Church and state Quotes

Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.

— Benjamin Franklin

Church and state are, and must remain, separate.

— Ronald Reagan

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

— Thomas Jefferson

State assaults on the separation of church and state are nothing new.

— Adam Cohen

I have sworn upon the altar of god.

— Thomas Jefferson

Question with boldness even the existence of a god.

— Thomas Jefferson

Mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity.

— John Adams

Blasphemy and sedition (meaning the truth about Church and State).

— George Bernard Shaw

“Separation of church and state' meant freedom to worship, not freedom from worship.”

— Anonymous

The opening of the first grammar school was the opening of the first trench against monopoly in Church and State.

— James Russell Lowell

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

— Sam Ervin

The union of Church and State is not to make the Church political, but the State religious.

— John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon

Let us with Caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.

— George Washington

For me, it's church and state, not church in state, and I really feel there are some churches in central Ohio crossing…

— Eric Williams

We have this idea in our minds that there's this separation of church and state in America, which I think is a…

— Stephen Colbert

Put these words on your head and let them percolate We need to separate church and state.

— Childish Gambino

I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of…

— John Adams

...It would be more consistent that we call [the Bible] the work of a demon than the word of God. It is…

— Thomas Paine

No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be…

— Hugo Black

I believe in the separation of church and state. The government has the right to say what happens in a civil case,…

— Jimmy Carter

What has been the effect of [religious] coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support…

— Thomas Jefferson

There's a way to accomplish the separation of church and state, and at the same time, accomplish the social objective of having…

— George W. Bush

The separation of church and state has been a cornerstone of American democracy for over two hundred years. Getting rid of it…

— Andy Borowitz

I'm absolutely, utterly, and completely certain that God wouldn't be homophobic. I'd much rather go to hell - I really would much…

— Desmond Tutu

The decision for complete religious freedom and for separation of church and state in the eyes of the rest of the world…

— Henry Steele Commager

We have this idea in our mind that there's a separation of church and state in America, which I think is a…

— Stephen Colbert

“Do you know, where does this phrase "separation of Church and State" come from? It was not in Jefferson's letter to the…

— Glen Urquhart

I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used…

— Theodore Roosevelt

I think our society is fragmented. Messages regarding human sexuality have always been mixed in America. We are a schizophrenic nation. We…

— Hugh Hefner

“The Panic of 1819 sounded a wakeup call to some that the founders had been right after all in separating State and…

— Mark David Ledbetter

What is dangerous about the far right is not that it takes religion seriously - most of us do - but rather…

— Barbra Streisand

Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downwards through the mud and slush of opinion and tradition, and pride…

— Henry David Thoreau

“Yet, if the phrase “separation of church and state” appears in no official founding document, then what is the source of that…

— David Barton

“The church, so long a brake on progress in other European countries, no longer controlled the economic life of the country. Henry…

— Edward A. Hudson

“We are at our best when we love the Lord and his church more than our style of life. We do not…

— Urban Tigner Holmes

“It is now established by verifiable evidence that religion stultifies the brain and is the great obstacle in the path of intellectual…

— Joseph Lewis

As women are taking an active part in pressing on the consideration of Congress many narrow sectarian measures, such as more rigid…

— Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or…

— Thomas Jefferson

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the…

— John F. Kennedy

“As I pondered over the facts that the light of reason is not only despised, but by many even execrated as a…

— Christopher Hitchens