Anthony Kennedy Quotes

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

What is crucial is that a government practice not have the effect of communicating a message of governmental endorsement or disapproval of religion.

I believe that the Framers of the Constitution made their intent clear when they wrote the First Amendment. I believe they wanted to keep the new government from endorsing one religion over another, not erase the public consciousness or common faith.

I don't believe there is a separation of church and state. I think the Constitution is very clear. The only separation is that there will not be a government church.

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

Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the General Government.

The United States furnishes the first example in history of a government deliberately depriving itself of all legislative control of religion.

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

The point is that knowledge of God is not prohibited under the First Amendment.

I think the founding fathers believed religion shouldn't interact directly with government.

I disagree strongly with the concept of separation of church and state. It was not written into the Constitution.

From a constitutional standpoint, the religion of a candidate is supposed to make no difference. Even before the founding fathers dreamed up the First Amendment, they inserted a provision in the Constitution expressly prohibiting any religious test for office.

Under the law, the government, whether it's state, local or federal, cannot give the Catholic Church or any religious institution money directly.

No power of government ought to be employed in the endeavor to establish any system or article of belief on the subject of religion.

The forefathers, including James Madison, felt very strongly that the duties that we owe to God were outside of government's prerogative, that government had no business interfering with the way we worship God.

Allowing Texas to display the Ten Commandments on State property but disallowing Kentucky courthouses from doing the same is a poor and flawed interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

A union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion.

The applicability of the Establishment Clause to public funding of benefits to religious schools was settled in Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing, which inaugurated the modern era of establishment doctrine.

The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward 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.

In the instant case, it is undisputed that the Cobb County School Board used the money of taxpayers to produce and place the Sticker in dispute in certain of the Cobb County School District science textbooks. This Sticker aids the beliefs of Christian fundamentalists and creationists. In light of the prior interpretation of the Georgia Constitution provision challenged by the Plaintiffs and given the Court's conclusion above that the Sticker violates the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment, the Court likewise concludes that the Sticker runs afoul of the Georgia Constitution.

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.

Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness, the answer on both points must be in the negative.

There was a less restrictive version of the 1st Amendment that was proposed whereby the government could not discriminate against any particular religion but could support and give aid to all religions. That did not pass.

the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), by reason of that entity's, officer's, or agent's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.