Were Our Nation's Founders Christians?

Question

I'm so tired of Christians blathering on about how our nation's founders were all bible-believing Christians.

Here's Benjamin Franklin:

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."

Here's Thomas Paine:

"My own mind is my own church."


"I believe that religion consists not in believing or disbelieving, but in doing justice, loving mercy and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy."

And here's Thomas Jefferson:

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites."

One can always tell when someone has learned history from a fundamentalist Christian preacher or from a historian and by looking at the documents.

Franklin and Jefferson are minor figures? Yeah, sure. Everyone knows that.

Answer 1

Some were, many were Deists. Jefferson once called himself a Christian, but only in that he followed the morals of Jesus. He denied his divinity. I've seen this quoted to support that Jefferson was a Christian, but it has often been taken out of context. George Washington is often believed to be a Deist, though he never claimed to be. A prayer book supposedly written by him was rejected by the Smithsonian on the grounds it was forged; he also refused Communion in church because he didn't believe in it.

Franklin once wrote in a letter to a friend, "About his (Jesus) Divinity, I have my doubts."

Paine at one point considered himself a Deist, but later he became an atheist.

An edit referring to some quotations below stating the Founding Fathers believed in God. That is true, but belief in God does not make one a Christian. Deists believe in God, but reject the notion that God has a son. I should know, I am one.

Answer 2

Yeah, and for every statement like the ones you've quoted here, there's another in which one of the Founding Fathers comes off sounding like Pat Robertson.

Don't get me wrong - I agree with this set!

But talk is cheap. The real point is that freedom of religion and the separation of church and state were built into the founding documents of our country, and the consensus of the Founders was definitely that irregardless of their own personal religious inclinations, every citizen of America should have the right to decide his own, or to dismiss the religious question altogether.

But the REAL real point (which practically negates my previous one) is that it's as ridiculous to pretend that the Founders were somehow superhuman in their wisdom and prescience as they composed those documents, as it is to pretend that the authors of the bible were! We have Amendments because people actually continued to think and to adjust their ideas relative to advances in knowledge and a perpetually changing environment. So even if the Founders HAD all been radical Christian fundies cut from the same cloth as Pat Robertson, it wouldn't necessarily mean that they were RIGHT so to be or that we ought to follow their example today. As the guy below mentions, many of them also had slaves - which is authorized in the bible, yes, but which is rather frowned upon in our contemporary American society.

Answer 3

They were Christians by name only but not in application.

If I remember correctly, George Washington owned African slaves which ran contradictory to what the early Americans believed in (i.e. all men are created equal).

The point here is, America may have been founded by Christians but these Christians implemented non-Christian methods to establish our country and our way of life.

I'm not saying that the forefathers of this country were wrong or guilty of anything. I'm only stating fact that they did everything possible to give rise to the most powerful nation today.

Answer 4

Here's Ben Franklin:

"We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it'. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his, concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel."

Here's Thomas Jefferson:

"Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from His lips, the whole civilized world would now have been Christians."

How about George Washington:

"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

There are 2 sides to every coin.

Answer 5

Ben's comment says that he does not go to church, but he was a Christian. Look up other quotes on him...So was Thomas Paine...i am not sure about Jefferson. Perhaps look at the entire picture of these people before taking one comment and skewing it around to say whatever you want it to say.

Answer 6

Many of them were Deists and Freemasons, not necessarily Christians.

Answer 7

Some of them were. A LOT of them were not.

But the Christians don't like that truth.

Answer 8

No, most of them weren't Christian...They were Diests, but most of them weren't Christian...It's modern day Xian Historical Revisionists that like to rewrite history into the Founding Fathers being Christian, they feel it gives them some historical support in writing laws to better reflect Xianity.

Answer 9

That's interesting. I was about to answer yes (based on the pilgrims coming here for religious freedom) until I read your post.

Answer 10

Right back at ya....It would be helpful if you cite your source too!

Benjamin Franklin--
Benjamin Franklin: |
“ God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."


Thomas Paine:
“ It has been the error of the schools to teach astronomy, and all the other sciences, and subjects of natural philosophy, as accomplishments only; whereas they should be taught theologically, or with reference to the Being who is the author of them: for all the principles of science are of divine origin. Man cannot make, or invent, or contrive principles: he can only discover them; and he ought to look through the discovery to the Author.”
“ The evil that has resulted from the error of the schools, in teaching natural philosophy as an accomplishment only, has been that of generating in the pupils a species of atheism. Instead of looking through the works of creation to the Creator himself, they stop short, and employ the knowledge they acquire to create doubts of his existence. They labour with studied ingenuity to ascribe every thing they behold to innate properties of matter, and jump over all the rest by saying, that matter is eternal.” “The Existence of God--1810”

Thomas Jefferson-

“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]

The U.S. was founded as a Christian nation from the start. I specifically chose to cite the founders you mentioned, but there are many more. Including John Jay-first supreme court chief justice, James Madison-"Father of the Constitution, etc, etc. I have yet to find a non-Christian "founder." The godless often mention the separation letter written by Jefferson, but Jefferson was as flighty they come. Who could tell what he believed, but the fact is even Jefferson said he was a Christian.


http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm


*edit**

John Adams--
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson

"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817]


*edit2** to rd- you are hilarious. No one changed anything. Go to the library of congress web site and find the truth for yourself....FROM THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS!! the truth is clear, and all other LYING enemies of God, find the truth for yourself and stopped hiding behind what others tell you. Go to the documents if you don't believe me.

**edit3 to rd- Read the O.P's question!
"Were Our Nation's Founders Christians?" The answers is clearly, YES.