Noah Webster Quotes
No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
Webster, Noah. History of the United States. Durrie & Peck, 1832, p. v.
The argument over whether or not the Founding Fathers intended a religious—Christian—foundation in the formation of America is not just a debate of modern times, but has been debated even in the next generation of politicians. Webster, believed that it was.
At the beginning of our nation, before there was a Constitution, the state of Virginia prohibited clergy from serving in the state legislature.
Some other Republican governors thought that Fordice had misspoken and offered him a chance to correct or modify his statement. He declined.
He was the only English Pope. The act of invasion had been sanctified earlier in Adrian’s Papal Bull. See {610518}. Henry’s invasion was successful but the occupation and reform was a disaster which has ramifications to this day.
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.
In 1877 Wasburn was dropped from the List of Ministers by the Unitarian Church. He had become very critical of organized and orthodox religion of all kinds. He felt that literal interpretations of the Bible harmed religions as it made a mockery of God to claim His truths were the anachronistic and demonstrable falsehoods of the Book of Genesis. Today most Christians and Jews do not take the Old Testament Literally and in this sense Washburn was one of the early religious reformers of America. There is still a significant number of fundamentalist Christians and orthodox Jews who still believe in the literal truth of everything in the Bible.
The treaty, which was also ratified by the Senate, was actually drafted by Joel Barlow, the U. S. Consul in Tripoli. It was the first official statement of the United States on its religious basis or lack thereof.
Followers of the religious views of January Hus, 1369-1415 Hus was excommunicated and executed for his views that parts of the church were corrupt.
Objectors to the Separation of Church and State Doctrine point to this quotation to justify giving preferences to Christians in majority Christian societies and presumably to prefer Muslims in Islamic nations. Most of the Founding Fathers and most of the general population were on the opposite side of this issue. Hence the First Amendment was one of the conditions for ratification. There has always been a large minority who believe that America was founded by people who were mostly Christian (Protestant) and there is nothing wrong with having America be a Christian nation and preferring Christians for key government positions.
Noah Webster Jr. was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education". His "Blue-backed Speller" books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read. Webster's name has become synonymous with "dictionary" in the United States, especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.
