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta [Constitution] of our country"
(George Washington, 1789).
"In the course of the opposition to the bill in the
House of Delegates, which was warm & strenuous from some of the minority,
an experiment was made on the reverence entertained for the name & sanctity
of the Saviour, by proposing to insert the words "Jesus Christ" after
the words "our lord" in the preamble, the object of which would have
been, to imply a restriction of the liberty defined in the Bill, to those
professing his religion only. The amendment was discussed, and rejected by a
vote of agst." (James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance)
"Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace,
to profess and observe the Religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we
cannot deny equal freedom to those whose minds have not yet yielded to the
evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom be abused, it is an offense
against God, not against man: To God, therefore, not to man, must an account of
it be rendered." (ibid)
"The appropriation of funds of the United States for
the use and support of religious societies, [is] contrary to the article of the
Constitution which declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting a
religious establishment'" (James Madison, Veto, 1811)
"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if
it was by the indulgence of one class of the people that another enjoyed the
exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the
United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no
assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should
demean themselves as good citizens in giving it, on all occasions, their
effectual support." (George Washington, letter to the Touro Synagogue
1790. )
"We should begin by setting conscience free. When all
men of all religions ... shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance
for honors and power ... we may expect that improvements will be made in the
human character and the state of society." (John Adams)
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps,
the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature;
and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice,
imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era
in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American
governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in
America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be
pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the
gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at
work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will
forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use
of reason and the senses...." (John Adams, 1787)
"...Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus
founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretense of
miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of
that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the
rights of mankind." (ibid)
Further quotes:
"As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty
of government to protect all conscientious protesters thereof, and I know of no
other business government has to do therewith." (Thomas Paine, the Rights
of Man)
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish,
Christian or Turkish [Muslim], appear to me no other than human inventions, set
up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. I do not
mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the
same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the
happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not
consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe
what he does not believe. It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if
I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has
so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to subscribe his
professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for
the commission of every other crime. He takes up the profession of a priest for
the sake of gain, and in order to qualify himself for that trade he begins with
a perjury. Can we conceive anything more destructive to morality than
this?" (Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason)
"Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that
man's conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his
fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his
God." (John Tyler)
"I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered
itself to be used for political objects I would meet it by political
opposition. In my view church and state should be separate, not only in form,
but fact. Religion and politics should not be mingled." (Millard Fillmore)
"When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read:
"All men are created equal except negroes, foreigners and Catholics."
When it comes to this I should prefer immigrating to some country where they make
no pretense of loving liberty--to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be
taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." (Abraham Lincoln)
"Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one
dollar of money shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school.
Resolve that neither the state nor nation, or both combined, shall support
institutions of learning other than those sufficient to afford every child
growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed
with sectarian, pagan, or atheistically tenets. Leave the matter of religion to
the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by
private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separated."
(Ulysses S. Grant)
"We all agree that neither the Government nor political
parties ought to interfere with religious sects. It is equally true that
religious sects ought not to interfere with the Government or with political
parties. We believe that the cause of good government and the cause of religion
suffer by all such interference." (Rutherford B. Hayes)
"The divorce between Church and State ought to be
absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no Church property anywhere, in any
state or in the nation, should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt
the property of any church organization, to that extent you impose a tax upon
the whole community." (James A. Garfield)
"Because we are unqualifiedly and without reservation
against any system of denominational schools, maintained by the adherents of
any creed with the help of state aid, therefore, we as strenuously insist that
the public schools shall be free from sectarian influences, and, above all,
free from any attitude of hostility to the adherents of any particular creed."
(Theodore Roosevelt)
"In the experiences of a year of the Presidency, there
has come to me no other such unwelcome impression as the manifest religious
intolerance which exists among many of our citizens. I hold it to be a menace
to the very liberties we boast and cherish." (Warren G. Harding)
"The fundamental precept of liberty is toleration. We
cannot permit any inquisition either from within or from without the law or
apply any religious test to the holding of office. The mind of America must be forever
free." (Calvin Coolidge.)
"I come of Quaker stock. My ancestors were persecuted
for their beliefs. Here they sought and found religious freedom. By blood and
conviction I stand for religious tolerance both in act and in spirit."
(Herbert C. Hoover)
"The lessons of religious toleration--a toleration
which recognizes complete liberty of human thought, liberty of conscience--is
one which, by precept and example, must be inculcated in the hearts and minds
of all Americans if the institutions of our democracy are to be maintained and
perpetuated. We must recognize the fundamental rights of man. There can be no
true national life in our democracy unless we give unqualified recognition to
freedom of religious worship and freedom of education." (Franklin D.
Roosevelt)
"Religious and racial persecution is moronic at all
times, perhaps the most idiotic of human stupidities." (Harry S. Truman)
"I believe in an America where the separation of Church
and State is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President
(should he be a Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his
parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any
public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office
merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or
the people who might elect him." (John F. Kennedy)
Unconfirmed quotes:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that
this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on
religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ." attributed to Patrick Henry
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without
God and the Bible." attributed to George Washington
"Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the
principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world."
attributed to Benjamin Franklin
"The principles of all genuine liberty, and of wise
laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its
authority. The man therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of
that book may be assessory [sic] to all the public disorders which society is
doomed to suffer." attributed to Noah Webster
"There are two powers only which are sufficient to
control men, and secure the rights of individuals and a peaceable
administration; these are the combined force of religion and law, and the force
or fear of the bayonet." attributed to Noah Webster
"The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay
our foundation in morality and religion." attributed to Abraham Lincoln
"The philosophy of the school room in one generation
will be the philosophy of government in the next." attributed to Abraham
Lincoln
"I have always said and always will say that the
studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens. "
attributed to Thomas Jefferson
False:
"We have staked the whole future of American
civilization, nor upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the
future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all
of us to govern ourselves ... according to the Ten Commandments of God."
attributed to James Madison
"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be
based upon and embody the teachings of the redeemer of mankind. It is
impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extend, our
civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian." attributed
to the The Supreme Court in the Holy Trinity case
"Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil
Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the
Universe...Religion... [is] the basis and foundation of government."
Misquote of James Madison
"The highest glory of the American Revolution is this;
it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with
the principles of Christianity. " attributed to John Quincy Adams
1. Why the Religious Right Is Wrong
An overview of church/state separation issues, and the war
of the religious right on the first amendment.
The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious
Correctness-A well written argument for continued separation of church and
state.
3. The Myth of Christian America
Another book exploring the Separation issue and the
arguments of the religious right.
Written by a Clergyman, this book focuses on issues of
public education in a multicultural society, and seeks compromise.
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