It’s not good enough to have equal access to our law; we must also have equal access to the higher law — the law of God. George Washington warned that morality could not prevail in exclusion of religious principles. And Jefferson asked, ‘Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we’ve removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are the gifts of God?’ We must preserve the noble promise of the American dream for every man, woman, and child in this land. And make no mistake, we can preserve it, and we will. That promise was not created by America. It was given to America as a gift from a loving God — a gift proudly recognized by the language of liberty in the world’s greatest charters of freedom: our Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

Ronald Reagan, Aug. 1, 1983, annual meeting of the American Bar Association, Atlanta, GA