Dear *|MERGE3|* *|MERGE2|*:

† In his Farewell Address to the nation, George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”

§ Thomas Jefferson wrote, in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, that “religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship.” Further, Jefferson interpreted the First Amendment as “building a wall of separation between church and State.” 

‡ Abraham Lincoln, in the depths of the Civil War, wondered out loud how both sides of the conflict could reasonably claim to have God on their side: “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces,” Lincoln said in his Second Inaugural Address.

Despite these widely varying perspectives on God and religion, many find it convenient to invoke a particular president or Founder to support their own position on religion in public life, as if the selected view were the view. Depending on who is being quoted and in what context – or out of context – the U.S. might come out as a “Christian nation,” a secular state, or even a state that is purportedly at war with religion (as in the culture wars). In fact, the Founders, like Americans today, had diverse and complex views on the subject.

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