WHY were the *Founding Father's* quotes all pertaining to GOD? Where were the Heathen Fathers?

Question

The First Charter of Virginia (granted by King James I, on April 10, 1606)
• We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God
William Bradford
• wrote that they [the Pilgrims] were seeking:
• 1) "a better, and easier place of living”; and that “the children of the group were being drawn away by evil examples into extravagance and dangerous courses [in Holland]“
• 2) “The great hope, and for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world"
John Adams:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders

Answer 1

Most of them were Deists.

See, it IS actually possible to believe in a god and not be a complete d*ck.

It's also possible to believe in a god and not in YOUR god.

And, finally, it's possible to believe in a god and not in any religion.

As for John Adams - He signed a government document that said this -

"Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"

Answer 2

Many of our most prominent founding fathers were Deists, eg. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Paine. Washington did not allow Christianity or God in the Constitution. A creator is mentioned, but it is the Deist creator, not the Christain God. Adams agreed with the Treaty of Tripoli that the government of the USA was not founded in any way upon Christianity. Jefferson became an atheist, as proven by a letter to his nephew that told the lad to study the Bible critically and objectively and that after such a study one might well conclude that there is no God. Jefferson did not allow the Bible to be taught in public schools in Virginia. The majority present rejected a motion to mention Jesus in the Declaration of Independence. Wise men had seen enough religious tyranny in England, so they wanted to prevent it here.

Answer 3

That is writing from 1606, we were owned by England at the time and the Church controlled England. The Pilgrims were looking for a place that they would not be persecuted for their Religious beliefs there is no question of that. However if you read the writings of many of our Founding Fathers you will find that they held less than Christian beliefs. Try The Age of Reason, and The Age of Enlightenment. Your question is disingenuous as ALL of the Founding Fathers Quotes were NOT about God.

Answer 4

Seriously. Read a history book. Your lack of education about your own country is alarming.

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." -Thomas Jefferson

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors." - Thomas Jefferson

"As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims] ... it is declared ... that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever product an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries....
"The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation."
-- Treaty of Tripoli (1797), carried unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams

Answer 5

well there is really nothing to add looks like ALL of the answers above came to the same conclusion. Read their answers. There seem to be a plethora of quotes there from our true founding fathers that prove that Christianity is not what this country was founded on.

Answer 6

Yes, but none of these guys wrote the constitution. Read the names at the bottom of the Declaration of Independence and see what they had to say. You can quote, the Pilgrims, King James, Gandhi, or the Mayan pictographs, but they have nothing to do with OUR constitution or OUR nation.

Answer 7

You asked for it! I am waiting to hear you admit you were wrong. Somehow I doubt you will.
In 1787, when the framers excluded all mention of God from the Constitution, they were widely denounced as immoral and the document was denounced as godless, which is precisely what it is. A good many people important to this nation's formation were Deists. Here are quotes from some of the forefathers of the United States of America:

Benjamin Franklin:
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his religion...has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble."
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by Benjamin Franklin (Dover 1996)
Thomas Paine:
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, nor by any church that I know of... Each of those churches accuse the other of unbeliefe [sic]; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."


--from The Age of Reason

He also had a few thoughts in regards to the Bible: "It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it as I detest everything that is cruel."

John Adams, the 2nd Constitutional President:
Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!'"


(John Adams, A Biography in His Own Words)


"We can never be so certain of any Prophecy or the fulfillment of any Prophecy; or of any miracle as We are, from the recelation of nature i.e. natures God that two and two are equal to four. Miracles or Prophecies might frighten Us out of our Witts; might scare us to death; might induce Us to lie, to say that We believe that 2 and 2 make 5. But We should not believe it. We should know the contrary."

-- The Adams-Jefferson Letters, ed. Lester Cappon (Chapel Hill 1959)


"the Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."

John Adams, from the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (Article XI)

Answer 8

Again I would recommend the "so called" separation of Church and state letter by Jefferson to those that so proudly use it to stop christian teaching.

Answer 9

We don't want to start the founding fathers quote game, do we? At best, atheist will win. At worst, it will end in a tie.

I can promise you that the founding fathers' version of god was different than yours. They were deist. While they believed in god, it wasn't a personal, active in your life kind of god.

Answer 10

You mean like when Thomas Jefferson felt the need to rewrite the New Testament because he liked the ethics, but thought it was mostly ridiculous? Here is an on-line version but Amazon has it too: http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/

Doesn't sound much like a Christian to me....but maybe you think that is OK to rewrite it because you don't believe all of it.