The forefathers, including James Madison, felt very strongly that the duties that we owe to God were outside of government's prerogative, that government had no business interfering with the way we worship God.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think the founding fathers believed religion shouldn't interact directly with government.
The First Amendment to the Constitution reflects that concept recognized in the Ten Commandments, that the duties we owe to God and the manner of discharging those duties are outside the purview of government.
It can have a secular purpose and have a relationship to God because God was presumed to be both over the state and the church, and separation of church and state was never meant to separate God from government.
The Pledge clearly acknowledges the fact that our freedoms in this country come from God, not government.
Perhaps religious conscience upsets the designs of those who feel that the highest wisdom and authority comes from government. But from the beginning, this nation trusted in God, not man. Religious liberty is the first freedom in our Constitution.
But separation of church and state was never meant to separate God and government.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
Our forefathers got it; they got it, man. They took godly principles and they put them into action, and they developed our Constitution - the land of freedom where each man is accountable and responsible for his actions.
There are some who invoke separation of church and state - to try to get the government out of the business of morality - but this is antithetical to what the founders wanted. The founders wanted to keep theology out of government so that government could focus on the proper business of morality.
God did not burden the United States with a diversity of backgrounds, ideas and religions, He blessed America with them.