Ellen Battelle Dietrick Quotes

I don’t see a bit of danger from us having an established religion.

Is it the duty of a deist to support that which he believes to be a cheat and imposition? Is it the duty of the Jew to support the religion of Jesus Christ, when he really believes that he was an imposter? Must the papist be forced to pay men for preaching down the supremacy of the pope, whom they are sure is the head of the church? Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men than it has with the principles of mathematics

There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion

The Constitution says that government isn't supposed to be infusing religion into our society, and so I asked to have that upheld.

The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

While we have a Constitution that is very strong in the sense that we are not gonna have a religion that's sanctioned by the government, it doesn't mean that we need to have a separation between government and religion.

The Government of the United States possesses no power whatever over the question of religion.

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

I think church and state should remain entirely separate at all costs, and that the decision of religious marriage should be of each faith to debate and decide free of political influence.

The First Amendment freedom of religion is as important today as when the Bill of Rights was first written.

From you we have learned what we, at least, value, to separate Church and State; and from you we gather inspiration at all times in our devotion to learning, to religious liberty, and to individual and National freedom.

The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person's standing in the political community.

Whatever America's founders believed about Christianity - and they believed a wide range of things - they clearly rejected the idea of an established church.

The tenet of the separation of church and state is an unconstitutional doctrine.

The obligation of the state is to guarantee freedom of religion, and that implies dealing with all of them on an equal footing.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

Neither the wording of the amendment itself nor common practice challenged the widely held belief that government guaranteed freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to practice faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

The mixing of government and religion can be a threat to free government, even if no one is forced to participate.... When the government puts its imprimatur on a particular religion, it conveys a message of exclusion to all those who do not adhere to the favored beliefs.

The Republic city seal pervasively invades the daily lives of non-Christians and sends a message that they are outsiders. The Constitution forbids such a result.

All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All separated from government, are compatible with liberty.

[T]he sole function of the American state, in respect to religion, is to recognize its existence and protect its liberty.

I believe in a wall between church and state so high that no one can climb over it.

Thomas Jefferson rode his horse around the 13 Colonies to try to keep us from having a national religion. Mixing religion and politics doesn’t work.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.