Thought for Today

"Where you have no religion, you are sure to have no government, for as religion disappears, anarchy takes place and fixes a compleat Hell on earth till religion returns."

~~~~~ Daniel Morgan

Thought for Today

"In morals what begins in fear usually ends in wickedness; in religion what begins in fear usually ends in fanaticism. Fear, either as a principle or a motive, is the beginning of all evil."

~~~~~ Anna Jameson

Thought for Today

"Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil's propagation."

~~~~~ Hosea Ballou

Thought for Today

"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate."

~~~~~ Ulysses S. Grant

Thought for Today

"In morals what begins in fear usually ends in wickedness; in religion what begins in fear usually ends in fanaticism. Fear, either as a principle or a motive, is the beginning of all evil."

~~~~~ Anna Jameson

Thought for Today

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend."

~~~~~ Thomas Jefferson

Thought for Today

"What other nations call religious toleration, we call religious rights. They are not exercised in virtue of governmental indulgence, but as rights, of which government cannot deprive any portion of citizens, however small."

~~~~~ Richard Mentor Johnson

Thought for Today

"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form."

~~~~~ William Ralph Inge

Thought for Today

"Religion which requires persecution to sustain, it is of the devil's propagation."

~~~~ Hosea Ballou

Thought for Today

"Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists."

~~~~ Dennis Prager

Thought for Today

"Don't try to tear down other people's religion about their ears, Build up your own perfect structure of truth, and invite your listeners to enter in and enjoy its glories."

~~~~~ Brigham Young

Thought for Today

"No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them."

~~~~~ Elie Wiesel

Thought for Today

"I have always felt that a man's religion was his personal and private affair."

~~~~ Leverett Saltonstall

Thought for Today

"If your religion doesn't teach you the difference between good and evil, your religion is worse than useless."

~~~~~ Dennis Prager

Thought for Today

"For as Jews, the problem happens to be more urgent and vital than for others; because the destruction of religion in America will involve the destruction also of the religious training of freedom; and with that our civil liberties."

~~~~ Rabbi Louis Finkelstein

Thought for Today

"The government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion.*"

~~~~~ John Paul Stevens

(*Note that Justice Stevens wrote "religion," not "religion with the sole exception of Islam." Its adherents have the exact same rights and privileges as those of all other religions – no more; no less.)

Thought for Today

"People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation – much like building a mosque at Ground Zero."

~~~~~ Sarah Palin

Thought for Today

"In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution."

~~~~~ Alexander Hamilton

Thought for Today

"Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive."

~~~~~~~ Ronald Reagan

Thought for Today

"Civilization ceases when we no longer respect and no longer put into their correct places the fundamental values, such as work, family and country; such as the individual, honor and religion."

~~~~~ R. P. Lebret