The national fast recommended by me turned me out of office. ... This
principle is at the bottom of the unpopularity of national fasts and
thanksgivings. Nothing is more dreaded than the national government
meddling with religion.
SOURCE: June 12, 1812 Letter of John Adams to Benjamin Rush, as provided in
"The Spur of Fame," Schutz JA and Adair D, eds. (The Huntington Library,
San Marino, CA, 1966), page 224.
In fact, Adams was quite correct in his (too late) recognition that there
was popular revulsion to such religious activities on the part of the
federal government. The editor of the Philadelphia Aurora explained why
there was objection to the President's recommendation for a fast:
Because there is nothing in the constitution giving authority to proclaim
fasts ... Because prayer, fasting, and humiliation are matters of religion
and conscience, with which government has nothing to do ... And Because we
consider a connection between state and church affairs as dangerous to
religious and political freedom and that, therefore, every approach
towards it should be discouraged ...
SOURCE: (Philadelphia Aurora, Wednesday, May 9, 1798 (from Rosenfeld RN.
"American Aurora" (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1997) page 113)).
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