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2007 August 17
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"On every question of construction [of the Constitution] let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning
may be squeezed out of the text, or intended against it, conform to the
probable one in which it was passed." |
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for
his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government
reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign
reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that
their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus
building a wall of separation between church and State." |
"Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind.
Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without
which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us
reflect that having banished from our land that religious intolerance
under which mankind so long bled, we have yet gained little if we
counternance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable
of a bitter and bloody persecutions." |
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2007 August 16
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"I believe the State exists for the development of individual lives,
not individuals for the development of the state." |
"The makers of our constitution undertook to secure conditions
favorable to the pursuit of happiness... They sought to protect
Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and
their sensations. They conferred, as against the government,
the right to be let alone -- the most comprehensive of the rights
and the right most valued by civilized men." |
"Give to every human being
every right that you claim for yourself." |
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2007 August 15
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"In a free society, standards
of public morality can be measured
only by whether
physical coercion --
violence against persons
or property -- occurs.
There is no right
not to be offended
by words, actions or symbols." |
"We hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, that religion, or the duty we owe our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence. The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right." |
"The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom." |
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2007 August 14
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"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense
founded on the Christian Religion, as it has in itself no character of
enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen, and as
the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility
against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no
pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an
interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries." |
"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is
that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox
in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force
citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." |
"Heresy trials are foreign to our Constitution.
Men may believe what they cannot prove.
They may not be put to the proof of their religious doctrines or beliefs.
Religious experiences which are as real as life
to some may be incomprehensible to others." |
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2007 August 13
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"Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty." |
"Whether or not legislation is truly moral
is often a question of who has the power
to define morality." |
"When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There -- a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator -- so decrees." |
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