Religion in
Politics 
Religion in
Politics
"Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalms 33:12)
"Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach
to any people."
(Proverbs 14:34)
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John Adams, Second
President
(Speaking of July 4, 1776) - "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to
be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to
God Almighty." Letters of John Adams, Addressed To His Wife, Charles
Francis Adams, ed. (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1841), Vol.
I, p. 128, July 3, 1776
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion...Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, ed. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, June 21, 1776
John Jay, First Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is
the duty as well as the pivilege and interest of our Christian nation to
select and prefer Christians for their rulers." The Correspondence
and Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons,
1890), Vol. IV, p. 393, Oct. 12, 1816
Alex de Tocqueville, Historian
(1800's)
"Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspeect of the country
was the first thing that struck my attention...The Americans combine the
notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their mindds, that
it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other... Religion
in America...must...be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions
of that country,,, From the earliest settlement of the emigrants, politics
and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved."
The Republic of the United States of America and Its Political
Institutions, Reviewed and Examined, Henry Reeves, trans. (Garden City, NY:
A.S. Barnes & Co., 1851), Vol. I, p. 335
John Quincy Adams, Sixth President
"[T]he birth-day of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birth-day
of the Saviour [and] forms a leading even in the progress of the gospel
dispensation..[T]he Declaration of Independence first organized the social
compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth [and] laid
the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of
Christianity." An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of the
Town of Newburyport at their Request on the Sixty-First Anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence (Newburyport: Charles Whipple, 1837), pp.
5-6
Noah Webster, Founding
Father
"[T]he religion which has introduced civil liberty, is the religion of Christ
and his apostles, which enjoins humility, piety and benevolence; which
acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal
rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions
of government." History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie
& Peck, 1832), p. 300, ¶ 578
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and law... All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 339, ¶ 53
Thomas Jefferson, Third
President
"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 of the gift of 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:
that his justice cannot sleep forever." Notes on the State of Virginia
(Philadelphia: Matthew Carey, 1794), Query XVIII, p. 237
George Washington, First
President
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."
Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1927, 1965),
p. 18
Abraham Lincoln, 16th
President
"But for [the Bible] we could not know right from wrong. All things most
desirable for man's welfare...are to be found portrayed in it." The
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Roy P. Basler, ed. (New Brunswick, NJ:
Rutgers Union Press, 1853), p. 542, September 7, 1864
Harry S. Truman,
President
"The basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus
and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that
enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background,
we will finally end up with a...government which does not believe in rights
for anybody except the State!" God's Providence in America's History
(Rancho Cordova, CA: Steve C. Dawson, 1988), p.13
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From the beginning of our nation's history, religion had a place in politics, in education, and in every aspect of Americn life. Consider the following:
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Excerpt from the Tennessee constitution of 1796
Article VIII, Section II. No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.
Article IX, Section IV. That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state.
The Constitutions of the United States of America with the Latest Amendments (Trenton: Moore & Lake, 1813), pp. 342, 344
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Oath required for office in State of Delaware (1776)
"I, ___, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only
Son,
and in the Holy Spirit, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge
the holy scriptures
of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."
Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S.; 143 U.S. 457, 469-470 (1892)
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Never Give Up!
A Lesson from the Life of Lincoln
George Washington Education in Days Gone By