Part of a Speech delivered by Gordon B. Hinckley in 1997

George Washington’s first inaugural speech he voiced the hope “that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality” He went onto say “there is no truth more thoroughly established in that there exists an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness between duty and advantage between genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity. Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules or order and right which heaven it’s self has ordained.”

The psalmist of old wrote “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. “

Paul the Apostle declared “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Jefferson “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of the nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are a gift of God”

Lincoln declared: “What constituted the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere.”

Alexis de Tocqueville who came here from France in the early 1800’s. After traveling widely he said “I sought for the key to the greatness and ingenious of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich minds and vast comerence, in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and in her matchless constitution but not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand her secret of her genious impower. America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.”

"I am convinced that if we are to have the freedoms which came of the inspiration of the almighty to our founding fathers, we must return to the God who is their true author. We need to worship him in Spirit and in truth. We need to acknowledge his all-powerful hand. We need to humble ourselves before him. And seek his guidance in all that concerns all matters of state. Do we believe in the separation of church and state Of course we do but that belief does not preclude a petition to the Almighty for wisdom and guidance as we walk through these perilous times”

http://awakeandarise.org/article/Hinckley.htm