Do you agree with these statements by the founding fathers concering Christianity ?

Question

"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth." ------- THOMAS JEFFERSON


"Christianity...[has become] the most perverted system that ever shone on man....Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and imposters led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus." ------ THOMAS JEFFERSON

"In every country and in every age the PRIEST/PASTOR has been hostile to liberty; he is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." – THOMAS JEFFERSON

"...an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, 'Jesus Christ...the holy author of our religion,' which was rejected-----'By a great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.'" ----- From Jefferson's biography:


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"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together." -- James Madison

"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people." - James Madison

"HISTORY records that the money changers(Jews) have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it's issuance". -- James Madison
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"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 in a letter to Thomas Jefferson

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity." --John Adams

"The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." - John Adams, Founding Father and 2nd US President.

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"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-- Abraham Lincoln

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"If they be good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mohammedans, Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists." – GEORGE WASHINGTON

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Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."-- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1758

"I wish it (Christianity) were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... not holy day keeping, sermon-hearing ... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity." -- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, _Works_ Vol.VII, p.75

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects of Christianity, we shall find few that have not in turns been persecutors and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in Pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution on the Roman church, but preactied i on the Puritans. They found it wrong in Bishops, but fell into the practice both here (England) and in New England"-- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 1758

Christianity [Religion] I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another."-- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN








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Answer 1

These were wise, wise men. All of them were responding to the fundamentalistic side of Christianity. Thank God (and I mean that literally with every fiber of my being) that we had them to set up our country and not some of the NeoCon idiots who are running things now.

Answer 2

I believe that these quotes accurately reflect the thinking of these American political figures at the time they were written, and some of them are actually quite helpful and supportive of religion and even of Christianity. Yet too many Americans (Christians and not) have the mistaken notion that the founding fathers were predominately Christians, when in fact many were Deists and Rationalists who may have believed in a generic unitarian "God" but did not believe and confess Christianity as it is accepted in an orthodox, catholic, sense.

The fact that the individuals quoted by the questioner happened to be political leaders in their day doesn't necessarily qualify them as theologians, any more than political opinions expressed by a priest or pastor should necessarily be accepted uncritically. Nor should abuses in religion be viewed any more or less severely than abuses in democracy. Both are systems of belief and practice that purport to offer a model or template for the conduct of individuals and collectively, yet both are subject to the failings of the flawed human beings who participate in them.

As a confessional Lutheran pastor, I'm very comfortable with the separation of church and state in the sense of the "two kingdoms" doctrine. Both should maintain independence from the other, neither realm meddling into matters about which it has limited qualifications and no charter to intervene. That said, it seems clear to an objective reader that the constitutional requirement of the government not respecting any establishment of religion had been originally intended to indicate that no official state church shall be sanctioned by the United States, exactly because of the abuses in the church-state relationship that the framers had observed in other historical settings. Yet there are strong indications that these men also felt religion had value in governing the ethics and morality of the populace in a democratic republic and preventing outrageous behavior. So, who really wanted to use religion to exercise control over the citizenry; the religious leaders, or the the political? And who wanted to use religion to serve the purposes of government?

In recent decades, it appears that the government has begun to meddle and encroach into the conduct of religion and even taken hostile actions toward it. Meanwhile, too many religious bodies and figures have become actively involved in attempting to sway the political realm toward their own ends, perhaps in self-defense. But, rather than simply making their concerns about secular matters known publicly as any organization is entitled to do, and communicating to their members the religious body's teachings on a matter so they can make informed decisions as individual citizens, they've attempted to gain their way by directly injecting themselves in the executive, legislative, and judicial processes. Both camps should stay out of the other's tent, in my opinion; both would be able to focus their efforts on addressing their own purposes.

Answer 3

You forgot one.

"As long as God gives me a heart to feel, a brain to think, or a hand to execute my will, I will devote it against that power which has attempted to use the machinery of the courts to destroy the rights and character of an American citizen. But there is a thing which is very certain; it is, that if the American people could learn what I know of the fierce hatred of the generality of the priests of Rome against our institutions, our schools, our most sacred rights, and our so dearly bought liberties, they would drive them away, tomorrow, from among us, or would shoot them as traitors. . . . The history of the last thousand years tells us that wherever the Church of Rome is not a dagger to pierce the bosom of a free nation, she is a stone to her neck, and a ball to her feet, to paralyze her and prevent her advance in the ways of civilization, science, intelligence, happiness, and liberty. . . . I do not pretend to be a prophet. But though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our horizon. And that dark cloud is coming from Rome. It is filled with tears of blood. It will rise and increase, till its flanks will be torn by a flash of lightening, followed by a fearful peal of thunder. Then a cyclone such as the world has never seen, will pass over this country, spreading ruin and desolation from north to south. After it is over, there will be long days of peace and prosperity; for popery, with its Jesuits and merciless Inquisition, will have been forever swept away from our country. Neither I nor you, but our children, will see those things." Abraham Lincoln

Of course, I do not put my faith in what man has to say. I put my faith in God and His promises.

Answer 4

"Principally, and first of all, I resign my soul to the Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying on the merits of Jesus Christ for the pardon of my sins." --Samuel Adams

"A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district--all studied and appreciated as they merit--are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty." --Ben Franklin

"It is when people forget God that tyrants forge their chains." --Patrick Henry


"To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others..." --Thomas Jefferson

Answer 5

Lol I guess TG doesn't know history or didn't pay attention to the fact that you stated "Founding Fathers" and that Abraham Lincoln was NOT a founding father of America..

I agree completely with them, btw.

Answer 6

You've posted these same quotes before, and I urged you then to read more deeply in the Founding Fathers. I see you are to slothful to have done so, preferring to cling to the ignorance you are comfortable with. So be it. None so blind, as he who refuses sight!

Answer 7

Ah, someone who gets it. Thank you for posting these.

This is why Jefferson was called a "howling atheist" back in his time.

EDIT: Wow, someone is actually giving a thumbs-down to our Founding Fathers? LOL. Sorry, but it really isn't a Christian nation. Here's your smoking gun.

Answer 8

Yeah, I completely agree.

Their statements have affirmed my perspective about religions.

Answer 9

I agree with your awesome quotes.

Answer 10

http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm