A professorship of theology should have no place in our institution
Thomas Jefferson

To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. In cannot reason otherwise.... without plunging into the fathomless abyss of dreams and phantasms. I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence
Thomas Jefferson (Dawkins, p. 63)

.... I am frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in A,B,C and D. Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate...
Barry Goldwater (Dawkins, p. 61)

No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
George Bush Senior (Dawkins, p. 65)