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Did You Know

James Madison was known as "The Father of Our Constitution"

Madison was probably one of the least friendly of our Founding Fathers toward God and religion, and it is extremely doubtful that he was a Christian. Even so, he recognized the importance of governing by the Ten Commandments.

"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.
NOTE: Madison's "separation of church and state" was not a prohibition of public acknowledgement of God on government property. It was an abhorrence of the practice of State Churches in Europe, where membership in the government church was compulsory.
 

Madison acknowledges God in his Inaugural Address -

... my confidence ... that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future. [Inaugural Address, March 4, 1809]