• "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."  (Treaty of Tripoli, 1797)

• "I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved—the Cross.  Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced."

• "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it."  (letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1817)

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• "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."  (letter to Dr. Price)

• "I have found Christian dogma unintelligible."  (Autobiography)

• "As to Jesus of Nazareth, … I have some doubts as to his divinity, tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon."

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• "I … do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature.  They [religions] are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies."  (letter to Dr. Woods)

• "The greatest enemies of Jesus are the doctrines and creeds of the Church.  It would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all than to blaspheme him by the atrocious writings of the theologians."  (letter to John Adams)

• "The Christian God is a being of terrific character—cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust. … I read the Apocalypse and considered it merely the rantings and ravings of a maniac. … What has not meaning admits no explanation."

• "To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings."  (letter to John Adams, 11 Aug. 1820)

• "Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there be one, He must approve the homage of Reason rather than that of blindfolded Fear."  (letter to Peter Carr, Jefferson's nephew and ward)

• "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity.  What has been the effect of this coercion?  To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites."  ("Notes on Virginia")

• "In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."

• "They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.  And they believe rightly:  for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."  (excerpted in the Jefferson Memorial, removing the final sentence from its context)

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(Although Lincoln was not among the founding generation of leaders, as preserver of the nation through the most divisive episode in its history, he has long been considered by many the greatest of America's presidents, and thus perhaps qualifies as an "honorary founding father.")

• "The Bible is not my holy book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma."

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• "During almost fifteen centuries, the legal establishment of Christianity has been on trial.  What have been its fruits?  These are the fruits more or less, in all places:  pride and indolence in the clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, and in both clergy and laity, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."

• "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." (1 Apr. 1774)

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• "Persecution is not an original feature in any religion, but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law."

• "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God."

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• Washington was never open about his religious beliefs.  In none of his speeches, letters, or other writings, did he ever allude to a personal belief in the Christian faith.  Indeed, when pressed directly, he purposefully evaded the issue.

• Washington routinely exited the church prior to the sacrament of communion.  When questioned about this by the rector of his church, Washington simply declined to attend all further church services at which communion was to be taken.  The rector characterized Washington as a deist.

• Washington refused the presence of a minister at his deathbed.

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