Quotes About Government

If Jehovah cannot support his religion without going into partnership with a State Legislature, I think he ought to give it up.

Priests are no more necessary to religion than politicians are to patriotism.

It is not the legitimate province of the Legislature to determine which religion is true, or what false. Our government is a civil, and not a religious institution.

In the latter case it is often government that organizes the conquest, and religion that justifies it.

[T]he importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all . . . are essential to the well-being of a family.

I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of politics from religion.

When you legislate personal belief, you're in violation of freedom of religion.

[O]ur rules can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.

What good deed can government do for religion? The best deed of all: leave it free and unencumbered, burdened by neither enmity nor amity.

The role of the federal government should be neutral toward culture just as it is toward religion.

The pursuit of politics is religion, morality, and poetry all in one.

The ecclesiastical establishments of Europe which serve to support tyrannical governments are not the Christian religion but abuses and corruptions of it.

The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of the law for the virtues of men.

As a result, socialism and communism, in particular, use government to suppress religion to such a degree as to leave the one true God out entirely.

Our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring democracy the tolerance it requires to survive

Government needs to stay out of the religion business altogether.

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

The establishment of the chaplainship to Congress is a palpable violation of ... constitutional principles.

The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt. and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurious to both.

The net effect of the distortion of the First Amendment is to require that wherever the state is, religion must be excluded.

The first was a government of priestcraft, the second of conquerors, and the third of reason.

If you take away religion, you can't hire enough police.

I think those governments who resent religion, they're afraid of religion because religion may be in their eyes, in their views be seen as a counter government or a parallel government.

It's not a weapon, [governments] don't kill, they don't conduct massacres, although massacres have been committed and many people were killed, but they stifle religion, they're afraid probably.