What do you think of these quotes on religion from some men who helped shape America?

Question

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
- Thomas Jefferson

"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
- John Adams

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."
- Benjamin Franklin

"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
-Benjamin Franklin

I have more. Should I post them?

"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."
-Abraham Lincoln

"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
- George Washington

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
-James Madison

SpiderJerusalem, I've read it. I won't post all of it (no one would read it), but here's a Paine quote. :)

"What is it the New Testament teaches us? To believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith."

lizardmama, they were Deists.

Annie, you're free to leave our lovely, non-Christian nation any time you'd like. :)

Paulie D, believe what you want. Just realize that this is not a "Christian Nation," and never was.

BERT, unless you provide proof, I can't believe you.

Answer 1

there are whole books filled with actual letters and quotes from many of the founding fathers showing their deep beleif in christianity and God ... and i dare u to research some of Thomas Jeffersons letters .. thats completely out of context .. Ben Franklin is another .. both of those men in particular made it clear in their writings that they didnt believe the united states could continue to be a free country without a moral population that trusted in God .. you need to dig deeper than out of context quotes from atheist.com ...

Answer 2

Enjoyed reading the quotes. Doesn't mean this is exactly complete in its reflective value.

So...I'll be looking to post this same question again, with even more interesting quotes. Quotes that I do believe will show the Founding Fathers were for the most part, religious men, who believed this to be a Christian nation.

Answer 3

What a great and interesting thing to bring up. I, myself have taken many United States Government History classes and have seen these quotes as well. I have silently pondered the very thing you ask here....why do so many people think our nation was built on a foundation of a belief in a religion. (not that I am NOT religious, but this is simply a fact, isn't it...?)
Cheers to you for knowing your history!

Answer 4

Sadly these men obviously didn't shape America well enough, considering what we have in the White House today.

I noticed that some fundamentalists are posting "counter-quotes" to show that the founding fathers meant the country to be a "christian country". From what I've seen, it looks like the founding fathers mostly paid lip service to religion in public quotes and showed their true understanding of the evils and excesses of religion in their private correspondences. Obviously, with the massive amount of small-minded religious bigots living in the US today, we can't really expect there to have been less back then, and I'm sure the founding fathers were well aware of their existence.

Back then, people had a much lower average level of education than today. We can only assume that the ultra-religious morons in this country were even more common and more ignorant in those days. So, to be able to guide a nation full of fundamentalist idiots, these men obviously had to keep their personal views out of the lime-light.

You still see politicians doing the same thing now. Obviously Senator Larry Craig was lying constantly about his personal beliefs. In his case, of course, it appears to be for much more hypocritical reasons. But politicians have always told the dim-witted religious folk what they wanted to hear, and they always will.

The Republicans have been using the religious right for years that way. They pay lip service to all the retarded fundamentalist crap just so they can get into positions of power and loot as much as they can from the public coffers.

Answer 5

This is my favorite.
Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the bible is filled, it would seem more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)

Answer 6

Up until recently, there were a lot of problems with the church. Mostly because people couldn't read and so those who could sometimes used the religion (not the christianity) to create a zealous following. Now that more and more christians are studying their bible, they are either pacifists or pro-life and charity. There are some cults, but like I said, they are cults...

Same goes for muslims. Although the Qaran says that they should "kill the infidel", it also promotes peace. You'll find that it is in the areas of low literacy and generations of hatred that you have the terrorists and bombers. Here in North America it is different.

Answer 7

Well, it tells me that they were Deist, but I knew that allready. What I find funny, is that this wasn't a christian nation untill the Red Scare. Then we said we are Christain to better the USSR. That is where it all started. That is where we lost our power as poeple and became sheep. Only 60 years ago. My Gramps tells me how the nation became Christian in a matter of weeks. How he was forecd to go to church so he wont be killed.

This nation was funded so everybody would be free to worship how they want, who they want, or not worship how they want, or not belive in a God. Me, I'm a something like a Deist, just liek our funding fathers.


AND IF I AM TO BE SHUNED AWAY, THIS COUNTRY HAS FAILED OUR FORFATHERS, WE HAVE FAILED THE MEN THAT DIED SAVING OUR FREEDOMS, THIS COUNTRY HAS FAILED!!

Answer 8

Amazing that you have wisely chosen to record these. Questions of this caliber like this and Questioners like you is a great credit to the Yahoo Q&A community.

Human mind is like a parachute; it functions only when it is open. Unfortunately, in great majority what we see is "the mind possessing beliefs, mostly false, is the mind possessed by the beliefs.

Please some more and oblige.

Answer 9

Fine to include these, and it shows that the abuses of the imposed religion of the British government was firmly in their minds. It also shows that they took spiritual matter very seriously.

If you read ALL their writings however, including letters, you will see that all the above men, with the exception of Ben Franklin, were deeply religious men who believed in the Bible.

It is disingenuous to include such a small body of quotations when all these men were prolific writers. The bulk of their writings indicate a truer picture of their Christian beliefs.

Answer 10

Specifically to Jefferson's quote: As Christians, we were called to unity, but never to uniformity.

In general- Franklin and Jefferson perplex me. The same men who said these things, and many other anti-church rants- also praised faith and godliness in other quotes. As best as I can figure, they were spiritualists or transcendentalists, but often read like Christians too. It's quite an enigma to try to put together.

Answer 11

Yes, by all means you should post them!
They should be read by every bible-thumper who spouts off about how the United States was founded by Christians to be a Christian nation.