Reagan on faith

"If children prayed together, would they not understand what they have in common, and would this not, indeed, bring them closer, and is this not to be desired? So, I submit to you that those who claim to be fighting for tolerance on this issue may not be tolerant at all. When John Kennedy was running for President in 1960, he said that his church would not dictate his Presidency any more than he would speak for his church. Just so, and proper. But John Kennedy was speaking in an America in which the role of religion -- and by that I mean the role of all churches -- was secure. Abortion was not a political issue. Prayer was not a political issue. The right of church schools to operate was not a political issue. And it was broadly acknowledged that religious leaders had a right and a duty to speak out on the issues of the day. They held a place of respect, and a politician who spoke to or of them with a lack of respect would not long survive in the political arena. It was acknowledged then that religion held a special place, occupied a special territory in the hearts of the citizenry. The climate has changed greatly since then. And since it has, it logically follows that religion needs defenders against those who care only for the interests of the state. ... The churches of America do not exist by the grace of the state; the churches of America are not mere citizens of the state. The churches of America exist apart; they have their own vantage point, their own authority. Religion is its own realm; it makes its own claims. We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questions. I submit to you that the tolerant society is open to and encouraging of all religions. And this does not weaken us; it strengthens us. ... You know, if we look back through history to all those great civilizations, those great nations that rose up to even world dominance and then deteriorated, declined, and fell, we find they all had one thing in common. One of the significant forerunners of their fall was their turning away from their God. ... Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." -- Ronald Reagan, Prayer Breakfast, 1984

Many have vilified Reagan because of his faith. They think that he sought to impose that faith on the country. Reagan was informed by his faith, it is true. How could he not be? If you believe something, you cannot deny those beliefs in your words and actions or else you don't really believe it, or you are a hypocrite. Reagan understood that faith is a fundamental part of being human. If you read the book Contact by Carl Sagan, a secular humanist, or even watch the movie based on that book, you can see that even he felt the same way.

The government shall impose no religion on the people. It shall not elevate any religion higher than any other. To do so rightly invites dissolution of that government, by arms if necessary. But to ask members of the government to behave as if they do not believe the things they do, to act as if they are not Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, Pagans, Taoists, Atheists, etc. is no different than asking any of you to do the same. I do not say that one should be blinded by his or her faith; quite the opposite. One should keep an open mind and not reject ideas out of hand. But do not ignore or deny your faith either. It is part of who you are, and part of what makes you human.