Why do Christians think our founding fathers were Christians?

Question

Most were Deists, which are quite different. A Deist is one who believes in God but denies supernatural revelation. A Christian believes that Jesus Christ was the messiah and died for our sins.

America was not founded as a Christian nation, but it has slowly evolved into one. I wish they would stop using those statements about the founding fathers.

Several of the Founding Fathers considered themselves to be deists or held beliefs very similar to that of traditional Deists, the most prominent of whom was Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison also expressed religious views that stongly resembled Deism.

The primary founding fathers of our nation were not Bible-believing Christians; they were deists. Deism was a philosophical belief that was widely accepted by the colonial intelligentsia at the time of the American Revolution. Its major tenets included belief in human reason as a reliable means of solving social and political problems and belief in a supreme deity who created the universe to operate solely by natural laws. The supreme God of the Deists removed himself entirely from the universe after creating it. They believed that he assumed no control over it, exerted no influence on natural phenomena, and gave no supernatural revelation to man. A necessary consequence of these beliefs was a rejection of many doctrines central to the Christian religion. Deists did not believe in the virgin birth, divinity, or resurrection of Jesus, the efficacy of prayer, the miracles of the Bible, or even the divine inspiration of the Bible.

Answer 1

The second President (or tenth if you consider John Hanson the first) wrote to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813:

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.

However, Adams is often quoted as saying, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!" However, here's the complete quote in an April 19, 1817, letter to Thomas Jefferson:

Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion at all!!!" But in this exclamation I would 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.

As a Unitarian, Adams flatly denied the doctrine of eternal punishment believing all would eventually enter heaven. (Many Unitarians reject the Trinity and most accept all religions as valid expressions of faith.) But being a good Unitarian, he was certainly open to the teachings of Christ

Jesus is benevolence personified, an example for all men… The Christian religion, in its primitive purity and simplicity, I have entertained for more than sixty years. It is the religion of reason, equity, and love; it is the religion of the head and the heart (Letter to F.A. Van Der Kemp, December 27, 1816).

During Adam's administration the Senate ratified the 1797 Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli, which states in Article XI that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion." Some view this as "a smoking gun" that America was not founded as a Christian nation, while others argue that it was simply a concession to the Muslim nation (when the treaty was renegotiated eight years later, Article XI was dropped).

Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams organized the Boston Tea Party, and served as Governor of Massachusetts, a delegate to the Continental congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

In his 1772 work, The Rights of the Colonists, Adams wrote:

II. The Rights of the Colonists as Christians.

The right to freedom being the gift of the Almighty...The rights of the colonists as Christians...may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of The Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.

In his Last Will and Testament he wrote:

Principally, and first of all, I resign my soul to the Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying on the merits of Jesus Christ for the pardon of my sins.

Benjamin Franklin

In his autobiography, Franklin describes himself as "a thorough Deist." "I began to be regarded, by pious souls, with horror, either as an apostate or an Atheist."

According to a Deist publication, a Deist is "One who believes in the existence of a God or supreme being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason." Deists reject the Judeo-Christian accounts of God as well as the Bible. They do believe that God is eternal and good, but flatly reject having a relationship with Him through Christ.

Franklin certainly believed in the providence of God. In his famous speech to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on June 28, 1787:

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God governs in the affairs of men... If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground unseen by him, is it probable an empire could arise without his aid? I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building not better than the builders of Babel.

Just five months before his death, he wrote to Dr. Stiles, the President of Yale, who had questioned Franklin about his faith:

I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe; that he governs it by his Providence; that be ought to be worshipped; that the. most acceptable service we can render to him is doing good to his other children; that the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points of all sound religion, and I regard them as you do, in whatever sect I meet with them. As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think his system of morals and his religion, as be left them to us, the best the world ever saw, or is like to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it.

Alexander Hamilton

The Episcopalian authored many of the Federalist Papers, signed the Constitution, and became the first Secretary of the Treasury. In an April 1802 letter to James A. Bayard, Hamilton proposed The Christian Constitutional Society:

In my opinion, the present consitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banner bona fide must we combat our political foes, rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provided for amendments. By these general views of the subject have my reflections been guided. I now offer you the outline of the plan they have suggested. Let an association be formed to be denominated "The Christian Constitutional Society," its object to be first: The support of the Christian religion. second: The support of the United States.

Hamilton was shot and killed by Aaron Burr in a duel on July 12, 1804. His last dying words reportedly were:

I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.

So were Patrick Henry, John Jay, George Washington, etc.

Answer 2

The founding fathers were they not the writers of the Constitution and the Original Bill of Rights mainly if not all members of the Free Masons, readers of the Holy Bible based on the King James Version. Thus, their writings are spiritually based. Even a Deists will believe in a spiritual foundation for life though not a supernatural revelation.
It will be very difficult to deny the evolution of this country from a Jewish-Christian nation. Though be assure the Supreme Court is doing a very good job through their decisions to do so,eh?

Answer 3

Some were. Many weren't. Yes some were Deist. John Adams was Unitarian. Others said they were Christian because that's just how it was back then, you had to say you were a Christian or people would question your sanity and morals. More important than the founding fathers' religion was whether the founding fathers wanted the country to be a Christian country. Overwhelmingly, they didn't want that. I saw a recent documentary about it where they quoted guy after guy saying that they didn't want America's laws to be religious in nature, that that was the very thing they were escaping from in Britain!

Answer 4

I believe that it is mostly wishful-"thinking" and also stems from a desire to (attempt-to) 'legitimize' forcing their belief/s onto American culture as a whole, (then, the World).

Using their fantasy that the American Founders would be amenable to these tyrannical-goals, they seek to divest themselves of any culpability related to the usual outcome of such efforts. (Spanish Inquisition-style killings etc.) IMO

America's God-mocking Christian Founders

Since fundamentalist Christians are fond of claiming that America was founded and established by God-fearing Christians, they are left with the problem that these "Christian founders" were all rebels and workers of evil in the eyes of the Almighty.

The "Christian" founders of America were actually a bunch of insolent, rebellious, God-mockers.

The Bible makes it clear that those who rebel against God's established authority are not doing His will at all.

Much More Info Here:

http://www.geocities.com/b_r_a_d_99/rebelfounders.htm


The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians

"The Christian right is trying to rewrite the history of the United States as part of its campaign to force its religion on others.

They try to depict the founding fathers as pious Christians who wanted the United States to be a Christian nation, with laws that favored Christians and Christianity.

This is patently untrue.

The early presidents and patriots were generally Deists or Unitarians, believing in some form of impersonal Providence but rejecting the divinity of Jesus and the absurdities of the Old and New testaments.

Much More Info Here:

http://dim.com/~randl/founders.htm

Answer 5

"Christian nation" propagandist David Barton has issued a statement conceding that the following twelve quotations attributed to prominent historical figures are either false or at best questionable. WallBuilders' observations about the quotes are in parenthesis.

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!
-- Patrick Henry (questionable)

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.
-- George Washington (questionable)

Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian.
-- Holy Trinity v. U.S. [Supreme Court] (false)

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, nor upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves ... according to the Ten Commandments of God.
-- James Madison (false)

Whosoever shall introduce into the public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.
-- Benjamin Franklin (questionable)

Answer 6

Jefferson was a deist, Franklin was a skeptic, but many of the men involved in the early United States WERE Christian: Washington, Adams, John Jay, et al. It was founded as a Christian nation that advocated prayer to God, and one of the reasons for the split was the realization that the whole dictate-the-denomination thing that England was dumb. They couldn't have freedom of conscience, even for the skeptic and deist, unless they rewrote everything. Interestingly, Christians such as Washington, etc., agreed.

Answer 7

Deists of JESUS CHRIST. You need to go to forsakenroots.com,,if you cant find marys pages, go through Normans site at invisiblepatriots.com

and yes, they were, but they did not believe in forced religion, also, yes, our constitutional rights are ALL based upon the Holy Bible, done with much thought, before they all wrote it. 55 were deeply devoted orthodox christians. It has always been a Christian Nation. Judeo Christian God has always been here. Its true, so why would anyone stop using the statements. If it werent for the Bible, we wouldnt have rights.
They believed in Jesus. It was also in my history books as a child. It isnt propaganda, I came from a poor school that kept OLD books for our classes, and God was in them, as well as many statements about how they run here from forced religion.

Answer 8

A lot of them paid lip serivce to Christianity. Presidents still do pay it lip service.

The beautiful thing about the founding fathers is that they were so diverse, they realized that the only way they were going to make it would be by sharing power. If the "religious right" got its way now...it would only be a matter of time before they were at each other's throats to decide which God to worship in school. Worshipping none of them is best for everyone in the long run. Whether they realize it or not.

Answer 9

Christianity which started pure was contaminated by the Catholic Church hundreds of years later - the worst is infant baptism which kills personal repentance and rebirth.

In some instances a homosexual priest who will not inherit the Kingdom of God himself would sprinkle water on a baby and send him heaven bound. This Salvation by men can never qualify for real Salvation.

After Martin Luther, the Protestant movement has slowly come away from these Satanic traditions, but it still is a long way to go. Many Denominations still practice this evil tradition.

Satan took hold of the Church for many centuries, and it is a shame we have not cut of Satan's evil plans to this day.

If you are in a Infant Baptized Church - change it back to the Bible or leave it and run for your lives.

Answer 10

"As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of [Muslims] ... it is declared ... that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever product an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries....
The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation.” Treaty of Tripoli (1797), carried unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by President John Adams (the original language is by Joel Barlow, U.S. Consul)

Answer 11

Your answer shows you really have not read any of the writings of the Founding Fathers or any of America's founding documents.

Thomas Jefferson & Benjamin Franklin were Diests. Most of the others were Christians. Many were pastors.

You need to actually read the writings of the Founding Fathers that Clearly show they WERE Christians, instead of what some revisionist wrote about the Founding Fathers 200 years later