Misquoting by the Religious Right

Separation of Church and State Home Page

MISQUOTING BY THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

In this section we look at how some religious right authors have misquoted the framers of the Constitution. While most accomodationists are (as much as we disagree with them) competent scholars, some popular conservative authors have stooped to taking the framers' writings out of context, or fabricating quotes altogether. Some of these misquotations have popped up again and again on the usenet, often without any source citations, and always without any attempt to verify accuracy. Here we list some of the more popular of these misquotations. Additionally, we look at one example of where accomodationists have accused separationists of inaccurately characterizing the background of a quotation.

If you have a misquotation you want to see included on this page, please let us know. Include a source citation so that we can verify the nature of the misquote.

Misquoting by the Religious Right:

Let's begin with some quotations we've researched ourselves:

Did Madison ever say that our future is staked on the 10 commandments?
Did Madison ever say that religion is the foundation of government?
Did the Supreme Court of New York, in an 1811 decision, ever say that the First Amendment was "never meant to withdraw religion...from all consideration and notice of the law?"
Did Supreme Court justice and early legal historian Joseph Story every say that, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, there was near universal consensus that "christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state?"
Did John Quincy Adams ever say that the American Revolution "connected in one indissoluable bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity?"

Now let's turn to a list of quotations that frequently appear in religious right literature, but are now admitted by religious right leaders to be either doubtful or false. The source of this list is none other than David Barton, an important accomodationist author we criticize extensively in our responses to the quotations above, and elsewhere in this website. Briefly, Barton has released a press statement stating that nine of the quotations appearing in his book The Myth of Separation (including the first two above) are of doubtful authenticity (one of these has since been authenticated; see below). Additionally, he lists three others that are popularly cited by other conservative authors, but are probably not true. A good article summarizing Barton's list can be found in the July/August 1996 edition of Church and State, A separationist publication.

Barton lists the following quotations as unconfirmed (i.e., no one has been able to trace them to an original source):

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! --Patrick Henry
It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. --George Washington
Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world. --Benjamin Franklin
The principles of all genuine liberty, and of wise laws and administrations are to be drawn from the Bible and sustained by its authority. The man therefore who weakens or destroys the divine authority of that book may be assessory [sic] to all the public disorders which society is doomed to suffer. --Noah Webster
There are two powers only which are sufficient to control men, and secure the rights of individuals and a peaceable administration; these are the combined force of religion and law, and the force or fear of the bayonet. --Noah Webster
The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion. --Abraham Lincoln
The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. --Abraham Lincoln
A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they can not be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or eternal invader. --Samuel Adams

[Note: this quote has since been authenticated. It can be found in The Writings of Samuel Adams, ed., Harry Alonzo Cushing (G. P. Putman's Sons, 1908), Vol. 4, p. 124.

I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make us better citizens. --Thomas Jefferson
America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great. --Alexis de Toqueville, Democracy in America (Barton notes that this quote is "definitely not in the book," but that it might perhaps occur in "other more obscure writings").

Additionally, Barton lists the following quote as inaccurate:

Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extend, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian. --The Supreme Court in Holy Trinity

An alleged case of misquoting by Separationists:

Does the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli say that "The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion?"

Return to home