How Our Founding Fathers Were Actually Not Christians

By Jennifer Thompson, published Aug 13, 2007
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It is a common argument from Christians that this country was founded on Christian beliefs, and that our Founding Fathers were Christians.

It is unfortunate that those who make this argument haven't researched their argument. History is clear and many quotes have been documented that clearly state the opposite.

A Deist is a person who believes in Deism, defined by dictionary.com as: n. The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.

It has been clearly documented that many of our founding fathers were deists, which was a common belief system during the time in which they lived. (Especially as it was nearly immediately following the Age of Reason in England.) The Constitution of the United States contains no mention of God whatsoever. In fact, Alexander Hamilton was questioned by some about the omission of God. In an article published in The Nation in February of 2005 titled "Our Godless Constitution," the author, Brooke Allen cites that on one account, Hamilton responded that "the new nation was not in need of "foreign aid."

In the same article it is pointed out in the essay series (eighty-five in number) "The Federalist" mentions God just twice, both times by James Madison, and only in the sense of "only Heaven knows," per Gore Vidal. In the Declaration of Independence, the only mentions of God are: "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God," and the more frequently recited line about men "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." In both instances, the context agrees with the idea of Deism, not the ideas of Christianity.

 
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"In God We Trust" was not added to the United States currency until an act of Congress on January 18, 1837 during the time of the Civil War - You sure 1837 falls within the time frame of the American Civil War? Also, check out my new article on this topic.

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Posted on 03/24/2008 at 10:03:03 AM

 
Nice article. The reality is, our founding fathers understood the flaw and danger in continuing faith based government. I'm sure, like me, they saw no danger in an uninvolved God. An "involved" God, however, presents horrible danger, because it often removes the element of rational human reasoning. Without that, people are prone to go to war, hunt witches, commit genocide, or a host of other atrocities, all because "God told them to". John Lennon once sang a great song, one that most of world is now familiar with. It's called "Imagine". In it, he asks the listener to consider the most ambitious dream of all: a world of peace. He sites several things that stand in the way of this, and one of those is religion.

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Posted on 03/03/2008 at 12:03:10 PM

 
I realize I am late to respond to this article, but better late then never to bring more truth to light. Jennifer, it seems to me you limited your own research to satisfy a hypothesis you wished to validate. It is true that several of the Founding Fathers were diests, but it is not true that they all were. For every quote you can pull up from a Father expressing doubt in religion, I can find two or more supporting the need for religion in the lives of Americans. What those of you who seek to remove Christianity from our culture fail to realize is that the Churches of Europe at the time of America's birth were oppressive. The reason America came to be had a lot to do with throwing off the shackles of oppressive religious leaders and Kings who demanded worship. It was a particular style of religious governance that each of your quotes speaks against, not Christianity as a whole. The United States was not and would never become a country headed by a religious leader. That is all t

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Posted on 02/29/2008 at 9:02:52 AM

 
D. James Kennedy writes: "Our nation's third president was, in fact, a student of Scripture who attended church regularly, and was an active member of the Anglican Church, where he served on his local vestry. He was married in church, sent his children and a nephew to a Christian school, and gave his money to support many different congregations and Christian causes." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28006 The Pilgrams didn't come here, not enough money. They were sent here by lenders from back home, expecting that the Mayflower would be full of cedar planks and furs in partial payment for the journey. The founding cultures of our new nation were predominantly christian and they came for the most part seeking finacial freedom and gained religious freedom in the bargin.

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Posted on 01/11/2008 at 1:01:28 AM

 
Thanks for dropping by and leaving your link. I am often amazed at the numerous members of our American society that are unaware of the beliefs many of our Founding Fathers subscribed to. It baffles me because I was taught this in history class in school, just as I was taught the real version of the Pledge of Allegiance as well as when our money was imprinted with "In God We Trust". Maybe this is why we have so many American that wish to claim America as a Christian Nation, because the were never taught the true history of our nation? They like to point back to the Puritans as evidence of why we are a Christian Nation, but forget that the Puritans fell right into alignment with the same religious persecution they fled from. They forget the atrocities and manipulations that were enforced and engaged in--and you are right they were the first Fundamentalists. Our Founding Fathers looked at the evidences left behind by these early Fundamentalist settlers and realized that for people fleein

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Posted on 08/26/2007 at 1:08:00 AM

 
Great job, as always! I thought this was very informative. :)

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Posted on 08/21/2007 at 12:08:00 PM

 
Overwhelming evidence, David? I just quoted their actual writings - that's evidence enough for me. Why is it SO important to you folks to try to twist their writings to make them appear Christian? I think that's the better question, now, isn't it? To the rest of you with your fantastic comments, I'll be writing back to the rest of you too, sorry I've been a bit absent from the dialouge.

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Posted on 08/21/2007 at 10:08:00 AM

 
Jennifer - What could change your mind that the majority of the founding fathers were Christians of one stripe or another? Some may have had heretical views and practices but were Christian. Many said bad things about a theocracy, the clergy, or the state of Christianity but so do Christians today. Even of the ones that were not Christian many said good things about god or prayed. I would love to dialogue with you on this as the overwhelming amount of evidence shows that of the hundreds of men who can be called founding fathers most were Christian. Contact me.

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Posted on 08/18/2007 at 6:08:00 PM

 
can choose to believe it or not, and if God wanted to control anything on earth, wouldn't you think that would be it?

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Posted on 08/16/2007 at 8:08:00 PM

 
Christianity is a relatively new concept in that in the days of our founding fathers, there were few religious factions. Christianity has come to generalize all kinds of different sects, as in Baptists, Mormons, etc. True Christianity is basically the incorporation of the Holy Trinity. So in fact, you are correct in your assertion that the founding fathers were Deists. Christianity is corrupt with flaws, but of course it is a man-made institution. Even the Bible has been manipulated, but if you can look past all of that, the idea is that God put us here to make our own choices, in hopes that we would make the right ones. He can no more make our decisions for us than He can impose consequences--He warns that certain behaviors have consequences, just as our parents do when we are young. The Bible refers to God as "Father" for a reason. The idea that God "abandoned" us on earth is a reference to the belief that God cannot manipulate people or circumstances to His own will. People

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Posted on 08/16/2007 at 8:08:00 PM

 
This is an interesting take on the subject of what the founding fathers of America believed in. I had not considered this country's founding fathers before in any great depth. Sophie

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Posted on 08/16/2007 at 5:08:00 PM

 
woah - no discussion to add here, but nice work.

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Posted on 08/16/2007 at 1:08:00 PM

 
I haven't yet joined this discussion, but Richard says it best below.

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Posted on 08/16/2007 at 9:08:00 AM

 
I'm not insulted at all. You've asked an honest question in a respectful way. I don't believe in coincidences, especially when so many things which could be "coincidence" have worked in my favor. Religion is sometimes called the crutch of the weak. However, it has been the partner of the strongest people I know. I think the biggest difference between believers and non-believers is perception. What you perceive is coincidence, I see as the hand of God. What you see as an accident of nature, I see as the creation of God. Where you see evolution, I see the intelligence of a Creator. You say that you can't see God in wonderful things that happen...I can and do.

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Posted on 08/15/2007 at 8:08:00 PM

 
I'm sorry, the new testament ranges from 40 years or so to a century and a half after Jesus, not just a century.

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Posted on 08/15/2007 at 6:08:00 PM

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