Quotations

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment, The Constitution of the United States of America.

Faith-based and other community organizations are indispensable in meeting the needs of poor Americans and distressed neighborhoods. Government cannot be replaced by such organizations, but it can and should welcome them as partners. The paramount goal is compassionate results, and private and charitable community groups, including religious ones, should have the fullest opportunity permitted by law to compete on a level playing field, so long as they achieve valid public purposes, such as curbing crime, conquering addiction, strengthening families and neighborhoods, and overcoming poverty. This delivery of social services must be results oriented and should value the bedrock principles of pluralism, nondiscrimination, evenhandedness, and neutrality. -- President George W. Bush, Executive Order establishing White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, January 29, 2001.

The indispensable and transforming work of faith-based and other charitable service groups must be encouraged. Government cannot be replaced by charities, but it can and should welcome them as partners. We must heed the growing consensus across America that successful government social programs work in fruitful partnership with community-serving and faith-based organizations - whether run by Methodists, Muslims, Mormons, or good people of no faith at all. -- President George W. Bush, Rallying the Armies of Compassion

I argue that in the public square, religion is too often trivialized, treated as an unimportant fact of human personality, one easily discarded, and one with which public-spirited citizens would not bother. -- Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief, p. xv.

[I]t is impossible to envision a serious public discussion of morality from which the religious voice is absent. -- Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief, p. xvi.

By accepting the offer of special tax treatment, the religions themselves may have paved the way for a future in which they are told that they will lose their treasured tax status unless they reflect, in theology and practices, whatever the current government policy might be: pro-life or pro-choice, pro-nuclear weaponry or pro-nuclear freeze. -- Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief, p. 152.

Religion is part of ordinary life: the workplace, the worlds of friendly interaction, the mall, the academy, the media, the gallery. But it takes on special importance in the political realm. That is why the voices of religion should be in the public forum and at the political table. -- Martin Marty, Politics, Religion, and the Common Good, p. 161.

Through the centuries and recent decades, different claimants have taken the initiative in putting religion to work in the public sphere. Support for the welfare state and civil rights and opposition to some wars came from congregations, denominations, and ecumenical forums. Support for organized labor often received a great impetus from Catholics and other churches. Support for Israel and for liberal rights and social causes came from Jews. Urban political measures drew overt support from African American congregations. The peace churches lobbied for peace. One cannot right the history of positive human achievement without reckoning with such contributions, and one must acknowledge that a republic is most healthy when all views, including religious views, are present in public debate. -- Martin Marty, Politics, Religion, and the Common Good, p. 48-49.

There is a role for every citizen, every believer, every church, every nonprofit agency, and every government organization to play in reknitting the unraveled fabric of civil society in our cities. -- Robert M. Franklin, Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis, p. 28.

I get up every morning praying that I will get through the day without discouraging any initiative of the Holy Spirit. -- John Cardinal O'Conner, as quoted in First Things, "The Public Square," Richard John Neuhaus, March 2001, p. 77.

[I]t is precisely because of the Judeo-Christian ethic that the public square should be hospitable to all faiths. Because, first, we do not sacralize the public square, mistaking it for the Church. And, second, because we recognize that all people, whatever their religious or other errors, are made in the image of God and therefore bearers of a human dignity that demands our respect. -- Richard John Neuhaus, First Things, "The Public Square," Richard John Neuhaus, March 2001, p. 81.

The founders who wrote the United States Constitution believed that organized religion has no place in government. They wanted the individual to be free to support a religion of his or her choice, or to be free to support no religion at all. The foundation recognizes that our country has a godless Constitution, that it was very purposefully written to be a godless document, and that the only references to religion in it are exclusionary. -- Freedom from Religion Foundation. http://www.ffrf.org/brochure.html

If our nation is to continue to enjoy robust religious freedom, we must remain cautious about church-state relations. Religion thrives in America because it is funded by voluntary gifts, rather than by compulsory tax funds, and because it remains largely free from governmental regulation. Because tax funding of religious enterprises implicates both of these principles, financial partnerships between religious institutions and the government must avoid pitfalls to ensure the long-term vitality of religious liberty. If these problem areas are avoided, religious institutions and the government together may battle hopelessness and poverty and do so without sacrificing religious liberty. -- Keeping the Faith: The Promise of Cooperation, Perils of Government Funding: A Guide for Houses of Worship, Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation.

If religion is an important source of possible personal transformation but any direct involvement between the government and religion will be denied by the Court, corrupted by Congress, and opposed by the public, what is to be done? I suggest that we must facilitate the movement of private funds into church-connected enterprises that have as their goal the kind of personal transformation that is required to if we are to rescue people from social pathology." -- James Q. Wilson, "Religion and Public Life," in What's God got to do with the American Experiment? E.J. Dionne Jr. and John J. DiIulio Jr., eds. (Washington: Brookings Institute, 2000), p. 168.

And, instead of allowing charitable choice to monopolize the discussion regarding church-state cooperation in the provision of social services, legislators and policymakers ought to explore the many other ways in which religious institutions and government may cooperate. While charitable choice is the wrong way to do right, there are many right ways for church and state to do right together. -- Melissa Rogers, "The Wrong Way to do Right," in What's God got to do with the American Experiment? E.J. Dionne Jr. and John J. DiIulio Jr., eds. (Washington: Brookings Institute, 2000), p. 143.

The ACLU and its coalition partners believe that President Bush's proposal would violate freedom of religion, endanger people who are in serious need of help and irresponsibly give taxpayer dollars to religious organizations by removing regulations and licensing guidelines required of other social services programs. -- The ACLU (see: www.aclu.org/congress/gfr.html)

And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. -- President George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796.