John Jay, First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court:

   "Providence has given to our people the choice of their
    rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and
    interest of our Christian nation [sic] to select and
    prefer Christians for their rulers [sic]." (1)
                          
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(1)  John Jay, "The Correspondence and Public Papers of
     John Jay", Henry P. Johnston, ed. (NY: Burt Franklin,
     1970), Vol. IV, p. 393, October 12, 1816

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What does this say about John Jay?
Some possibilities:

      1. He was an arrogant, insensitive, irresponsible
         clod who didn't understand the impact that such
         rash speech might have when it came from the Chief
         Justice of the Supreme Court.

      2. He had not yet read the Bill of Rights, which every
         20th-century American *knows* contains specific
         language directing the Separation of Church and
         State.
         
      3. He had not yet been taught that what he and his
         contemporaries really meant in the Bill of Rights
         was that there was a Separation of Church and
         State which forbade (or at least strongly discouraged)
         such talk.