Were the founders of this country mostly Christians?

Answer 1

Yes, some were deists, which means they believed in a higher power, but did not specify who that higher power was. The majority, however, were Christians, and members of one of the organized Christian denominations.

Answer 2

The founders weren't all Christian. And none of them were Fundamentalist Evangelicals. The Christianity of our Founding Fathers became no longer some thing like the Christianity we've at present. the basic benchmarks is first and genuine-rated, Freedom for all. Freedom of Speech (that you obviously have) and Freedom of religion being the genuine 2. Our ancestors left Europe because particular Christian church homes had taken over thoroughly. The legislators we've at present are specially for Evangelicals. i'd pick to make sure what info you've this except gazing bill O'Reilly. Wikipedia is an open communicate board the position absolutely everyone can position maximum some thing on it. in case you locate some thing is tainted, it isn't Wikipedia who placed it there, yet someone who's utilizing Wikipedia. as a replace of having disillusioned about it, why no longer do the study and then attempt to appropriate it?

Answer 3

Yes, the Founding Fathers, as we know them, were, in the main, Christian. Virtually all of the immigrants who had come to America by the end of the 18th Century were Christian. However, most of the real movers and shakers (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and others) were Deists, which is a Christian philosophy unlike that seen today. Deists believed that an all-powerful Deity created the universe, and then pretty much ignored it.

I would also point out the Tom Paine, the writer of "the Crisis" pamphlet which was cited by G. Washington as what saved the Continental Army during the brutal winter at Valley Forge, was a hard-core atheist.

Answer 4

No. Most of the founders were Deists... Many had reservations about the "Christians" who lived in the colonies. Read some history on Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Washington.....

Answer 5

One of the most common statements from the "Religious Right" is that they want this country to "return to the Christian principles on which it was founded". However, a little research into American history will show that this statement is a lie.

The men responsible for building the foundation of the United States had little use for Christianity, and many were strongly opposed to it. They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. They were Deists who did not believe the bible was true.

When the Founders wrote the nation's Constitution, they specified that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3) This provision was radical in its day-- giving equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. They wanted to ensure that no single religion could make the claim of being the official, national religion, such as England had.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention religion, except in exclusionary terms. The words "Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God" are never mentioned in the Constitution-- not once.

The Declaration of Independence gives us important insight into the opinions of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the power of the government is derived from the governed. Up until that time, it was claimed that kings ruled nations by the authority of God. The Declaration was a radical departure from the idea of divine authority.

The 1796 treaty with Tripoli states that the United States was "in no sense founded on the Christian religion". This was not an idle statement, meant to satisfy muslims-- they believed it and meant it. This treaty was written under the presidency of George Washington and signed under the presidency of John Adams.

None of the Founding Fathers were atheists. Most of the Founders were Deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he does not concern himself with the daily lives of humans, and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or by sacred books. They spoke often of God, (Nature's God or the God of Nature), but this was not the God of the bible. They did not deny that there was a person called Jesus, and praised him for his benevolent teachings, but they flatly denied his divinity.

Some people speculate that if Charles Darwin had lived a century earlier, the Founding Fathers would have had a basis for accepting naturalistic origins of life, and they would have been atheists. ** Most of them were stoutly opposed to the bible, and the teachings of Christianity in particular.**

Yes, there were Christian men among the Founders. Just as Congress removed Thomas Jefferson's words that condemned the practice of slavery in the colonies, they also altered his wording regarding equal rights. His original wording is here in blue italics: "All men are created equal and independent. From that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable." Congress changed that phrase, increasing its religious overtones: "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights." But we are not governed by the Declaration of Independence-- it is a historical document, not a constitutional one.

**If the Christian Right Extremists wish to return this country to its beginnings, so be it... because it was a climate of Freethought. The Founders were students of the European Enlightenment.** Half a century after the establishment of the United States, clergymen complained that no president up to that date had been a Christian. In a sermon that was reported in newspapers, Episcopal minister Bird Wilson of Albany, New York, protested in October 1831: "Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism." The attitude of the age was one of enlightened reason, tolerance, and free thought.

The Founding Fathers would turn in their graves if the Christian Extremists had their way with this country.

Consider this: IF indeed the members of the First Continental Congress were all bible-believing, "God-fearing" men, would there ever have been a revolution at all?

Answer 6

No. Many were atheists, agnostics, Deists. A few like Hamilton were Christian. All of them were followers of the Enlightenment which sought to overthrow the influence of religion on government. Even Hamilton wanted to tax churches because he wanted to make sure they didn't become corporations. Most right wing Christians want to by pass these founding members of the Constitution and bill of Rights and the teachings of the Enlightenment. They always refer to the Mayflower compact when saying that they want to go back to our Christian roots. I guess by their logic, they'd like to start burning witches at the stake again too. They truly are a hateful lot, these right wingers.

Answer 7

The jury's still out on that. The present evidence and the revolution in the 1700's doesn't infer Christian influence of any kind. Presbyterian pulpits of the time actually encouraged it, disqualifying them as anything but apostate. If the pilgrims were the kind of people who resembled pentecostals of today, then, dogmatically, definitely not.

Answer 8

The majority were members of the Congregationist Faith. Washington was a closet baptist who married a CoE for her money, and Jefferson and Adams would probably be athiests if they had been alive around the time of Darwin.

Answer 9

Which country?

Answer 10

Not like the christians of today!