"Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance."
-- James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822.
"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
-- James Madison, letter objecting to the use of government land for churches, 1803, quoted from James A. Haught, ed., 2000 Years of Disbelief
"I have ever regarded the freedom of religious opinions and worship as equally belonging to every sect."
-- James Madison, letter to Mordecai Noah, May 15, 1818, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects?"
-- James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, addressed to the Virginia General Assemby, 1785
"Religion flourishes in greater purity without than with the aid of government."
-- James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom
Madison would spin in his grave if he knew what government did to the Christian religion in our generation. His argument regarding "separation" was that the powers of government and religion should not interfere in each other's affairs, as he feared the possibility that the federal government might one day become as England and establish or sanction a particular faith or denomination as the "official" one. On this he was right.
But Madison never dreamed that government would one day REPRESS the Christian faith by making it illegal to pray in a public building, place Christian icons on public lands, or carry a Bible to school. These things are quantum leaps away from governmental 'establishing' or 'officializing' of a particular religion. In Madison's day the public school books actually quoted from the Bible and taught moral lessons from them. The atheists and anti-Christians attempt to use arguments like Madison's to justify the un-Constitutional suppression of the Christian religion in our land. It doesn't wash, and all this liberal, communist suppression of Christianity will be reversed soon enough, IMO .
Madison was a lot of things but he was a very honest man who would certainly never had twisted the 'separation' of powers to mean that government would OUTLAW the expression or symbolizing of Christianity on all public domains. In any case, Madison was but one voice among many, and the ONLY clause in the Constitution regarding religion and government was clearly written to keep government's hands out of religion, and to let the practice of religion prosper as it pleased the people.