“The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.”
~James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, “Essays In Addition to America’s Real Religion”
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Oh goody, yet another atheist misquote.
Here's the actual quote:
It was the Universal opinion of the Century precedding the last, that Civil Gov't could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment, & that the X'n [Christian] religion itself, would perish if not supported by a legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspicuously corroborates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Gov't tho' bereft of everything like an associated heirarchy possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State.
In full context, he's celebrating the growth of Christianity because it's not the official state religion.
Note how that dovetails into John Adams' statement:
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
1 comment:
Oh goody, yet another atheist misquote.
Here's the actual quote:
It was the Universal opinion of the Century precedding the last, that Civil Gov't could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment, & that the X'n [Christian] religion itself, would perish if not supported by a legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspicuously corroborates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Gov't tho' bereft of everything like an associated heirarchy possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State.
— James Madison
In full context, he's celebrating the growth of Christianity because it's not the official state religion.
Note how that dovetails into John Adams' statement:
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
— John Adams
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