Was the United States really founded on Christian principles?

Question

Or secular ones based on the ancient Greek, Roman, and Judaic religions?

So then why do Christians try to impose their beliefs on American government and society (creationism, no divorce, no abortion, public prayer,etc.)?

Answer 1

I bet just about everyone who posts here will be wrong, because they have never studied it I bet. I have spent two years researching the topic, and read over 300 academic books on the subject. America was founded in the colonial period by people professing Christianity, that is undeniable, but the Founding Fathers were a mixed lot. It really depends on your definition of Deism. If you believe Deism is a clockmaker God, then none of them were really Deists. If you believe Deism is the rejection of Revealed religion, then at one time or another Franklin and Jefferson were Deists, but if they died with those convictions we cannot truly know. However Franklin essentially said that Deism was a "perversion" and also that it was "not good for much". Adams, who is also frequently called a Deist, was fiercly opposed to the religious views of Thomas Paine (a true Deist but also not a Founding Father)

As far as the Constitution, I would say no, it is not founded on Christian principles. They were adament about a secular federal government. But there are so many misconceptions about American history.

Currently my book on the topic is 411 pages, which adds up to nearly 200,000 words, and most books are typically 75,000 words. Simply put people don't have a clue about American history because they have never really taken the time to study it.

I could even tell my college history professor did not study American history as much as me because he said the Quakers were "not really a religious people". Just last week my Philosophy of Religion teacher said John Adams was a Deist, and that the Unitarians were definitely not a Christian sect.............

So many people debate this topic out of ignorance. If you have any questions about Christianity in America from Columbus to Jefferson, email me. Don't ask the fools on here.

Answer 2

"So then why do Christians try to impose their beliefs on American government and society"

Probably for the same reason that everyone else who casts a vote tries to do the same thing, because they think that their beliefs are worthy of official sanction. You don't think that other people do not try to impose their beliefs on others through the government do you? Everyone who casts a vote is saying "This is what I believe is right about a particular matter and I want the govenment to back up my belief with the law and impose what I believe is right on the rest of the populace".

If for example the ACLU says that it is wrong for the God of the Bible to be taught in public schools then they are trying to enforce their belief that the God of the Bible doesn't matter and isn't legitimate right? They don't believe in the God of the Bible and they don't want other people to teach against what they believe, right?

As for the U.S. being founded on "Christian principles", that's a matter of debate. On the one hand you could point out as you have that there are other comparable sources that the founders may have gotten their ideas from. On the other hand you could point out that for the most part the founders of this nation professed a faith in the Christian religion and therefore it is likely that this nation was in fact founded by Christian men who were guided by Christian principles.

Answer 3

All the founding fathers were agnostics or deists, which were basically that era's atheists. That is to say, it is believed by many that had they lived today and seen our sciences, they would have become atheists, but did not at the time because there was really no other alternative. Therefore I'd say it was founded on rational thought and not religion at all.

Who says religion has the monopoly on "principles?"

EDIT: Wow. Some of the questions here are really uninformed. For those people claiming the founding fathers were Christians, maybe they should try http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html to learn a little. And the only reason I threw up a website is because I know they would never read a book if I put them up. I've got three history books on the shelf next to me which agree that the founding fathers were not Christian.

EDIT AGAIN: To answer your second question, I'd say they try to impose their beliefs on US govt because they are, as a lot of posts here show, uninformed as to the TRUE nature of the United States and the ideals it was formed under. Even George Bush probably doesn't know that the founding fathers are were not Christians, and I'm sure he would be appalled to find out. These Christians honestly believe they are 100% right in thinking that without religion we would all be thrown into chaos and start raping and murdering each other.

Answer 4

Just read some of the Constitution, even the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, or even Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, you'll find God mentioned many times. You'll find Biblical principles applied to our Constitution. If you look into history, there is a reason that Congress has a prayer room, when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, before they started any work, they prayed. I believe that the Constitution and our country was founded on Biblical principles. Many people also don't know that during the War for Independence, George Washington got baptised, or that Abraham Lincoln prayed to God fervently during the Civil War. Also, there is a reason that those sworn into office, swear on a Bible, because they recongnize that this country was built on Biblical principles.

Answer 5

Underlying concepts of Christendom and maximum different religions are very comparable. The founding fathers, no count if Christian or not, have been all adult males of thought. So returned on your question: "So why then do human beings nevertheless think of that the form is predicated of Christian ideals and for this reason the united states is predicated of Christian morals?" the respond is that the form is predicated on the comparable concepts held via followers of Christ. no count if the writers meant for it to be so is yet another question all collectively.

Answer 6

No it was not founded on "Christian" principles. It was founded on the principles of Secular Humanism, with a healthy dose of commercialism throw in.

Reread your history.

The Pat Robertson cry that it was founded as a Christian Nation is pure lunacy from the man who in 1999 predicted that the world will end on the 29 of this month of this year,07.

Washington's own pastor and the chaplain of the Continental Congress, Bishop White states plainly in 1832: "I do not believe that any degree of recollection will bring to my mind any fact which would prove General Washington to have been a believer in the Christian revelation"

Answer 7

The poster "Johnny" 9is actually wrong. The Founding Fathers did in fact begin this country based on Christian principles, but they also wanted each person to be able to worship as they see fit.
If you will take a look at many of our monuments in Washington D.C. you will find scripture, Ten Commandments, references to God...........there is even a statement about God on the very top of the Washington Monument where it can't even be seen except being over the top of it.

The separation of church and state isn;'t even in the Constitution.

Godless men have perverted our documents to what they are said to say these days.........and foolishly, we have not fought back.....

until now

Answer 8

It was founded on JudaeoChristian belief as well as Deist beliefs. Both the New Englanders with their puritanism and the aristocractic Southerners of Church of England background where many had Deist beliefs, like Jefferson, influenced our constitution and the interpretation of it in early years.

Answer 9

Of the first 108 universities, 106 were Christian; including Harvard, Princeton, College of William and Mary, Yale, and many others.

99.8% of American colonists during the revolution claimed to be Christian.

A prayer to God in Jesus name has been said in every Congress meeting since 1776.

"This nation was founded on the general principles of Christianity."
-John Adams

"No nation has ever yet existed or been govered with religion. Christianity is the best religion that has ever been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example."
-Thomas Jefferson

"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible"
-George Washington

80% of the World's missionaries come from America.

Answer 10

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