Were you aware that the Founding Fathers were NOT Christian?

Question

Thomas Paine was a pamphleteer whose manifestos encouraged the faltering spirits of the country and aided materially in winning the war of Independence:
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

George Washington, the first president of the United States, never declared himself a Christian according to contemporary reports or in any of his voluminous correspondence. Washington Championed the cause of freedom from religious intolerance and compulsion. When John Murray (a universalist who denied the existence of hell) was invited to become an army chaplain, the other chaplains petitioned Washington for his dismissal. Instead, Washington gave him the appointment. On his deathbed, Washinton uttered no words of a religious nature and did not call for a clergyman to be in attendance.

John Adams, the country's second president, was drawn to the study of law but faced pressure from his father to become a clergyman. He wrote that he found among the lawyers 'noble and gallant achievments" but among the clergy, the "pretended sanctity of some absolute dunces". Late in life he wrote: "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!"

It was during Adam's administration that the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which states in Article XI that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

Thomas Jefferson, third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, said:"I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac" and wrote:
The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."

James Madison, fourth president and father of the Constitution, was not religious in any conventional sense. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

Ethan Allen, whose capture of Fort Ticonderoga while commanding the Green Mountain Boys helped inspire Congress and the country to pursue the War of Independence, said, "That Jesus Christ was not God is evidence from his own words." In the same book, Allen noted that he was generally "denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious that I am no Christian." When Allen married Fanny Buchanan, he stopped his own wedding ceremony when the judge asked him if he promised "to live with Fanny Buchanan agreeable to the laws of God." Allen refused to answer until the judge agreed that the God referred to was the God of Nature, and the laws those "written in the great book of nature."

More from Thomas Jefferson:
"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to J. Adams April 11,1823)

The Treaty of Tripoli, passed by the U.S. Senate in 1797, read in part: "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The treaty was written during the Washington administration, and sent to the Senate during the Adams administration. It was read aloud to the Senate, and each Senator received a printed copy. This was the 339th time that a recorded vote was required by the Senate, but only the third time a vote was unanimous (the next time was to honor George Washington). There is no record of any debate or dissension on the treaty. It was reprinted in full in three newspapers - two in Philadelphia, one in New York City. There is no record of public outcry or complaint in subsequent editions of the papers.

Answer 1

Yes, I was aware of that even though I am not a Christian or an American. Most of your most famous presidents were some form of atheist, deist or agnostic also. I have read many of their writings out of curiosity.

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Crazy Horse is actually making a valid point. Washington and others admired the Mohawk and Seneca (six nations) Iroquois confederate style of government and tried to incorporate some of its methods into the design of the house of reps, the senate, and the blances of power between states and the confederacy (the federal union of states, not the seccesionist southern states of the civil war)

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I have read the treaty of Tripoli and the paragraphs around the quote that the USA is not in any sense a christian nation support that quote. The statement was supported quite deliberately by the congress( later, sorry, senate not congress, my boo boo) in ratifying it.
It is almost never taken out of context. The atheists have no need to do so and the Xtians are unable to make it serve them and prefer to ignore it when they can.

Answer 2

You are correct. Some of our founders were Christian but the decision was that this country should favor no religion and allow people to make up their own minds. Many founding fathers were Deists which is not Christian. Jefferson so disliked much of the Bible he published an edited edition with all the stuff he thought was offensive, ridiculous nonsense removed; it was called the Jeffersonian Bible. He was not a Christian, had no literal belief in the Bible and was not a fan of Christianity, and said so on several occasions. Thomas Paine was so against religion being advocated or mixed with government he was deemed an atheist in his time.

Answer 3

Washington professed Christ when he was younger. When he got older he said nothing for or against. He was also a free mason. His daughter and best friend often saw him in his study praying and reading the Bible. People don't really know about Washington. Any conclusion is speculation

John Adams was a Unitarian and believed in Christ

Thomas Jefferson was either a deist or atheist. He called himself a materialist. He never denounced God. He denounced religion and he rejected the divinity of Christ so no he wasn't Christian

Ethan Allen was deist

Benjamin Franklin was deist

Samuel Adams was Christian and believed in Jesus (as noted in his last will and testament)

Alexander Hamilton was Christian as per his last dying words

Patrick Henry was Christian and believed in Jesus per his will

John Jay was also Christian

Quotes for or against have be taken out of context. I believe most were Christian in some form. I know I personally don't share their same beliefs as a Christian but I won't deny the facts as most atheists try to change history

To not like "religion" isn't the same as not being a Christian. There's a difference in not liking a system but still believing in Christ.

The Treaty of Tripoli is taken out of context. Look at the whole paragraph. Also, I agree to have religion out of government so as to not have the same problem they had in Europe. Doesn't mean they were all atheists. Gimme a break. Most people back then thought that you couldn't even call yourself an American if you subvert the Word of God. So most were Christian in some form or fashion

Answer 4

I was unaware of this, though I suspect several of the founding fathers not mentioned were probably Christians; however, interesting though this may be in the context of religion and politics in America today, I don't see how it really matters. The government is not, and has never been, a religious institution. The Constitution's guarantee of freedom of religion pretty plainly contradicts the first commandment of the bible. That being said, many Christian values are represented in the system, but that may have more to do with being a democracy made up largely of Christians, rather than having a religious basis.

Answer 5

i think of that as an American, he had the main concepts-blowing to his own opinion; there replaced right into a brilliant number of dissent between the Founding Fathers as to the guiding philosophies that grew to alter into our shape and our gadget of government. Like in the present day, no person replaced into in finished settlement with all and sundry else. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr have been thoroughly at odds with one yet another, as have been Adams and Jefferson. I believe Adams on maximum factors and disagree with Jefferson; I believe Burr greater beneficial than Hamilton - even nonetheless it incredibly is the liberty to precise critiques without worry of persecution it extremely is important right here, no longer the critiques themselves. what style of answer did you assume?

Answer 6

Contrary to revisionist history, the majority of them were, in fact, Christians. All you have to do is to read their writings. Why does Congress open with a prayer? Cadets at the military and naval academies were required to go to church services.

Revisionist history, is part of the war on culture we are in. Multiculturalism is another part of it, an so is our state religion: evolution.

If this were not the case, the concept of the Constitution as a "Living Document", meaning, it doesn't mean what it says, would not be taught in our law schools.

Read the Decalaration of Independence, which was signed by the Founders. It say that we are granted Rights by our Creator. That kind of flys in the face of the separation of church and state, doesn't it?

Answer 7

Were you aware that the Founding Fathers based the Foundation of the United States on the Beliefs of God? From what little evidence you have tried so hard to prove , over the lifetime of these Presidents, what little you have showed has not showed us much. You need to do a lot more search then what you have showed to us, to convince me. Have you ever visited the Historical Home of George Washington. Do that and you will find a different story. As for your part, it shows very little. Try again.

Answer 8

The Christians on Yahoo are always posting that a relationship with Jesus Christ is NOT a religion. I'm not going to take the time to refute every FF you mentioned, but Thomas Paine who said, "Man cannot contrive or invent principles, but he ought to look past them to the Author"...sounds to me like at some point he certainly believed in God.

Answer 9

George Washington was a Christian, he believed in Providence, another name for God. He prayed when he was the commander in the Revolution War.

Answer 10

And sat up a pretty good way to govern a country. How does that effect having faith in Christ? Jim