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 President George Bush
Sr.President Bush is an Episcopalian
Quotations:
"I am guided by certain traditions. One is that there is a God
and He is good, and his love, while free, has a self imposed cost:
We must be good to one another." -- Convention Acceptance, 1988
"Should our children have the right to say a voluntary prayer, or
even observe a moment of silence in the schools? My opponent says no
— but I say yes." -- Convention Acceptance, 1988
"The values that spring from our faith certainly tell us a lot
about our country. And consider that for more than two centuries
Americans have endorsed, and properly so, the separation of church
and state. But we've also shown how both religion and government can
strengthen a society. After all, our Founding Fathers' documents
begin with these words: All men are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights. And Americans are religious people, but
a truly religious nation is a tolerant nation. We cherish dissent,
we cherish the fact that we have many, many faiths, and we protect
even the right to disbelieve." -- Remarks at the Annual National
Prayer Breakfast, 1 February 1990
"As I said many times before, prayer always has been important in
our lives. And without it, I really am convinced, more and more
convinced, that no man or no woman who has the privilege of serving
in the Presidency could carry out their duties without prayer." --
Remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals in Chicago,
Illinois, 3 March 1992
"Americans are the most religious people on Earth. And we have
always instinctively sensed that God's purpose was bound up with the
cause of liberty. The Founders understood this. As Jefferson put it,
'Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have
removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the
people that these liberties are the gift of God?' That conviction is
enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and in our
Constitution. And it's no accident that in drafting our Bill of
Rights, the Founders dedicated the first portion of our first
amendment to religious liberty. We rightly emphasize the opening
clause of that amendment, which forbids government from establishing
religion. In fact, I believe the establishment clause has been a
great boon to our country's religious life. One reason religion
flourishes in America is that worship can never be controlled by the
state.
"But in recent times we have too often ignored the clause that
follows, which forbids government from prohibiting the free exercise
of religion. This myopia has in some places resulted in an
aggressive campaign against religious belief itself. Some people
seem to believe that freedom of religion requires government to keep
our lives free from religion. Well, I believe they're just plain
wrong. Our government was founded on faith. Government must never
promote a religion, of course, but it is duty bound to promote
religious liberty. And it must never put the believer at a
disadvantage because of his belief. That is the challenge that our
administration has undertaken. To be succinct, it is my conviction
that children have a right to voluntary prayer in the public
schools." -- Remarks to the National Association of Evangelicals in
Chicago, Illinois, 3 March 1992
"I am very disappointed by the Supreme Court's decision in Lee v.
Weisman. The Court said that a simple nondenominational prayer
thanking God for the liberty of America at a public school
graduation ceremony violates the first amendment. America is a land
of religious pluralism, and this is one of our Nation's greatest
strengths. While we must remain neutral toward particular religions
and protect freedom of conscience, we should not remain neutral
toward religion itself. In this case, I believe that the Court has
unnecessarily cast away the venerable and proper American tradition
of nonsectarian prayer at public celebrations. I continue to believe
that this type of prayer should be allowed in public schools." --
Statement on the Supreme Court Decision on the Lee v. Weisman Case,
24 June 1992
"You know, I've been President for 3\1/2\ years now. More than
ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be President of
our great country without a belief in God, without the truth that
comes on one's knees. For me, prayer has always been important but
quite personal. You know us Episcopalians. [Laughter] And yet, it
has sustained me at every point of my life: as a boy, when religious
reading was part of our home life; as a teenager, when I memorized
the Navy Hymn. Or how 48 years ago, aboard the submarine Finback
after being shot down in the war, I went up topside one night on the
deck, on the conning tower, and stood watch and looked out at the
dark. The sky was clear. The stars were brilliant like a blizzard of
fireflies in the night. There was a calm inner peace. Halfway around
the world in the war zone, there was a calm inner peace: God's
therapy." -- Remarks at a Prayer Breakfast in Houston, 20 August
1992
"I believe firmly, and I've stated this over and over again, of
separation between church and state. Where you get into some
complications or some discussion of this is when you get into school
choice. I happen to favor it. Some people don't, thinking that it's
going to get church and States involved. But what we propose in that
area, for example, is to help the families and let them choose.
"I was a recipient and I'll bet there's a bunch of other old guys
around here that were recipients of the GI bill after World War II.
And they didn't say to me, you can take this help from the
Government to go to a State school. They said, here, take it and go
to whatever school you want, college of your choice. It didn't
diminish anything.
"And so I think we ought to try the same thing, whether it's
public, private, or religious schools. That, in my view, is not
merging church and state. What I think of it is a choice for a
family that has been demonstrably successful early on.
"But the underlying point is, certainly any President of the
United States must be always concerned that nothing he or she might
do should blur this line of separation between church and state. It
is very, very fundamental to our system. And I hope that I can stand
up credibly on my record for that principle." -- Remarks and a
Question-and-Answer Session at the B'nai B'rith International
Convention, 8 September 1992
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