Ken Buck Quotes

The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have 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.

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

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

I don't know that the Libertarian Party has an official position on the separation of church and state.

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

There's no religious test under the constitution. That's what it says. Period.

There is little doubt that religious liberty is best exercised within the setting of the secular state.

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

The government ought to stay out of the prayer business.

Zealous groups threaten to infringe civil liberties when they seek government support to impose their own religious views on non-adherents. This has taken many forms, including attempts to introduce organized prayer in public schools, to outlaw birth control and abortion, and to use public tax revenues to finance religious schools.

A school prayer amendment would confer upon public school boards a power the 1st Amendment now denies to Congress and the states, that is, the power to establish religion.

Today, the religion clauses of the 1st Amendment do not need to be fixed; they need to be followed.

The First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and non-religion.

If prayer is to leave the public schools, let the ridicule of prayer leave also.

I’m not in favor of the government mandating a prayer in school because our country was founded on the fact that no particular religious faith would have ascendance over or preferential treatment over any other.

I don't believe in school prayer. I think it's total nonsense...who is the teacher there that is going to have them pray? And is the teacher going to be Catholic or Mormon or Episcopalian or what? It just causes all sorts of problems. And what are the kids praying about anyway? Does it really matter, does praying in school...what are you doing it for? The whole thing just opens up all sorts of elements of discussion. I think it's crazy.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

I'm for prayer in schools.

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

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.

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.

It doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state.