http://www.4inthefire.org/
Thomas
Jefferson - 3rd President of the United
States
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can
the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only
firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a
gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I
tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice
cannot sleep forever." (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the
Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital)
Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed.,
Jefferson Writings, (New York:
Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From
Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.
Patrick
Henry - American Revolutionary
Leader
"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."
Source: Steve C. Dawson, God's Providence in America's History, (Rancho
Cordova, CA: Steve C. Dawson, 1988), Vol. I, p. 5.
Daniel
Webster - statesman, congressman
"If the power of the Gospel is not felt
throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation
and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end."
Source: Peter Marshall and David
Manuel, The Glory of America, (Bloomington,
MN.: Garborg's Heart N' Home, Inc. 1991), 12.7.
John Jay -
1st Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
"I recommend a general and public return of
praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend. The
most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious
liberties, is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from
which they flow."
"Providence has given to our people the choice
of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of
our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
Source: October 12, 1816. The Correspondence and Public Papers of John
Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed., (New York: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV, p.
393.
Library of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06.html
http://members.aol.com/TestOath/HolyTrinityOp1-2.htm
Church of the Holy Trinity v. United
States
Even the constitution of the United States, which is supposed to have little touch upon the private life of the individual, contains in the first amendment a declaration common to the constitutions of all the states, as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," etc., - and also provides in article 1, § 7, (a provision common to many constitutions,) that the executive shall have 10 days (Sundays excepted) within which to determine whether he will approve or veto a bill.
There is no dissonance in these declarations. There is a universal language pervading them all, having one meaning. They affirm and reaffirm that this is a religious nation. These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons. They are organic utterances. They speak the voice of the entire people. While because of a general recognition of this truth the question has seldom been presented to the courts, yet we find that in Updegraph v. Comm., 11 Serg. & R. 394, 400, it was decided that, "Christianity, general Christianity, is, and always has been, a part of the common law of Pennsylvania; * * * not Christianity with an established church and tithes and spiritual courts, but Christianity with liberty of conscience to all men." And in People v. Ruggles, 8 Johns. 290, 294, 295, Chancellor KENT, the great commentator on American law, speaking as chief justice of the supreme court of New York, said: "The people of this state, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity as the rule of their faith and practice; and to scandalize the author of those doctrines is not only, in a religious point of view, extremely impious, but, even in respect to the obligations due to society, is a gross violation of decency and good order.
“Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Source: Washington’s Farewell Address