American values Quote by James Madison

Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate…

— James Madison

Probably in all history there is no instance of a society in which ecclesiastical power was dominant which was not at once stagnant, corrupt…

— George Agnew Reid

The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil…

— Thomas Jefferson

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which…

— Thomas Jefferson

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which…

— Thomas Jefferson

“Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt…

— James Madison

I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church-an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments-but if…

— Rufus King

“But in every church there are people who, for reasons which seem sufficient to them, do not approve of their pastor and seek to…

— Robertson Davies

“Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters , is of importance. And I have no doubt…

— James Madison

Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine…

— Thomas Jefferson

It was under a solemn consciousness of the dangers from ecclesiastical ambition, the bigotry of spiritual pride, and the intolerance of sects... that is…

— Joseph Story

I never saw, heard, nor read, that the clergy were beloved in any nation where Christianity was the religion of the country. Nothing can…

— Jonathan Swift