Religious Views of the Founding Fathers Part One

“America was founded as a Christian Nation!”

 “America needs to turn back to God!”

  “America needs to put God back in our schools!”

            These comments, and comments like these, are often spouted by the religious-right to express their belief in the necessity of a joint church and state. While comments such as America being founded as a Christian nation are common, they are not entirely true. In fact, many of the United States’ founding leaders did not consider themselves to be Christian. Furthermore, many of them advocated for the strict separation of Church and State. Throughout the semester we have discussed several of the founding leaders and their religious views. Though this blog post, I will summarize the views of the leaders we have discussed in class, and I will go into the religious views of some of the founding leaders we have not had the opportunity to previously discuss.

Thomas Jefferson

            Thomas Jefferson is probably the most notable founding leader we have discussed throughout our class this semester. Jefferson was lauded as one of America’s most famous Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby. Throughout his life and political career, Jefferson made several comments that succinctly expressed his religious views. In 1805, while serving as the country’s 3rd president, Jefferson began constructing the book he titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. The book known today as the Jefferson Bible was a version of the King James Bible in which Jefferson had painstakingly cut out any instance of the supernatural. All that remained were the ethical teachings. He held these views until his death in 1826. His opinions were so strong that in 1823, he wrote a letter to John Adams which read:

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. … But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding…. (Kelly, 2005)

While Jefferson is known as one of the most famous freethinkers in American history, he was not the first atheist to make his voice heard.

Thomas Paine

            Thomas Paine, according to Susan Jacoby, was the first American leader to be labeled as an atheist. Most known for his pro-revolution pamphlet Common Sense, Paine also wrote a manifesto titled The Age of Reason in 1794. In this work Paine claimed that Christianity and God were man made inventions. Although his beliefs (or lack thereof) in religion lead to him being poor and disliked, he held firm to his beliefs throughout his life. After his death individuals would ridicule him. President Theodore Roosevelt even called him “a filthy little atheist” (Jacoby, pp. 5, 2005).

Benjamin Franklin

            Benjamin Franklin considered himself to be a Deist. When Franklin was a young man, he attended a lecture series that sought to refute the claims of Deism. This lecture did the exact opposite for Benjamin Franklin, and he proclaimed himself a deist. However, his religious views floundered between deism and the belief in an active god for many years. While he switched between perspectives, his belief in a God never wavered. At the core of Franklin’s beliefs were the moral teachings of Christianity. Like Jefferson, Franklin was opposed to the supernatural aspects of religion. When Franklin was close to his death he was asked to write down his religious beliefs. By writing them down historians and contemporaries alike could have a clear idea of what the founding father believed. Just three weeks before his death, he complied, stating:

I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him, is doing Good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this ... As for Jesus of Nazareth ... I think the system of Morals and Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw ... but I have ... some Doubts to his Divinity; though' it is a Question I do not dogmatism upon, having never studied it, and think it is needless to busy myself with it now, where I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. (Fea, n.d.)

While Benjamin Franklin believed in a Creator, he felt the most important aspects of a religion were charitable acts. This belief was not uncommon amongst Deists, and was shared by the first president of the United States of America: George Washington.

Also, while this is completely unrelated to this course, Benjamin Franklin was potentially in a sex cult. Have fun with that knowledge!

Below is a video from the series "Ruining History" It does have some adult language in it, but it teaches a history lesson in a unique way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix3JApnAF4w

Works Cited:

Fea, J. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2018, from http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/pa-heritage/religion-early-politics-benjamin-franklin.html

Jacoby, S. (2005). Freethinkers: A history of American secularism. New York: Owl Books.

Kelly, E. (2018, February 04). America Is Not A Christian Nation And Never Has Been. Retrieved from http://allthatsinteresting.com/founding-fathers-religion