Patrick Henry Quotes

A robust democratic society depends on its ability to uphold and protect religious freedom -- a basic right inherent in the very dignity of the human person. It is therefore essential to safeguard citizens who belong to religious minorities from acts of violence. Such protection not only accords with human dignity but also contributes to the common good.

What other nations call religious toleration, we call religious rights.

So natural to mankind is intolerance ... that religious freedom has hardly anywhere been practically realized.

No one shall be molested for any difference in opinion in matters of religion

A Christian, a Deist, a Turk, and a Jew, have equal rights: they are men and brethren.

Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.

I think most people have no idea about what religious freedom means.

Religious freedom is often referred to as America's first freedom. Our country was founded by religious exiles and built on the belief that God has given all people certain inalienable rights. Government's role in society is to protect these rights and ensure that we are safe from religious persecution and discrimination.

Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could.

... happily the Government of the United States... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.

We have the most religious freedom of any country in the world, including the freedom not to believe.

We see our liberties curtailed more and more and more.We see a tremendous attack on religious freedom.

I will not stop fighting against Islam until I have achieved freedom for our country.

May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman.

It seems that the right of freedom of speech that was enshrined in numerous constitutions is now under attack by religious institutions.

While we welcome people of all faiths in America we cannot be so naive as to expect all countries to do the same. But we cannot allow their cultural mores to snuff out our religious freedoms or the freedom of women to have equal rights.

No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.

The struggle of democratic secularism, religious tolerance, individual freedom and feminism against authoritarian patriarchal religion, culture and morality is going on all over the world - including the Islamic world, where dissidents are regularly jailed, killed, exiled or merely intimidated and silenced.

I beg you be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.

Every adult is free to choose his own religion, but fanaticism has to be fought lest freedom perish.

Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, 16th President of the United States (Republican, IL)One man's rights should not be sacrificed for another's prejudices. ...

Freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate.

Look not to the size of cathedrals or even to the words on the statute books for proof of the reality of religious freedom. Ask what is the fate of the Protestant in Spain, the Jew in Saudi Arabia, the Arab in Israel, the Catholic in Poland or the atheist in the United States?

It is and has of long time been our constant sense and opinion that conscience ought not to be constrained, nor people forced in matters of religion.

The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence; whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians. Test Oaths and established creeds should be avoided as the worst of evils.