Religion: what history's greatest minds said

Martin Luther King Jr. believed the church must serve as the conscience of the state, not its servant or master, while also eliminating segregation within its own congregation.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamations of 1863 and 1864 urged Americans to recognize God's blessings despite civil war, emphasizing gratitude, mercy, and emancipation while establishing the last Thursday of November as a national holiday.

Lincoln believed God's purposes were perfect and unknowable to mortals, that Providence worked through historical events including the Civil War as possible judgment for slavery, and regarded the Bible as humanity's greatest gift.

George Washington believed in Providence and private prayer, but opposed religious compulsion. He championed religious liberty as a fruit of the Revolution, insisting no citizen should face discrimination based on faith.

Benjamin Franklin believed in one God and divine providence, valued Jesus's moral teachings while doubting his divinity, and held that religion's true measure was virtuous conduct toward others, not doctrinal correctness.

Jesus condemned religious hypocrisy as a gap between outward performance and inner reality, using vivid images like whitewashed tombs and dirty cups to criticize those who display piety while lacking genuine virtue.