Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Quote #39

"In order to advance a principle of freedom, and in order not to threaten the religious establishments of the several states, the founders did a historically unprecedented thing. In the first provision of the First Amendment, they declared that the national government abdicated control of religious brlief and practice. To be sure, this was a matter of practical politics as well as principle. Given the competing Protestant denominations of the time, it was unthinkable that the founders would establish one as the national religion. But practical politics can also be in the service of principle." -- Richard John Neuhaus, American Babylon, pg. 39.

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St. Augustine (by Sandro Botticelli)

St. Ignatius Loyola (by Francisco Zurbaran)

Benjamin Rush (by Charles Willson Peale)

Patrick Henry at the Virginia House of Burgesses (by Henry Rothermel)

Edmund Burke (by Sir Joshua Reynolds)

Samuel Adams (by John Singleton Copley)

Alexander Hamilton (by John Trumbull)