When religion controls government, political liberty dies; and when government controls religion, religious liberty perishes.
Sam ErvinA school prayer amendment would confer upon public school boards a power the First Amendment now denies to Congress and the states, that is, the power to establish religion.
Sam ErvinThere is nothing in the Constitution that authorizes or makes it the official duty of a president to have anything to do with criminal activities.
Sam ErvinWhat James Madison and the other men of his generation had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment was that there should be no official relationship of any character between government and any church or many churches, and no levying of taxes for the support of any church, or many churches, or all churches, or any institution conducted by any of them.
Sam Ervin