President William Jefferson Clinton on Separation of Church and State

Most of the quotes I use on this site are from the Founders, but consider the words of a more recent president (one who is not thought of as a right-wing conservative), taken from three different occasions:

"It appears that some school officials, teachers, and parents have assumed that religious expression of any type is either inappropriate or forbidden altogether in public schools; however, nothing in the First Amendment converts our public schools into religion-free zones." (July 13, 1995.)

"I want to say to you is that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson did not intend to drive a stake in the heart of religion and to drive it out of our public life. What they intended to do was to set up a system so that we could bring religion into our public life and into our private life without any of us telling the other what to do." (Presidential speech at James Madison High School. Vienna, VA.)

"Sometimes I think the environment in which we operate is entirely too secular. The fact that we have freedom of religion doesn't mean we need to try to have freedom from religion." ("President Sides with Religious Right on Tithing Case." The Morning Edition. Washington, D.C. National Public Radio. Sept. 24, 1994. Transcript #1444-12. Page 4.)