A reader left comments on yesterday's post, "The Foundation of the Separation of Church & State", in which he very persuasively states his belief the Founders of our country purposed to keep religion out of government and that the church and state are to remain totally separate.
In the original post, Dr. Matthias correctly states that the phrase 'separation of Church and State' was coined to keep government out of religion, not religion out of government. Evidence the Founders were not concerned about keeping religion out of government can easily be seen by looking at our coins on which the motto they chose for our country,"In God We Trust," is inscribed. More evidence can also be seen in the Biblical inscriptions on our national monuments and the posting of the Ten Commandments on our Supreme Court Building. Not only were the original signers of the documents on which our government is based, not concerned about Christianity infecting our government, they were actively promoting its' values.
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be!"
In the original post, Dr. Matthias correctly states that the phrase 'separation of Church and State' was coined to keep government out of religion, not religion out of government. Evidence the Founders were not concerned about keeping religion out of government can easily be seen by looking at our coins on which the motto they chose for our country,"In God We Trust," is inscribed. More evidence can also be seen in the Biblical inscriptions on our national monuments and the posting of the Ten Commandments on our Supreme Court Building. Not only were the original signers of the documents on which our government is based, not concerned about Christianity infecting our government, they were actively promoting its' values.
It seemed to me there could be no more persuasive argument than to hear what these men believed in their own words. Therefore, I am posting quotes from many of them today, so you can decided for yourself.
“The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
– John Adams
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
- John Adams
“As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him.”
- John Adams
“It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.”
- John Adams
"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."
- Patrick Henry
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is their duty – as well as privilege and interest – of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
-John Jay, First Chief-Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
“The only foundation for . . . a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”
- Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."
-Thomas Jefferson, President
"Education is useless without the Bible."
- Daniel Webster, Early American Politician
"The Bible was America’s basic text book in all fields. God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."
- Noah Webster, American Schoolmaster
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed … No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people."
- Noah Webster, Preface Noah Webster Dictionary, 1828
“I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law … There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
- Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, Harvard Speech, 1829
“[The Bible] is the rock on which our Republic rests.”
- Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America
“In regards to this great Book [the Bible], I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.”
- Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America
“Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation…”
- Abraham Lincoln
“Religion [is] the basis and foundation of Government”
- James Madison
“This is a Christian nation.”
- United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892
“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; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian…This is a Christian nation”
- United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
- Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity…to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
- James Madison [1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be!"
- John Adams
"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity."
- John Quincy Adams
"Let us enter on this important business under the idea that we are Christians on whom the eyes of the world are now turned… [L]et us earnestly call and beseech Him, for Christ’s sake, to preside in our councils. . . . We can only depend on the all powerful influence of the Spirit of God, Whose Divine aid and assistance it becomes us as a Christian people most devoutly to implore. Therefore I move that some minister of the Gospel be requested to attend this Congress every morning . . . in order to open the meeting with prayer."
- Elias Boudinot PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS; SIGNED THE PEACE TREATY TO END THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; FIRST ATTORNEY ADMITTED TO THE U. S. SUPREME COURT BAR; FRAMER OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS; DIRECTOR OF THE U. S. MINT
Thomas Paine, in his discourse on “The Study of God,” forcefully asserts that it is “the error of schools” to teach sciences without “reference to the Being who is author of them: for all the principles of science are of Divine origin.”
Here is a little information about other signers of the Constitution who were strong Christians: Charles Pinckney and John Langdon—founders of the American Bible Society; James McHenry—founder of the Baltimore Bible Society; Rufus King—helped found a Bible society for Anglicans; Abraham Baldwin—a chaplain in the Revolution and considered the youngest theologian in America; Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, John Dickinson, and Jacob Broom—also theological writers; James Wilson and William Patterson—placed on the Supreme Court by President George Washington, they had prayer over juries in the U. S. Supreme Court room.
If you are interested, you can read more about these Founders and their beliefs on the following websites, or many others which can be found by Googling ‘biblical quotes by Founders” or some such phrase.
http://www.shadesofgrace.org/2010/05/05/is-america-a-christian-nation-more-quotes-from-our-founders/
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