Do these Founding Fathers sound religious to you?

Question

"Let us reflect that it [the world] is inhabited by a
thousand millions of people. That these profess
probably a thousand different systems of religion.
That ours is but one of that thousand."
-- Thomas Jefferson

“As to Jesus of Nazareth ... I think the system of
morals and his religion, as he left them to us, the
best the world ever saw or is likely 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 ...”
-- Ben Franklin

“Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus
Christ to establish a new religion, he would
undoubtedly have written the system himself, or
procured it to be written in his life-time.
“Of all the systems of religion that ever were
invented, there is none more derogatory to the
Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to
reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this
thing called Christianity.” -- Thomas Paine

Answer 1

They were deists at best - but more probably agnostics/atheists. It amazes me to hear kooks say the US was founded on the christian religion when it clearly and unequivocally was not.

Answer 2

Many of our founding Fathers weren't exactly Saints and big believers. But they did allow us to practice religous freedom.

Thomas Jefferson even rewrote the 4 gospels, and left out anything Jesus did that Jefferson condsidered supernatural. The book was released after his death.

Answer 3

he Religion of George Washington
A Bicentennial report - Chaplain Edwin S. Davis

He was not Saint George--the revisionist historians have convinced us of that. Yet there is ample evidence to show that religious faith was a deeply significant force in the life of the general who became our first President.

While some may consider religion a private matter only, George Washington saw it as more. For him it was a subject of demonstrated interest and public expression. As General of the Army he showed clearly that religious faith and military command can be joined. Indeed, for him there was a vital connection between the two.

Washington recognized the need for religion in the military and demanded chaplains for his troops. Roy J. Honeywell's History of the Chaplaincy of the United States Army traces the federal chaplaincy in this country from legislation enacted by the Continental Congress on 29 July 1775 in response to Washington's request that chaplains be provided for the Continental Army. Then, the chaplain's corps was augmented as a result of Washington's general orders of 9 July 1776, when the Army was quartered in New York City.

These orders directed that:
The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure for chaplains accordingly, persons of good character and exemplary lives. To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religions exercises. The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier defending the dearest rights and Liberties of his country.

On the day these orders were issued, Washington had received from Philadelphia the resolution of the Congress declaring that "the United States of America" were "free and independent . . . and absolved from all allegiance to the British crown." So it was in the same orders which increased the chaplain's corps that Washington informed his troops of the Declaration of Independence and directed that:
The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective parades at six o'clock, when the Declaration of Congress, showing the grounds and reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice. The General hopes that this important event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer and soldier to act with fidelity and courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of this country depends, under God, solely on the success of our arms.

The phrase "under God," so much a part of our nation's tradition and so familiar as part of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, was used by George Washington when he learned that the United Colonies had declared themselves an independent nation.

The ninth of July--the day Washington received news of the Declaration of Independence--was significant to him for still another reason, as seen in his letter to an old comrade, Colonel Adam Stephen:
The anniversary of the 3rd and 9th of July I did not let pass without a grateful remembrance of the escape we had at the Meadows and on the banks of the Monongahela.4
So the records show that these thoughts were in the mind of Washington on the day he learned his nation had declared its independence: gratitude to Providence for having twice spared his life in battle, and the realization that now he faced even greater trials. Significantly, he noted that these events and the destiny of the new nation were "under God."