Quotes about Religious Exercises

George Washington

The Hon. Continental Congress having been pleased to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment, with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third per month--The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure Chaplains accordingly; persons of good Characters and exemplary lives--To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious exercises. The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger--The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country....

This quotation is very interesting in that it is used by people on both sides of the church & state issue. The Continental Congress had ordered that military chaplains be supplied & paid with very scarce public funds. Further that they be Christian & that soldiers respect them and attend compulsory Christian services. Some argue that this meant that the Continental Congress had intended the United States to be a Christian Country & had no problem with public money used to support Christian worship. Nor with compulsory Christian services. They note that Washington himself ordered the compulsory services. Separation of Church and State advocates point out that this was such an abuse that when the Constitution was voted in 1787, a majority of the states would not ratify it until the 1st Amendment would eliminate any chance of those abuses being repeated. Washington was only the Commander in Chief and was subservient to Congress which he & the army depended on for supplies & pay.

William Bradford

It is against my conscience that you should play whilst others were at work: and that if you had any devotion to the day, you should show it at home in the exercises of religion, and not in the streets with pasttime and frolicks.

In the 17th century American Plymouth Colony there were a series of tasks that had to be performed every day for the survival and benefit of the community. The workload was shared by all citizens. One Christmas some of the younger men decided not to work on religious grounds believing that their religious interpretation forbad work on Christmas. They were excused, but soon the Governor discovered that all the young men in question were playing and sporting in the street. They were embarrassed and all went home.

Thomas Jefferson

Every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.

Johannes Tauler

A good meditation, even when it is interrupted by occasional nodding, is much more beneficial than many outward religious exercises.

Anthony Kennedy

The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson is that if citizens are subjected to state-sponsored religious exercises, the State disavows its own duty to guard and respect that sphere of inviolable conscience and belief which is the mark of a free people.

Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs

With sophistry bordering on hypocrisy, tolerant New Netherland offered its inhabitants freedom to believe whatever they wanted, as long as their belief did not extend to religious exercises outside the family.

The Governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, was a bigoted Protestant of the Dutch Orthodox church and did not want to allow non-Protestants into the Colony, However, he was overruled by the Directors of the Dutch West India Company which rolled the colony designed to be a money making enterprise. Jews and others were allowed to enter and become citizens, however while they could worship in any way they chose in their own homes, they could not build any places of worship of have any public prayer of other aspects of their religion. This was the hypocrisy to which Bangs refers. However, at the time, it was more liberality and tolerance than most of the Christian world.

Ellen G. White

Those who are devoted to amusements; who love the society of those who love pleasure, have an aversion to religious exercises.

Gerald R. Ford

I believe that prayer in public schools should be voluntary. It is difficult for me to see how religious exercises can be a requirement in public schools, given our Constitutional requirement of separation of church and state. I feel that the highly desirable goal of religious education must be principally the responsibility of church and home. I do not believe that public education should show any hostility toward religion, and neither should it inhibit voluntary participation, if it does not interfere with the educational process.

Religious Exercises Quotes