IN THE UNITED STATES

And just here is where comes in most forcibly the special importance of this repudiation, to every person in the United States. In the light of the truth of what the word “Protestant” means, it is clearly seen that the principle of religious liberty in the separation of religion and the state in the United States by the National Constitution is the fullest and truest expression of the Protestant principle that there is in any organic connection in the world. This is explained in the fact that it was expressly declared in so many words by Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, and their noble compatriots in the making of this nation, that it was “upon the principles on which the Gospel was first propagated and the Reformation from popery carried on” that they established this religious liberty as a supreme right guaranteed by the National Constitution.ATAP 3.23

And the repudiation of the word “Protestant” by that Federal Council of churches in the United States means equally the repudiation of this religious liberty in the United States, which is the direct and plainly declared result of the Protest from which comes the word “Protestant.” It is forever true, as stated by the great historian of the reformation that “It was this noble resolution [of the Protest] that gained for modern times liberty of thought and independence of faith.” And people who are capable of repudiating the Protest, are already qualified to abandon all the results of it.ATAP 3.24