Founding Fathers

There is a pervasive belief, fueled by the conservative right, that the Founding Fathers were evangelical fundamentalist Christians. They weren't. Most were Deists. Most did retain membership in a church primarily for social/political purposes to prevent scandal.

Huckabee made this statement yesterday, that the signers of the Declaration of Independence "were brave people, most of whom, by the way, were clergymen."

Not true. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration, only 1 was a clergyman, John Witherspoon.

Of the Founding Fathers whose names we would most recognize:

• Washington was one of the least religious of the Founding Fathers and kept his beliefs the most private. It has been documented that when Washington went to church as an adult, he did not receive communion, but left the church.
• Jefferson didn't believe in the Trinity, including the divinity of Jesus.
• Franklin was a Deist
• John Adams did not believe in the inspiration of the Bible, creeds, or divinity of Jesus, but did find the ethics of the New Testament to be a useful guide.
• Madison was a Deist who believed strongly in the separation of church and state
  

The point, of course, is not that being a politician and Christian is bad, but to get over our nationalistic mythology that mistakes faith and loyalty in government (and its leaders) as faith and loyalty to God and is holding the minds and hearts of people captive.

An instructive book is The Faiths of the Founding Fathers written last year by David Holmes.



Jefferson: "It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one. But this constitutes the craft, the power and the profit of the priests."
Jefferson: "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
Jefferson about Washington: "Gouverneur Morris had often told me that General Washington believed no more of that system (Christianity) than did he himself."
John Adams: "The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity."
Bishop White: "Dear Sir: In regard to the subject of your inquiry, truth requires me to say that Gen. Washington never received the communion in the churches of which I am the parochial minister. Mrs. Washington was an habitual communicant."