As we all know, America was founded by Fundamentalist Christians. That's why most of it's old public buildings

Question

and residences look like Classical Greek temples. Right?

look like Classical Greek temples. Right?

Answer 1

hate to brust your bubble but teepees, longhouses would be more founder like

Answer 2

False. The Founding Fathers were not fundamentalist Christians. George Washington was a high church Anglican. John Adams was a Unitarian. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist. Madison never acknowledged any public faith, and wrote diatribes against organized religion. Monroe was a high church Anglican. Franklin was a philosophical theist.

So the premise is false.

The buildings are done in Neoclassical Style because that architectural style is impressive as all get-out, and the United States had image problems due to its novelty. So America put its energy into erecting massive structures that were physically imposing.

One of these years, the Religious Right will miraculously acquire enough respect for the truth to stop trying to convince America that America is built on a religious foundation. America's foundation is one of public irreligion + freedom to worship howsoever one sees fit...including NOT worshipping.

Answer 3

Haven't we covered this before?

John Adams, believed in the essential goodness of the creation, but did not believe in the divinity of Christ or that God intervened in the affairs of individuals. He advocated the separation of church and state, but he also believed that regular church service was beneficial to man's moral sense. "Adams strove for a religion based on a common sense sort of reasonableness"
Adams was clearly no atheist “I have attended public worship in all countries and with all sects and believe them all much better than no religion.

Benjamin Franklin became disillusioned with organized religion after discovering Deism, but he still recognized the value of religion in the lives of mankind. "If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it."
Franklin displayed his conviction of a deity that was intimately involved in human affairs by requesting that each day's session begin with prayers. Franklin recalled the days of the Revolutionary War, when the American leaders assembled in prayer daily, seeking "divine guidance" from the "Father of lights." He then rhetorically asked, "And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?"

Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson was a deist because he believed in one God, in divine providence, in the divine moral law, and in rewards and punishments after death; but did not believe in supernatural revelation. He was a Christian deist because he saw Christianity as the highest expression of natural religion and Jesus as an incomparably great moral teacher. He was not an orthodox Christian because he rejected, among other things, the doctrines that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the incarnate Son of God. Jefferson's religion is fairly typical of the American form of deism in his day.

George Washington = Washington was the most religious of those one might consider to be the founding fathers. Washington endorsed religion remarking on its importance in building moral character in American citizenry. At least by some accounts, he valued the scripture in a way Adams, Franklin & Jefferson did not.

"Fundamentalism" began in the 1920s as a reaction to Darwin & others. So none of the founding fathers would have used that label, but I bet quite a few were regular church people who you might think of as "fundamentalists" today.

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I have yet to find an athiest among the founding fathers, but Washington is the closest I've found to what one might think of today as a 'fundamentalist."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070729090632AArtL2C

Answer 4

Huh? The founding Fathers, were Christian but not what we would consider fundamentalist. While some of them were "strict" in their beliefs others like Jefferson and Franklin were more deist then fundamental.

Answer 5

Let's clarify, yes the USA was founded on top of the murdered bodies of 12 million natives by some Pennsylvanian Christian red necks, who didn't want to pay taxes to the King in England.
Now, our president is still the puppet of its english masters, who never left.

Answer 6

Well there sure are a lot of things with God written on them that came from somewhere.

Answer 7

I don't know about the architecture but yes, America was founded by Fundamentalist Christians.

Answer 8

Actually, Greece, during it's "classical period", was anything but Christian...