Founding Fathers Issues:

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion…are undermining the solid morals, the best security for the duration of free government." (Charles Carroll. Signer of the Declaration of Independence.)

"Today's widespread relegation of religion to merely something people do only in the privacy of their homes or churches would have been unimaginable to the founders of the republic – even those who personally repudiated orthodox Christian faith." (p. 121. Colson. Ibid.)

"The Founders believed that pluralism survived only within the concept of religious liberty espoused by American Christianity." (p. 33)

"My only hope of salvation is in the infinite transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of his Son upon the Cross. Nothing but his blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!" (Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush – George W. Corner, editor. 1948.)

"Our Founders never envisioned that the First Amendment would become a weapon to excise Christian or traditional religious expressions from the public arena." (David Barton. Original Intent. p. 150)

"An early House Judiciary Committee affirmed the Founders' lack of pluralistic intent when it declared: ' Christianity…was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.'" (B. F. Morris. The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the Unites States. Philadelphia: George Childs. 1864.)

"The Founders understood that Biblical values formed the basis of the republic and that the republic would be destroyed if the people's knowledge of those values should ever be lost." (Barton. Ibid. p. 337)

"There must be religion. When that ligament is torn, society is disjointed and its members perish. The nation is exposed to foreign violence and domestic convulsion." (Gouverneur Morris. Signer of the Constitution. Sept. 4, 1816.)

"There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost and religious liberty preserved entire." (John Witherspoon. May 17, 1776 at Princeton.)

"I have been alternately called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am now neither. I am a Christocrat…He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him." (Benjamin Rush. Signer of the Declaration of Independence; served in the Presidential administrations of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.)

"At the time of the adoption of the Constitution…the general, if not the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State so far as such encouragement was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship." (Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story. 2 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States 593.)

"It is not the American tradition for Christians to stay out of politics. Reverend Witherspoon was teacher of Presidents, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. A majority of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were professing Christians, many had theological training, and at least one had been a licensed preacher. At least 44 of the delegates to the various state ratifying conventions were ordained ministers." (John Eidsmoe. Ibid. p. 408.)

"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this, it connected in one indissoluble bond, principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." (John Quincy Adams. July 4, 1821)

"Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." (The New England Confederation. May 19, 1643.)

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (President John Adams. Military Address – October 11, 1798.)

"We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God." (James Madison.)

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interests of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." (John Jay. Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States. Oct. 12, 1816.)

"Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens." (Daniel Webster.)

"'The Christian Constitutional Society,' its object to be first: the support of the Christian religion; second: the support of the United States.""(Alexander Hamilton. 1802. Signer and ratifier of the Constitution.)

"The name of American…with slight shades of difference, you have same religion, manners, habits and political principles…Of all the dispositions and habits which led to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." (George Washington. Sept. 19, 1796. Washington's Farewell Address to the nation.)

"Let my neighbor once persuade himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket, and break not only my leg but my neck. If there be no God, there is no law, no future account; government then is ordinance of man only, and we cannot be subject to conscience sake." (William Linn . Chaplain of the House of Representatives in 1789.)

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." (John Jay. Oct. 12, 1816. First Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.)

"Through most of our history as a nation, Christianity was the dominant religion. At independence, the Founding Fathers declared a national day of prayer and thanksgiving – a holiday we still celebrate." (Chuck Colson. Dance of Deception. p. 131)

"We have been told over and over that the Founding Fathers were Deists and skeptics. Those who make this claim seldom produce proof for the assertion. Frequently they cite no sources at all." (Gary Amos. The Christian and American Law. p. 84)

"Two political-science professors, Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman, conducted a detailed study of political writings from the founding period of American history, 1760-1805…they studied these closely for the purpose of identifying quotations…where (the framers) derived their ideas…34% was the Bible." (John Eidsmoe. The Christian and American Law. p. 84)

"The late Dr. M. E. Bradford of the University of Dallas undertook a detailed study of the 55 delegates to the Convention and concluded that at most only three or four of them were Deists. The vast majority were professing Christians and actively affiliated with Christian churches." (John Eidsmoe. The Christian and American Law. p. 85)

"America is what she is because her founders chose to follow the Word of God. America is as successful as she is because of the Christian system of values our founders implanted in this land." (Rabbi Daniel Lapin. America's Real War . p. 73)

"That America was founded as a Christian nation is beyond debate…we were founded as a Christian nation that took Judeo-Christian principles so much for granted that the founding fathers saw little reasons to state the obvious." (Lapin. Ibid. p. 93)

"I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Saviour have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses…the same objective is present; a Christian land governed by Christian perspectives." (Earl Warren. Former Governor of California and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Time magazine. Feb. 15, 1954. p. 49.)

"Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith…" (The Mayflower Compact)

"Of the 56 men who signed the nation's birth certificate, definitely 50, maybe 52, were Christians." (Dr. M. E. Bradford. A Worthy Company. University of Dallas.)

"The Constitution of the United States, declared the skeptical historian H.G. Wells, is 'indubitably Christian.'" (p. 71)

"If the founders of the new nation intended this to be a secular state, then why did they, when governing, perform so many religious acts which were officially part of the government? (p. 73)

"Religion, morality and knowledge being essential to good government and the happiness of mankind…" (Northwest Ordinance of 1787) (p. 73)

"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." (John Quincy Adams. Quoted in Verna M. Hall's The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States. 1966.)

"The Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth and laid the corner stone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity." (John Quincy Adams. An Oration Delivered Before the Inhabitants of th4e Town of Newburyport at their Request on the 61st Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 1837. p. 5-6.)

"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture." (President Woodrow Wilson)

"The foundations of our society and of our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible, that it would be difficult to support them, if faith in these teachings should cease to be practically universal in this country." (President Calvin Coolidge)

"Our Founding Fathers established our fledgling nation upon a central belief in a Supreme Power, and they based the government of this republic upon Judeo-Christian principles. Today, Christians are being shocked (rightfully so) by court decisions, legislative actions, and public policies which are brazenly antagonistic to moral (and Biblical) values." (Vernon McLellan. The Great American Arena! p. 29)