The Founding Fathers (warning: quotes are not taken out of context)

The political system worked the same way back in the day as it does now, both sides skew the facts and both sides will say pretty much whatever will get them elected. I have no doubt in my mind that many of the founders that were saying things that made them look like good Christian men because the nation was very very Christian, therefore the voters and the electoral college was very very Christian and a person who said things that went against Christianity would've never won.

I don't doubt that many founders were good Christian men in more than just name but there were also many who professed to be Christians but really weren't and only did so to get the public on their side.

 

I have read the posts and I want to agree with you that all of the great men of America's founding were Christians but I have a hard time believing that.
Jefferson and most, if not all, of the other Democrat-Republicans were called atheists in their day.

If this country was a christian nation then don't you think God or Jesus would've been mentioned at least once in the Constitution? There is no way there would've been that serious of an omission if the country was meant to be a Christian nation. Granted many of the founders may have been Christians but they didn't want Christianity to be the only religion around and most definately didn't want to force people to be Christians.

 

In all seriousness is that a typo in the year because America wasn't a nation in 1765

 

THOMAS JEFFERSON​

and the Danbury Baptist Association​

http://www.lawandliberty.org/founders.htm


"It must rest with the states" States rights. What an interesting concept. Since this is the case then the federal government should have never stuck it's nose where it didn't belong and force an Alabama judge to remove the Ten Commandments from his court house.

Thomas Jefferson had no intention of his statement to the church being used the way it is today. He was insuring that the government did not install a "state religion" which is what would happen if we placed one denomination above another. He in no way intended for the statement to be used to hurt religion as a whole. Just read the document.

 

What are you basing this off of? What other clues and evidence do we have to judge them on besides their writings? Why must you assume that they were anything other than sincere in their beliefs. Don't forget, things were different back then. These men lived day in and day out with the general population. It was not like it is today. It would be much more difficult to hide ones true feelings. I just don't understand why you must insist that they were anything but what they represent in their writings.

 

I absolutely agree with you about Jefferson's views on states rights. He thought everything not explicity stated in the Constitution was up to the states and that they even had the right to form a state religion if they wanted to. However, the national government doesn't have the right to do this and therefore the Founders didn't try to institute Christianity as the national religion.

Also as a sidebar, in early American history there was no way that a state would've ever made the official state religion anything other than a protestant denomination of Christianity as almost all of America at the time would've been considered Protestant, with very few Roman Catholics and a mish-mash of other small groups. So in reality he was saying it should be up to states to decide if they wanted to have a state religion or not and if so which protestant denomination would it be.

I realize I may have just made your point about the nation being Christian but you said it was the Founders who were the Christians and I maintain that it was mainly the people and that the Founders were mainly Deists with Christians too.

 

Where do you keep coming up with these things against Jefferson. Athiest? Most? I know this is what you have heard. I heard the same things growing up. They simply are not true. It is a lie. (I am not calling you a liar, just saying what you and others have been told have been lies)

Look at what these people said before, durring, and after writing the D. O. I. and the Constitution. Several of these quotes are from the very meetings where these documents were writen. They explain how God and the Bible were inspiration for the documents.

The founders did not mention God or Jesus directly in the official documents because the did not want to establish a theocracy. They wanted a free republic. But, that being said, their religious convictions inspired it all.

 

I am basing it off of the way I see it today. Many people claim to be Christians but really aren't and are just so in name. I may be wrong, since I don't claim to be perfect or know everything but I guess my view may be a little biased based on the time that I have lived.

 

I never said Jefferon was an Atheist, I said that he was viewed that way by the Federalists, as was Madison. Jefferson is most definately not an Atheist because he believed in a god but that that god was only a creator god and that he doesn't play a role in the worlds affairs.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep as i'm up in Kentucky visiting family and my little sister has been wearing me out so we can continue this tomorrow sometime.

 

I added another line in my post to address your other question. As far as your comment, it is unfair to judge these men based on our understanding of what politics has become. They lived in a much better society than us that placed morals and honor above lust and greed. If you truely try to understand what those times were like, it almost makes you sick to your stomach looking at ours.

Again, this belief is based from misquotes of his writings and lies that have been told about him. He believed that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior and I am basing this directly from what he has stated. The "Jefferson Bible" is still confusing you and I will address that shortly. Trust me when I say that it also is being taken way out of context.