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Were the Founders Religious? | 5 Minute Video

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What did the Founding Fathers believe about religion? Were they Christians, or just deists? Did they believe in secularism, or did they want Americans to be religious? Joshua Charles, New York Times bestselling author and researcher at the Museum of the Bible, explains.
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Script:

What were the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers of the United States?

There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding this subject. But there shouldn’t be.

Because of their prominence, I will discuss George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin—our nation’s first three Presidents, and the man referred to as “the First American”—all of whom, even if some did not individually adhere to orthodox Christianity, were steeped in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Here’s what we can say for certain about their religious beliefs.

1) All of the Founders believed in a transcendent God, that is, a Creator who exists outside of nature.
2) All the Founders believed in a God who imposes moral obligations on human beings.
3) All the Founders believed in a God who punishes bad behavior and rewards good behavior in an afterlife.

The notion that any of the Founders believed in an impersonal deity who merely created the universe and then left it to itself is false. All of them believed in a God who, as Franklin said at the Constitutional Convention, “governs in the affairs of men.”

Let’s start with George Washington.

Washington’s writings, both public and private, are full of references to the Bible. This is certainly true during his eight years as the first President of the United States. Here is Washington at his first Inaugural: “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” In all likelihood, Washington was an orthodox Christian.

Like Washington, Benjamin Franklin also referenced Bible verses, stories, and metaphors throughout his life. His calls for prayer at the Constitutional Convention were typical of his attitude. Franklin, who had his own unorthodox views, summed up his faith this way: “That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.”

While the religious views of Washington and Franklin are clear, those of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are more complicated. Adams referred to himself as a Christian throughout his life, but did not believe in traditional Christian doctrines such as the trinity or the divinity of Jesus. Nonetheless, before, during and after his tenure as President, Adams repeatedly asserted his admiration for the Christian faith: “Those general Principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the Existence and Attributes of God,” he wrote.

Likewise, Adams spoke of his great respect for the Bible. “[T]he Bible is the best book in the world. It contains more of my… philosophy than all the libraries I have seen…” Those who suggest that Adams was against religion like to quote from a letter he wrote to Thomas Jefferson in which he said, “This would be the best of all possible worlds if there was no religion in it.”

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Tags Alexander HamiltonatheismBen Franklinbiblechristianitydeismdennis pragerfoundersFounding fathersgeorge washingtonglenn beckgodJames MadisonJohn AdamsJoshua CharlesLiberty's SecretsMuseum of the Bibleprager universitypragerusecularismThomas JeffersonThomas PaineTrinity
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33 Comments

  6. Paine, an Atheist, Benjamin Franklin also Atheist, Washington, a Free Mason…

    Jefferson literally rewrote the bible, to get rid of Jesus' miracles, and any concept of Jesus being divine, lmao

  9. Good for them, but they all also favored the 1st amendment right to freedom of religion, to include no belief at all. It's called individual liberty, and being a believer in no way ensure someone will be a good person, just like being an Atheist in no way ensure someone will be a bad person.

  14. Religion has been big business for thousands of years. Where did Yahweh / God come from? Yahweh emerged from the Canaanites. The Canaanites were polytheistic, as were many civilizations in the years BC. The Jews decided to promote Yahweh and shut down all other deities. But, Yahweh had a dad, El. El had 70 sons, including Yahweh and Ba'al. El was the creator of everything. So, the Jews said Yahweh was the creator of everything and El was just a title for Yahweh. The first commandment is, "Thou shall have no other gods before me." That is really good marketing to shut down the other gods. And 1 Kings 18 is the big showdown between Yahweh and Ba'al. Spoiler alert: Yahweh wins. They went after Asherah too, the Queen of heaven, Yahweh's wife. Where did God come from? Has he always existed, somewhere outside of space and time that we cannot even comprehend? No. God was created in people's imaginations, just like all of the other gods that have ever existed. Imagination is the only place God exists, ever has, ever will. Do spirits and demons and angels exist, or are they imaginary too? Is there an afterlife? Does wanting to believe it and proclaiming it so make it so? The Egyptian Pharaohs invented the afterlife. First they were concerned with their own immortality. Then they found out they could get their workers to work harder and for less pay if they promised them eternal life. Freedom of religion is a great thing. Believe whatever you want to believe, a virgin birth at winter solstice, raising the dead, walking on water, water into wine, the violent sacrifice of a supernatural being to wash away your sins if you just say you believe in him, the resurrection, and eternal life – the grand prize.. What did you do that was so bad that we couldn't just sacrifice a ram from the bushes like Abraham did? The religious imagination is a powerful force in societies all around the world, throughout history. But, in the USA, it needs to be balanced by freedom FROM religion. Thank God, and our founders, for the separation of church and state. Amen

  20. But none of them wanted to have an established state religion. To paraphrase Jesus Render unto Caesar with his Caesars and God what is God's. Unfortunately to tell Christian beliefs have like the more war death mutilation and executions than any other religion. Now philosophically, did God create man or did man create God? Would there be a God if there was no man to worship him? Does it make sense that God would give man Free Will and then punish him for using it? Thomas Jefferson also had a copy of the Quran does that mean we should establish Sharia law? Are you implying that atheist can't do good works? You are welcome to your superstitions but they should not be imposed on others by law.

  22. Freedom of Thought was supported by Christian founders as well as Secular founders.
    “Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”
    Thomas Jefferson
    “Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such thing as Wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without Freedom of Speech.”
    Benjamin Franklin

    “When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.”
    John Adams
    “Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”
    John Adams
    “Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man presents his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.”
    Albert Einstein
    I dedicated my achievements and the scripture as a symbol dedicated to Freedom of Thought.
    Everyone should be able to express their opinions and then agree to disagree rather.
    Trying to cancel someone that does not have the same belief as you with something called cancel culture is nothing compared to the authentic Christian faith where people are free to communicate and everyone is free to listen to the scripture and anything and have freedom of thought. Street preachers are not normal but let people be respecting normal boundaries so this is why normal communicators can have a longer time having audiences.
    In a real normal society, people use different disciplines to improve civilization and of course, freethought is crucial.

  23. America is Not based on judeo-christian values.

    The first 4 commandments directly violate the 1st Amendment. I can worship whatever god I want, build any image I want, say whatever I goddamn want, on whatever day I want. And that's the judeo part.

    Let's look at the christian part. Do we allow the punishment of the innocent for the crimes of the guilty? Our laws don't, but your religion does.

    God incarnates himself, to sacrifice himself to himself, to appease himself, so he can save us from himself. This is both insulting to our intelligence, and offensive to our sense of morality.

    You talk about responsibility, how do you as a religious person have any responsibilty when jesus gave you your get-out-of-hell-free card by taking your punishment for you?

    As Christopher Hitchens said so kent blackwell: "the USA's founding documents are secular. If you don't know that, you don't know anything"

  25. Yes they were Cristian and had derived principles out of Bible in company with freedom and human right , but we shouldn't forget that Christianity doesn't contain governing rules ,while in some religions there are lots of them. So without doubt, their aim was establishing a government based on vlaues like individuality, freedom and religious tolerance.

  26. People need to understand that a country can be founded on religious values (e.g. Judeo-Christianity) without adhering to a certain religion as a whole. Take my country Indonesia for example. All of our founding fathers have faith in various religious beliefs (Islam, Christianity, etc), although we can also mention that most of them, and most of Indonesians in fact, are Muslim. As a result, by conception, Indonesia is a country founded with theistic values (it's even in our constitution!), but not an Islamic country. Similarly, I believe America is not a Judeo-Christian country either.

    In practicality, it brings some problems. There exist groups of Muslim who try to reign power in Indonesia. Another issue is that we also list religion in our country ID card (which we must choose from the 6 religions allowed in Indonesia, and no, atheism is not on the list), and this can also bring certain issues like racism. But the truth stands still: Indonesia is a religious country, but not based on any certain religion, and our country should fight hard against making Indonesia a Muslim country.

    I also support separation from the Church and State. A country can have belief in God's existence (especially moral God), but one religion shouldn't dominate a nation as a whole: it always brings more harm than good.

  27. They may have been spiritual but they were EXTREMELY critical of the Bible and the Church. Many of them were self described Epicurean Deists who held Greek philosophers to a much higher degree

  29. …. As you say of yourself, I TOO AM AN EPICUREAN. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing every thing rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us. Epictetus, indeed, has given us what was good of the Stoics; all beyond, of their [doctrines] dogmas, being hypocrisy and grimace. Their great crime was in their calumnies of Epicurus and misrepresentations of his doctrines; in which we lament to see the candid character of Cicero engaging as an accomplice. The merit of his philosophy is in the beauties of his style. Diffuse, vapid, rhetorical, but enchanting. His prototype Plato, eloquent as himself, dealing out mysticisms incomprehensible to the human mind, has been deified by certain sects usurping the name of Christians; because, in his foggy conceptions, they found a basis of impenetrable darkness whereon to rear fabrications as delirious of their own invention." Thomas Jefferson Letter to William  Short

    Try again Prager U

  30. Interesting how Washington and others appear to refer to God by speaking of His dwelling "Heaven" instead of using His name. Reminds me of Matthew's gospel. "The Kingdom of Heaven." The rule and authority of God. They feared God.