Roger Williams Quotes

As a preacher who has spent significant time in churches and houses of worship all across the country, I can tell you firsthand that religious liberty and freedom are principles that can never be infringed upon.

Freedom of religion does not entitle your religion to have a privileged position within the public sphere.

The decision for complete religious freedom and for separation of church and state in the eyes of the rest of the world was perhaps the most important decision reached in the New World. Everywhere in the western world of the 18th century, church and state were one; and everywhere the state maintained an established church and tried to force conformity to its dogma.

Religious liberty, hey, it's about religious liberty. And there has to be a melding of both. We're living in a time where you have to have a melding of both. But it's very unfair what they're doing to religion in this country.

I'm very keen on having true freedom of expression. True freedom of faith. And free practice of religious faith.

I think church and state should remain entirely separate at all costs, and that the decision of religious marriage should be of each faith to debate and decide free of political influence.

In America you have the right to worship any way you choose. That's why virtually every faith and every denomination on Earth has a presence in our land. You have a right to not believe in God at all.

I certainly do not support excluding faith from public life.

The restriction of religion to private life therefore does not necessarily threaten the vital interests of the majority religion, if there is one, and it protects minority religions from tyranny of the majority.

A just laicism allows religious freedom. The state does not impose religion but rather gives space to religions with a responsibility toward civil society, and therefore it allows these religions to be factors in building up society.

If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him

No religious consensus is possible in the United States, and to impose one would be both unconstitutional and unjust.

The new United States took the lead among the nations of the earth in the establishment of religious freedom. That is one reason America has never had any religious wars or any religious persecutions.

What other nations call religious toleration, we call religious rights.

Prior to the Revolution, the Episcopal Church was established by law in this State. On the Declaration of independence it was left with all other sects, to a self-support. And no doubt exists that there is much more of religion among us now than there ever was before the change; and particularly in the Sect which enjoyed the legal patronage. This proves rather more than, that the law is not necessary to the support of religion.

every human being is free to embrace and profess that religion which, led by the light of reason he/she believes to be true…. in our time it is no longer convenient to have the Catholic religion as the only religion to the exclusion of any other religion.

That it is much in their [the Rhode Island colonists'] hearts (if they may be permitted) to hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing civil state may stand and be best maintained, and that among our British subjects, with full liberty of religious concernments.

Americans did not come here to escape religion. The came here to escape established religion.

It is certainly no part of religion to compel religion.

What does religious freedom look like? As America gets more religiously diverse, the concept is getting harder to define …. You can get 10 different groups in the room and they will disagree about what religious liberty is.

I’m trying to be a real Muslim, who respects others and respects the freedom of the people to choose their own religious denominations or even to not believe in God in the first place.

Israel can't be the only country in the Western world not to have freedom of religion.

In Arkansas, we believe in religious freedom.

It is my sincere hope that every person in India will experience true freedom of faith, regardless of religion.

Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence, and ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption; all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.