Felix Adler Quotes
No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state.
Adler, Felix. Creed and Deed: A Series of Discourses. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1877, p. 43.
This appears to be one of the first religious groups to withdraw and separate from a state church.
Backus was the first of the American clerics to espouse the position that in order for there to be a Christian nation, the state must be separate from the Church.
The State of New Jersey reimbursed parents of public and private school children when the children took public transportation to school. Parents of religious school children wanted the same reimbursement. The Court would not allow that. The vote was 5-4.
In the American system, we do not oppose any religion. We do oppose the right of any religion to use the power of the state and governments to compel or use government resources to promote or subsidize their religion. Other countries have established churches or a national religion. In that sense, some religions perceive America objects to their religion because we do not make it our established religion. Opposing prayer in public schools is not opposing prayer. It is only opposing prayer in that specific context where all payers are paying including the non believers in that particular religion.
Bishop Ames had been appointed by the war department to take charge of all the Christian churches in the Southern states as they were defeated. The reason is that most Southern clerics were advocates of the rebellion. However many Northern churches, especially those in border states also contained ministers who were not only preaching treason but also aiding the Southern cause. The President thought that the War Department’s order gave Ames authority over all churches where the minister aided the rebellion. So he wrote to Ames limiting the authority. After the President was assured that Ames authority would only extend to Southern churches that had been in the rebellion, Lincoln allowed Ames to appoint ministers and control churches. This is the only time in American history that the Federal government actually controlled churches directly.
Pen name: Jack Nipps
Felix Adler was a German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, influential lecturer on euthanasia, religious leader and social reformer who founded the Ethical Culture movement.
