What the (more important) Founding Fathers thought about religion

[Joe Republic]

Excerpted from this website, which in turn takes excerpts from 'The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians' by Steven Morris, in Free Inquiry, Fall, 1995.


George Washington, the first president of the United States, never declared himself a Christian according to contemporary reports or in any of his voluminous correspondence. Washington championed the cause of freedom from religious intolerance and compulsion. When John Murray (a universalist who denied the existence of hell) was invited to become an army chaplain, the other chaplains petitioned Washington for his dismissal. Instead, Washington gave him the appointment. On his deathbed, Washington uttered no words of a religious nature and did not call for a clergyman to be in attendance.

George Washington and Religion by Paul F. Boller Jr., pp. 16, 87, 88, 108, 113, 121, 127 (1963, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, TX)


John Adams, the country's second president, was drawn to the study of law but faced pressure from his father to become a clergyman. He wrote that he found among the lawyers 'noble and gallant achievements" but among the clergy, the "pretended sanctity of some absolute dunces". Late in life he wrote: "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!"

It was during Adams' administration that the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which states in Article XI that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

The Character of John Adams by Peter Shaw, pp. 17 (1976, North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC) Quoting a letter by JA to Charles Cushing Oct 19, 1756, and John Adams, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by James Peabody, p. 403 (1973, Newsweek, New York NY) Quoting letter by JA to Jefferson April 19, 1817, and in reference to the treaty, Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 311 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June, 1814.


Thomas Jefferson, third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, said: "I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac" and wrote:

"The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."

Thomas Jefferson, an Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie, p. 453 (1974, W.W) Norton and Co. Inc. New York, NY) Quoting a letter by TJ to Alexander Smyth Jan 17, 1825, and Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim by Alf Mapp Jr., pp. 246 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by TJ to John Adams, July 5, 1814.


James Madison, fourth president and father of the Constitution, was not religious in any conventional sense. "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 the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

The Madisons by Virginia Moore, P. 43 (1979, McGraw-Hill Co. New York, NY) quoting a letter by JM to William Bradford April 1, 1774, and James Madison, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by Joseph Gardner, p. 93, (1974, Newsweek, New York, NY) Quoting Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by JM, June 1785.


Benjamin Franklin, delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, said:

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion...has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble." He died a month later, and historians consider him, like so many great Americans of his time, to be a Deist, not a Christian.

Benjamin Franklin, A Biography in his Own Words, edited by Thomas Fleming, p. 404, (1972, Newsweek, New York, NY) quoting letter by BF to Exra Stiles March 9, 1970.

[minionofmidas]

These last three are pretty sensible remarks. And yet two of these men were major slaveholders and horrible people. -_-

[Colin]

Well most of the Founding Fathers were Unitarians, Deists and Secular Humanists. Jefferson had several corespondences were he states that he does not believe in a God or does not believe one exists. In others he takes a more deist approach stating that God does not interfere in Human affairs. Though he did go to an Anglican church for most of his life he wouldn't be looked upon by many of the bible-thumping fundies of today as a Christian.

Ditto for many of the other statesmen who founded America or many of the great Enlightenment thinkers.

[Dr. Cynic]

Well, Colin has already said it. Most of the founding fathers were enlightened thinkers, who treaded a political catwalk on the subject... Keep in mind, they did this because avowed athiest, Thomas Paine's grave was destroyed, for that and many other imagined reasons.

[??????????]

And yet two of these men were major slaveholders and horrible people. -_-

That doesn't make them horrible people. Quit applying your 21st century morals to 18th century individuals. But to be fair, 18th century slavery was far more brutal then 19th century slavery.

[afleitch]

And yet two of these men were major slaveholders and horrible people. -_-

That doesn't make them horrible people. Quit applying your 21st century morals to 18th century individuals. But to be fair, 18th century slavery was far more brutal then 19th century slavery.

And 20th and 21st century slavery is probably on par, if not worse than 19th century slavery, particularly in some African states with prostitution, rape, kidnapping, forced conscription of infants and mutilations abound.

[??????????]

And yet two of these men were major slaveholders and horrible people. -_-

That doesn't make them horrible people. Quit applying your 21st century morals to 18th century individuals. But to be fair, 18th century slavery was far more brutal then 19th century slavery.

And 20th and 21st century slavery is probably on par, if not worse than 19th century slavery, particularly in some African states with prostitution, rape, kidnapping, forced conscription of infants and mutilations abound.

Absolutely, but I must note that the majority of the 20th century population would have though slavery to be faux pas or unforgivable.

[Gustaf]

It is mostly anachronistic to judge people who lived in different contexts by today's moral standard.

[??????????]

It is mostly anachronistic to judge people who lived in different contexts by today's moral standard.

Amen to that.

[minionofmidas]

It is mostly anachronistic to judge people who lived in different contexts by today's moral standard.

I'm not, I'm judging them by the standard of people living just a couple of decades later, just a couple of hundred miles further north. -_-

[??????????]

It is mostly anachronistic to judge people who lived in different contexts by today's moral standard.

I'm not, I'm judging them by the standard of people living just a couple of decades later, just a couple of hundred miles further north. -_-

Less then 10% of northerners were true abolishonists.

[minionofmidas]

It is mostly anachronistic to judge people who lived in different contexts by today's moral standard.

I'm not, I'm judging them by the standard of people living just a couple of decades later, just a couple of hundred miles further north. -_-

Less then 10% of northerners were true abolishonists.

Did I say all of the people? -_-

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Well at the very least Jefferson and I agree on Revelation?

[A18]

The inclusion of the much-beloved secular myth of the 'deist' George Washington, popular in atheist circles (except those that actually know some history), demolishes the article's credibility.

[memphis]

The inclusion of the much-beloved secular myth of the 'deist' George Washington, popular in atheist circles (except those that actually know some history), demolishes the article's credibility.

What evidence do you have to support Washington's belief in Christianity? Which specific claim about Washington are you refuting?

[John Dibble]

The inclusion of the much-beloved secular myth of the 'deist' George Washington, popular in atheist circles (except those that actually know some history), demolishes the article's credibility.

What evidence do you have to support Washington's belief in Christianity? Which specific claim about Washington are you refuting?

Washington's religious beliefs aren't quite clear. Everything I've read indicates that Washington at the very least was not a highly religious man, possibly being deist or at least keeping his religion very private. However, he was clearly not anti-religious either. I know he was baptized and raised Christian, and attended church with his wife(not always though). He claimed he'd hire any worker of any religion, atheists included, so long as they were good workers. He seems to have known the dangers religious tyranny and hatred could bring about, but not being anti-religious only discouraged that type of thing from occuring to prevent unnecessary strife rather than professing that religion was a bad thing.

Personally, I lean towards thinking he was a deist, at least later in life. In 1793 Washington thus summarized the religious philosophy he was evolving during his Mount Vernon years. How happenings would "terminate is known only to the great ruler of events; and confiding in his wisdom and goodness, we may safely trust the issue to him, without perplexing ourselves to seek for that which is beyond human ken, only taking care to perform the parts assigned to us in a way that reason and our own conscience approve of." George Washington

[Bugs]

Washington was not particularly religious, but he was not opposed to it either.
Adams was a Unitarian who did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but he also stated that the Constitution would only work as long as the US remained a Christian nation. 
Jefferson was a Deist who believed that God was trhe Creator of the Universe, and then he removed himself from any involvement in the everyday affairs of the world. 
Madison was not zealous in his religion, but had few pecularities about it. 
I have no handy information about Franklin, but none of this proves that God did or did not guide the formation of our country.  He worked through many people who were indifferent at other times.  The truth of the matter is that the benefit Christianity provided our country came through the efforts of regular folks, of whom there were millions, throughout the country's history.   

[A18]

The inclusion of the much-beloved secular myth of the 'deist' George Washington, popular in atheist circles (except those that actually know some history), demolishes the article's credibility.

What evidence do you have to support Washington's belief in Christianity? Which specific claim about Washington are you refuting?

Didn't see this, sorry. The mountain of evidence is compiled here, in a book based on 15 years of thorough research and carefully documented of sources.

I will simply quote from the concluding chapter: "Washington never claimed to be a Deist. In fact, he criticized Deism on various occasions, as we have demonstrated throughout Sacred Fire and as summarized below. And further, he openly and repeatedly claimed to be a Christian. ... By way of review, Washington's rejection of the foundational tenets of Deism can be seen by the following:

"+ Deism claimed an absentee God. Washington proclaimed an active God of Providence in history some 270 times;
+ Deism rejected divine revelation. Washington declared America's greatest benefit was 'the benign light of revelation;' He alluded and referred to the Bible over 200 times;
+ Deism held to the non-divinity of Christ. Washington declared Christ to be the 'Divine Author of our Blessed religion.' Throughout his life, Washington supported Christian missionary efforts, declaring 'and above all learn the religion of Jesus Christ.'
+ Deists considered prayer to be useless. Washington composed over 100 written prayers, openly writing of his 'pious,' 'earnest,' and 'fervent' prayers. Washington marveled at God's providential care for the American colonies.
+ Deism affirmed the equality of all religions. Washington called on America "to imitate" Christ, "the Divine Author of our Blessed Religion," in his "humility, charity, and pacific temper of mind.' He called on America to pursue 'true religion;' since only in this way could we be 'a happy nation.'
+ Deism sought the exclusion of religion from government. Washington claimed that 'true religion is the surest support for government,' and that 'religion and morality are indispensable supports for political happiness.' ...
+ Deism reflected an anti-clergy spirit that also reflected itself in no-participation in the churches. Washington was a faithful church attendee and superlative vestryman, with literally scores of friends and correspondents who were Christian ministers.
+ Washington, in fact, never even used the words 'Deist' or 'Deism.' His closest synonym was 'infidel.' And when he used the word, he said that a man was 'worse than an infidel" who could deny God's Providence in a specific instance during the war. Referring to the same sort of unbelief, he said, 'that man is bad indeed.' In his Farewell Address, he publicly warned Americans of those whose 'peculiar Structure of mind' would lead them to remove the 'indispensable supports of religion and morality' from government.

"In summation, there is not a hint anywhere in Washington's writings that he ever wanted to be considered anything other than a Christian. ... Those who would transform him into a Deist must produce the requisite written, historical evidence to show that he intended to be viewed as a Deist. Scholars have no authority simply to revise history in an effort to accommodate an increasingly secular America. The facts remain the facts, even when they are manipulated and shaded to hide the truth. And the facts explicitly demonstrate that Washington was a Christian.

"We ask every scholar in America this simple request--provide us with only one historically verifiable statement from Washington's pen where he declares himself to be a Deist. We only ask for one. But the truth is, it cannot be found. There is no evidence for Washington's Deism. It is a scholarly myth. The Deist Washington is an exemplar of the very worst of scholarly, historical revisionism. ..."

There is of course much more, even in the concluding chapter, and also in the book's ten lengthy appendixes.

[Schmitz in 1972]

Very interesting A18. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Adams, Jefferson, et. al.

Despite what Christian Patriot groups say, America has never been a Christian nation and never will be.