America was built on Christianity?

Question

How can people say this country was founded on Christian ideals when Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, and James Madison all denounced Christianity?

Keep in mind that not being a Christian doesn't mean you don't have morals. They were still intelligent, honest, and good people.

Answer 1

Both sides in this debate tend very much to overstate things. For instance, whatever their personal views, the men you listed did NOT go about "denouncing Christianity". The only one who might be properly characterized as having done so was Thomas Paine -- and various "founders" denounced HIM for doing so, while others kept their distance from him thereafter.

Also, though there were surely some prominent Deists amongst the founders, very few on your list would have identified themselves in this way. This is not to say they all held to an "orthodox Christian faith". Some (NOT all here by any means!) expressed doubts/questions about the deity or Christ and doctrine of the Trinity, but still regarded themselves as in some sense Christian (NOT "Deist"). And you have, of course, left many people out of your list!

The thing that most often seems to confuse this debate is the idea that "founded on Christianity" must mean that the GOVERNMENT as such was somehow a "Christian government", as European governments generally thought of themselves, or even more extremely, in the Islamic model. In this respect, the U.S. was deliberately set up as a "secular" government, NOT under (nor over!) a specific established government church (also not requiring a "religious test" to hold office).

But why do people think "Christian nation" (or nation "built/founded" on Christianity) and "Christian government" must mean the same thing?? Do we ignore the role of people's faith, and arguments based on that faith, that helped shape our political traditions and form of government?

For example, Puritans ideas about "covenant" and "compact" (compare "consent of the governed") played a MAJOR role in ideas and forms of government in the colonies (and for that matter in 17th century Britain). While it is true that John Locke's arguments about the bases of "human rights" and human government shaped the political thinking of the founders, these were joined to (and in some cases themselves shaped by) ideas and actual practices introduced by CHRISTIANS (esp the Puritans).

If you read through political documents of the founding period you'll find they COMBINED these various things in their arguments. (Good example - the "Declarations and Resolves" of the First Continental Congress [October 1774], which finds many echoes in the Declaration of Independence.)

A fair assessment of the attitude of the founders toward Christianity and its connection to the nation --and even to government, in some sense -- would, of course, also have to include such practices as establishing chaplains in Congress (who would have, at the time, all have been representatives of CHRISTIAN churches) and beginning sessions with prayer. Such things were widely advocated, endorsed and practiced.. often by the very people you list. So, while not tied in with the church (and esp. church government) the U.S. government at the start did NOT seek to avoid all expressions of Christian faith and practice -- often quite the opposite.

Answer 2

there were many other reasons to why America was founded, such as profit and political freedom. Freedom of religion (pretty much Christianity) was a huge part of it.

When the Great Awakening occurred, it also started the Enlightenment. This is what all the people who you were relating too believed in. The Enlightenment taught the opposite of the Great Awakening (in a way). The Great Awakening was all about Christianity where as the Enlightenment was more about man's ability to think. The people kind of twisted Christianity and changed it to how they wanted it to be. If the Bible taught something that they didn't agree with or something, they just discarded the idea and didn't listen.

Two main beliefs under the Enlightenment were Deism and Unitarianism. Deism taught that God created the universe and everything, but once he finished making it, he never again intervened with anything he created. Unitarianism teaches that God is real, but there is no such thing as the Trinity. That Jesus was just a normal man.

This is what Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc all believed. Those beliefs were kind of like a twisted spin off from Christianity. They took Christianity and changed it to fit what they wanted.

But remember, America already had people here for Christianity before all of this happened. Most of the people were Christians in America. Just because those great people weren't, it doesn't mean America wasn't founded on Christianity.l

Answer 3

Many of the early settlers were religious. But that is only a small part of the picture. Many others were just dissatisfied with city life and wanted to get away from the government. If you look a large part of our founders were Deists. It is not the normal act of religious sheep to violently overthrow the government. The Washington administration faced a mild civil war that they ended up backing down on, because they taxed whiskey. Again, not your normal Christian cause. The first act of Congress was to remove some religious references in the oath they took to hold office.

Answer 4

1) If it wasn't, then how do you explain the Christian references in so far reaching an area. The Gov. buildings were all designed with Chritianity to the point where it's still not eradicated with the seperation of Church & State.
2) You don't have to be a Christian to practice or propel Christian ideals.
3) Re-read your info. Many people of the era denounced the Catholic church & the King, not Christianity. Many people have issues with the Catholic Church & none with God.

Answer 5

what are your sources for the denuciation of christianity, they wanted the country to be secularly based but im sure all of them would identify themselves as christian

christian ideals and Christianity are two different things

the main idea that lasted was the notion of American exeptionalism, that Americans were special/chosen (divinely) better than the rest of the old world at that time, the whole world today the "city upon a hill" idea

this idea lent itself to many aspects of American life
ex.
the colonists embraced Christianity, hence they must be saved/gods favored people justifying their continued westward expansion

the natives did not therefore were damned justifying their extermination and the confiscation of their lands

Answer 6

It's not built on Christianity. Its built on secularism(sp?). Most of the founding fathers denounced religion, and believed if we kept separation of church and state and did not establish a state church, that religion would eventually die out....unfortunately the plan backfired and we now have more religions than any other nation in the world...aww the irony.

Answer 7

Religion is a cultural phenomenon and although it was important in the social life of early Americans, the country was not 'built' on it. Very briefly, the country was built on immigration, settlement, economic development and hard work. Include the protestant work ethic if you wish.

Answer 8

Dude, 25% of Americans self reported that they didn't read a single book last year. People don't read what the Founding Fathers said - in part, because people don't read much of anything, period.

Of the people who do read, how many of them do you think read things of substance? How many of them read the alternate Christian history books being written by fundamentalist Christians?

Answer 9

I do not agree that the United States was built on one religion. You have the Puritans fleeing England to make a new life here. You have the City of Baltimore being founded as an open city for Jews. The colony of Georgia was a penal colony, a dumping ground for English prisons. Thomas Jefferson was a deist and slave owner who believe reason should rule all. Religion was an important part of life back then but it was not all of early American life.

The Puritans came to New England fleeing religious persecution in England. However, there is another side to that story. The Puritans were a group of religious zealot bound to bring the end times that they saw coming. They claim to be persecuted for religious reasons. The facts are these. They started a revolution where they committed sedition and killed their King. After taking over they decided that everyone needed to have their beliefs and decided to force people to convert to their way of life or face punishment in this life. Eventually people became tired of them and threw them out of England. They left England telling everyone that they were being persecuted for their beliefs when in fact these 17th century Christian Ji-hadist were the cause of a lot of intolerance. They settled in New England trying to do the same in New England.

The City of Baltimore is named after Lord Baltimore. Lord Baltimore made a lot of money from Jews running from Christians. The Jews of that era were usually skilled tradesmen or merchants. Many Christians thought these Jews should be Christians. Or else… Lord Baltimore gave many of these Jews shelter from Christians and he would tax them for compensation. He also sponsored a new Colony in what we call Maryland today. They decided to name the city after their sponsor.

The British have had a long problem with over crowding in prisons. This was mostly the result of the debtor laws. If you owed money and you could not pay it back then you were sent to jail until you did pay your debt. Back then you had to pay for room and board in a English jail. So if you could not pay you debts then you went to a place that made it impossible to pay your debts and drove you deeper into debt. You can imagine how this caused a lot of people to crowd into prison at that time. So when the America’s were colonized, some got the idea to clear the prisons by shipping most of the inmates to America. Thus we have the state of Georgia today.

Thomas Jefferson was what you might consider a professional idea man. He believed in reason above passions. This did not stop his passions for the slaves he owed (i.e. Sally Hemmings). He actually tried to rewrite the Bible because he thought we had lost the idea that God and Jesus tried to present to us. This was the same man who wrote the Declaration of Indolence. Jefferson was disappointed to realize that no matter how much education a person had you could not make that person think.

Religion was an important part of the lives of people in early America. It gave slaves to hope of a better after life than the life they were sold into. Religion did give people a direction on how they should live a good life. But the same religions were used to persecute Jews. Ministers would use the Bible to tell everyone that slavery was an acceptable way of life for the slave and master. Often times people would swear by God because the word of men could not be trusted. You may not believe in your fellow man but you can believe in God. If He is printed on your money then you can believe in your money other wise you could not be certain that you could go to Heaven.

A person should also consider that most Christian sects believed in Pre-Destination 200 years ago. That means Heaven or Hell were not a personal choice but Gods choice and He made up his mind before you were born. The notion of Pre-Destination went away because of the Universalist Christians. At one time it was the largest Sect of Christianity in America. They died out because the Lutherans, the Anabaptist (Baptist, Mennonite, and Amish), Catholics, and many others decided that they would get larger congregations if they ignored Pre-Destination.

The real thing that America was founded on was Money. The English bought slaves in Africa where they were traded for rum and sugar in the Caribbean. The rum and sugar bought rice, timber, iron, and pelts along the eastern coast of America. The rum, sugar, pelts, iron, timber, and rice were sold for hard cash in England. Even after the American Revolution, the United States was the favorite place for the British to invest their Pounds. In the 1850, the United States was a world exporter of locomotives, railroad rails, timber, cotton, whiskey, rice, and coal. The sale of these things is what made America in the 19th century.

Answer 10

Slavery, elitism and the extermination of an indigenous people. Sounds christian to me.