Founding Fathers Quotes taken out of context
How to solve the problem of seemingly contradictory quotes

Below is a letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817; page 2
Library of Congress page that contains this excerpt

In the above letter, John Adams is recalling a conversation between a Parson and a Schoolteacher (pedagogue);
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"...The Parson and the Pedagogue lived much together, but were eternally disputing about government and religion. One day, when the Schoolmaster had been more that commonly fanatical and declared if he were a Monarch, He would have but one Religion in his Dominion. The Parson cooly replied 'Cleverly! You would be the best man in the world, if you had no religion.'
Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!' But in this exclamatic I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell..."
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I have seen many people quote John Adams as saying that "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!" --- but notice that this is taken severely out of context and that Mr. Adams is relaying his frustration with those who fight between denominations, supposing that their particular Christian denomination is best and should be the only one [as the Schoolmaster is noted as saying in the above letter]. John Adams believed that government should never impose a denomination/particular religion upon the people. And in his frustration he said that he almost wished there to be no religion, but this of course was not his true wish. His true wish was for peace between denominations and lack of governmental pressure to adhere to a certain denomination. As he said above, "Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell..."

Taking quotes out of context:
Notice how Adams could be misunderstood if one or two phrases were quoted out of context? That is exactly what is done by many who do not want to admit to our Founders faith and vision for faith in government. Many who use quotes improperly do so out of ignorance, others simply knowingly lie.

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