The rise of faith schools

abe: By the way, what do you think of the opinion of some of the American founders that Christianity should be encouraged as it is good for the country in general?

Yes I really do not want government funding of Christian schools for the reason you gave. I do believe a little tax relief would be in order, however.

And even he approved the effect of Christianity on the citizenry as I recall.

I wonder if you could find a quote to this effect? Well, I know you can't.

The country's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, were firm believers in the importance of religion for republican government.
As citizens of Virginia and Massachusetts, both were sympathetic to general religious taxes being paid by the citizens of their respective states to the churches of their choice. However both statesmen would have discouraged such a measure at the national level because of its divisiveness.
They confined themselves to promoting religion rhetorically, offering frequent testimonials to its importance in building the moral character of American citizens, that, they believed, undergirded public order and successful popular government.

The Farewell Address
In his Farewell Address, the first president advised his fellow citizens that "Religion and morality" were the "great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens." "National morality," he added, could not exist "in exclusion of religious principle." "Virtue or morality," he concluded, as the products of religion, were "a necessary spring of popular government."

Yes, thanks for the quotes, that's what I was thinking of. The word "religion" back in those days was commonly used to refer to Christianity, and that included the deist or unitarian forms in their minds by that time. Christians used the term all the time that way, though these days it has come to include all the world's religions.

s and other assorted riff-raff are sinners and are not exempt from prison