"If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution." - George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789.



"I have examined all the known superstitions of the word, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, 1801.



"It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to Infidelity." - Abraham Lincoln, Manford's Magazine.



"... It was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to vote for me because I belonged to no church and was suspected of being a Deist." - Abraham Lincoln, letter to political supporters, 1843.



"I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government." - Andrew Jackson, 1832, statement refusing to proclaim a national day of fasting and prayer, Correspondence 4:447.



"In 1850, I believe, the church property in the United States, which paid no tax, amounted to $87 million. In 1900, without a check, it is safe to say, this property will reach a sum exceeding $3 billion. I would suggest the taxation of all property equally." - Ulysses S. Grant.



"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate." - Ulysses S. Grant.





"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." - Benjamin Franklin.



"Some volumes against Deism fell into my hands. They were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's Lecture. It happened that they produced on me an effect precisely the reverse of what was intended by the writers; for the arguments of the Deists, which were cited in order to be refuted, appealed to me much more forcibly than the refutation itself. In a word, I soon became a thorough Deist..." - Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography.








Amen to Thomas Jefferson though. So what do you guys think? Is this sufficient enough evidence to say that the founding of the US was not based entirely on Christian values?

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