Our First Three Presidents - Quotes about Religion and Government

Some of this material will be found in other blog posts here, but I wanted to collect these quotes from our first three presidents to demonstrate a point. These men are accused of being atheists or deists. They are said to have wanted to shun religious connections to government. Yet their quotes do not bear that out. They recognized, privately AND publicly, that our freedoms and the basis for much of our government are from God. How could a man who supposedly wanted script prohibition of religion from government also think our "liberties are of the Gift of God" if he had a conscience? (See the Jefferson section below.)

George Washington
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being."

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."

"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God and to obey His will."

John Adams
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." ....so great is my veneration of the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens in their country and respectful members of society."

"The highest story of the American Revolution is this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."

Thomas Jefferson
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."