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Quote by David Saperstein

“The idea of America's religious groups fighting over the limited public money to be made available takes us down the road towards the kind of sectarian competition that has torn so many nations apart, and which our separation of church and state has spared us.”

Quote by David Saperstein

Author

David Saperstein

David Saperstein, born on August 5, 1947, is an esteemed rabbi known for his contributions to the fields of religious freedom, civil rights, and equality. more

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“So vast a sum, receiving all the protection and benefits of the government, without bearing its proportion of the burdens and expenses of the same, will not be looked upon acquiescently by those who have to pay the taxes. . . . I would suggest the taxation of all property equally.”

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“If the property belongs to God he is able to pay the tax.”

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Book:Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll: Including His Letters on the Chinese God--Is Suicide a Sin?--The Right to One's Life--etc. Etc. Etc

Source: Lectures of Col. R.G. Ingersoll: Including His Letters on the Chinese God--Is Suicide a Sin?--The Right to One's Life--etc. Etc. Etc

“The impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time.”

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Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1771 - 1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1771 - 1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence

“Systems of religious error have been adopted in times of ignorance. It has been the interest of tyrannical kings, popes, and prelates to maintain these errors. When the clouds of ignorance began to vanish and the people grew more enlightened, there was no other way to keep them in error but to prohibit their altering their religious opinions by severe persecuting laws. In this way persecution became general throughout Europe.”

“Among all the religious persecutions with which almost every page of modern history is stained, no victim ever suffered but for violation of what Government denominated the law of God. To prevent a similar train of evils in this country, the Constitution has wisely withheld from our Government the power of defining the divine law.”

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Author:Richard Mentor Johnson

“It is not the legitimate province of the Legislature to determine which religion is true, or what false. Our government is a civil, and not a religious institution.”

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Author:Richard Mentor Johnson

“Government sponsorship of religious activity, including prayer services, sacred symbols, religious festivals, and the like, tends to secularize the religious activity rather than make government more ethical or religious.”

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Book:Religious Liberty and the Secular State: The Constitutional Context

Source: Religious Liberty and the Secular State: The Constitutional Context

“Who does not see that . . . the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?”

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Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Power is of an encroaching nature.”

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Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“[I]n constitutional adjudication some steps, which when taken were thought to approach 'the verge,' have become the platform for yet further steps. A certain momentum develops in constitutional theory and it can be a 'downhill thrust' easily set in motion but difficult to retard or stop.”

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