Founding Fathers views on religion July 1, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Ive been getting into a few debates recently on the idea that america is a christian nation. it seems a few people say that if your not a christian you ought to not be here. well this is what i have to say to that absurd statement.
United States Constitution:
The First Amendment
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”
Article VI, Section 3
“…no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
John Adams (the second President of the United States):
Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli (June 7, 1797). Article 11 states:
“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
From a letter to Charles Cushing (October 19, 1756):
“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.’”
From a letter to 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!”
Additional quotes from John Adams:
“Where do we find a precept in the Bible for Creeds, Confessions, Doctrines and Oaths, and whole carloads of trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days?”
“The Doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity.”
“…Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”
Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States):
Jefferson’s interpretation of the first amendment in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association (January 1, 1802):
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State.”
From Jefferson’s biography:
“…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.’”
Jefferson’s “The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom”:
“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, more than on our opinions in physics and geometry….The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
From Thomas Jefferson’s Bible:
“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 Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”
Jefferson’s Notes on Virginia:
“Reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these free inquiry must be indulged; how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse ourselves? But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?”
Additional quotes from Thomas Jefferson:
“It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
“They [the clergy] believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition of their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the alter of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
“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.”
“In every country and in every age the priest has been hostile to liberty; he is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”
“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear….Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it end in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue on the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise and in the love of others which it will procure for you.”
“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 importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus.”
“…that our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics and geometry.”
James Madison (the fourth President of the United States):
Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments:
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise….During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution.”
Additional quote from James Madison:
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
Benjamin Franklin:
From Franklin’s autobiography, p. 66:
“My parents had given me betimes religious impressions, and I received from my infancy a pious education in the principles of Calvinism. But scarcely was I arrived at fifteen years of age, when, after having doubted in turn of different tenets, according as I found them combated in the different books that I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself.”
From Franklin’s autobiography, p. 66:
“…Some books against Deism fell into my hands….It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quote to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations, in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.”
Thomas Paine:
From The Age of Reason, pp. 89:
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of….Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and of my own part, I disbelieve them all.”
From The Age of Reason:
“All natural institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”
From The Age of Reason:
“The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion.”
From The Age of Reason:
“What is it the Bible teaches us? — rapine, cruelty, and murder.”
From The Age of Reason:
“Loving of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has beside no meaning….Those who preach the doctrine of loving their enemies are in general the greatest prosecutors, and they act consistently by so doing; for the doctrine is hypocritical, and it is natural that hypocrisy should act the reverse of what it preaches.”
From The Age of Reason:
“The Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the worst use of it — not to terrify but to extirpate.”
Additional quote from Thomas Paine:
“It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.”
Ethan Allen:
From Religion of the American Enlightenment:
“Denominated a Deist, the reality of which I have never disputed, being conscious that I am no Christian.”
Interesting post, and well researched.
[…] Founding Fathers views of religion And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the alter of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” “I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular … […]
Thank you deeply! I have been searching for such a list as this for the better part of a year! These quotes will all be put to good use, and if I use many of them in one place I will credit you.
The founding fathers also owned slaves.
@ Kunt
Most religions have also been guilty of slave trade/ownership at some point in history. What’s your point?
kenny,
There’s a reason it’s difficult to find such quotes. It’s because they’re relatively rare. Most (51 or 54) of the founders were deeply religious…and members of local Christian congregations. This DOESN’T mean you must be a Christian to be an American, but the Constitution clearly is informed by their perspective. Our heritage is distorted by saying otherwise.
John,
Couldn’t agree more, but th vast majority of the founding fathers were Deists, which is not to be confused with Christan.
Actually, a small handful were deists. I had the number wrong, of the 55 (I thought it was 54) signers, 3 were deists. See John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), p. 43. One was unknown, the rest were various Christian church members, at a time when belief was known quite publicly. (BTW, the deists were Williamson, Wilson and Franklin.)
If any of you are wondering, although Jefferson was not a signer, he could arguably be called a deist. Some have also labeled him more “Unitarian”. What we do know is, he was deeply influenced by the Bible and it informed much of what he believed, even though he used it to suit his purposes (support of natural rights).
Many of the founders of what is now known as the United States of America came here to this vast uncharted wilderness BECAUSE of religious persecution. While some saw their way clear to establish a state religion (Plymouth Plantation / Massachusetts), others allowed and encouraged diversity of religion (Georgia, the Carolinas). By the time of the American Revolution, it was pretty much accepted that in order to avoid some of the pitfalls of government as it was then currently known in Europe, there needed to be a separation of church and state. What religion the founding fathers did or did not practice was not relevant: what was important was that it be acknowledged that there was allowance for whatever worship or lack thereof you preferred or professed.
The fact that many of the founding fathers owned slaves is irrelevant to THIS discussion: they also believed that illness was caused by bad “humours” and that cupping and leaching were the way to cure just about any disease then currently known. We progress, and harmful or outdated or just plain wrong ideas are (hopefully) discarded. What does slave ownership (as such) have to do with freedom of (or from) religion?
Don’t misunderstand me - I am NOT supporting slave ownership or discrimination of ANY type or form. If you go back far enough, we ALL have our tales of woe: blacks can point to slavery here in the USA and other countries, Armenians can point to a couple of centuries of repression and oppression at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, Romanys (Gypsies) can point to acts and attitudes all over Europe for the past several centuries, Jews can point to a couple of thousand years of discrimination (plus or minus a few hundred) the Angles (the “Anglo” in “Anglo-Saxon”)can point to repression by the Saxons… the list goes on and on.
My point here (and yes I do have a point here despite my seemingly unconnected ramblings) is that (theoretically at least - less so in actuality) we here in the USA are free to practice whatever religion we choose. Yes, the country has been influenced by Judeo-Christian morality, but given the origins of the original occupiers (remember, we of European descent are not the original inhabitants of this continent), does this surprise you?
I don’t see how the fact that most of our founding fathers practiced christianity would have anything to do with what our country is based on. They chose christianity for themselves, not for the entire country for hundreds of years to come. Our founding fathers were christian, but they founded our country on the idea of religious freedom. And that is reflected in our Establishment Clause. Anyone who claims that our country is Christian just because the signers of the constitution were is not upholding the purpose of this country and is therefore less American than any non-christian.
interesting post. I may also bring up that most of the interests of the founding fathers have been ignored in recent years.
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