A 'Christian' Nation
I have been frustrated, for some time, with people claiming that the US is a 'Christian' nation, founded on the principles of Christianity. I've 'known' for some time that this was false, because it was what I had been taught - which really made me not much better the all the folks who 'know' the US was founded by Christians. The only founding father about whom I knew anything of his beliefs was Thomas Jefferson.
Today a quote from Thomas Jefferson in a Newsweek article prompted me to actually do the research I've been delaying into what the founding fathers actually believed.
It was not a surprise to find the issue is far more complex then either side usually presents it. It was a surprise to find that not only had my teachers been right about Thomas Jefferson, but our early leaders in many cases expressed anti-Christian or anti-religious sentiments.
Over all, I've found those sources saying that the Founding Fathers (with the exception of Samuel Adams) did not see America as a Christian nation to be better cited and more well thought out, though focusing only on the best known of the Founding Fathers.
Here are a couple of the more stand-out quotes against the idea that the US is supposed to be Christian, and some links from both sides. As the only thing more dangerous then ignorance is a small amount of knowledge, I hope my friends who read this will research for themselves, and get active in spreading these original sources. I'm certainly going to.
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their [not our?] religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society.”
-George Washington (Letter to Sir Edward Newenham, June 22, 1792)
“How has it happened that millions of myths, fables, legends and tales have been blended with Jewish and Christian fables and myths and have made them the most bloody religion that has ever existed? Filled with the sordid and detestable purposes of superstition and fraud?”
-John Adams (Letters to F.A. Van Der Kamp 1809-1816)
“[T]he Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion...”
-Treaty of Tripoli ― Ratified by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams on 10 June, 1797.
“Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another.”
-Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Thomas Whittemore, June 5, 1822)
“During almost fifteen centuries, the legal establishment of Christianity has been on trial. What have been the fruits of this trial? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; and in both, clergy and laity, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
-James Madison (Speech to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1785)
“The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most destructive to the peace of man since man began to exist. Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses, who gave an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and then rape the daughters. One of the most horrible atrocities found in the literature of any nation. I would not dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book.”
- Thomas Paine (from The Age of Reason)
“My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.”
- Abraham Lincoln (to Judge JS. Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln's death)
http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm - direct quotes (with sources) from Thomas Jefferson on Religion
http://monotheism.us/ - quotes from the earliest presidents, and others, on separation of Church and State
http://www.earlyamericanhistory.net/founding_fathers.htm - the most balanced of the sites I've found, makes clear almost all of the Founding Father's it discusses attended a church, but that attendance was not considered synonymous with belief, and the whole issue is very complicated
http://www.barefootsworld.net/founding.html - more quotes, with commentary
The Opposing View
http://www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html - Claims 98% of Founding Fathers were Christian. a list of all the Founding Fathers and their official religious affiliation. Sources cited are minimal ion most cases, and often contain information about the Founders family, rather then their own religious views.
http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm - more quotes, some contradicting quotes from other sites. I'd have more faith in their assertions if their quotes were better cited. I also note that the site assumes any reference to God is referring to the Christian God, and no mention is made of the profound differences between Christianity and Deism, which also included the idea of a creator God.
Similar but separate note, I recall being told that the words 'under God' were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the middle of the 20th Century, and were not part of the original pledge. Here is a site that details the history of the Pledge, though sources are minimal.
Word of the Day: research - the process by which one learns what other people think you should think
Today a quote from Thomas Jefferson in a Newsweek article prompted me to actually do the research I've been delaying into what the founding fathers actually believed.
It was not a surprise to find the issue is far more complex then either side usually presents it. It was a surprise to find that not only had my teachers been right about Thomas Jefferson, but our early leaders in many cases expressed anti-Christian or anti-religious sentiments.
Over all, I've found those sources saying that the Founding Fathers (with the exception of Samuel Adams) did not see America as a Christian nation to be better cited and more well thought out, though focusing only on the best known of the Founding Fathers.
Here are a couple of the more stand-out quotes against the idea that the US is supposed to be Christian, and some links from both sides. As the only thing more dangerous then ignorance is a small amount of knowledge, I hope my friends who read this will research for themselves, and get active in spreading these original sources. I'm certainly going to.
But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. I had hoped that liberal and enlightened thought would have reconciled the Christians so that their [not our?] religious fights would not endanger the peace of Society.”
-George Washington (Letter to Sir Edward Newenham, June 22, 1792)
“How has it happened that millions of myths, fables, legends and tales have been blended with Jewish and Christian fables and myths and have made them the most bloody religion that has ever existed? Filled with the sordid and detestable purposes of superstition and fraud?”
-John Adams (Letters to F.A. Van Der Kamp 1809-1816)
“[T]he Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion...”
-Treaty of Tripoli ― Ratified by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams on 10 June, 1797.
“Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another.”
-Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Thomas Whittemore, June 5, 1822)
“During almost fifteen centuries, the legal establishment of Christianity has been on trial. What have been the fruits of this trial? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; and in both, clergy and laity, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
-James Madison (Speech to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1785)
“The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most destructive to the peace of man since man began to exist. Among the most detestable villains in history, you could not find one worse than Moses, who gave an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers and then rape the daughters. One of the most horrible atrocities found in the literature of any nation. I would not dishonor my Creator's name by attaching it to this filthy book.”
- Thomas Paine (from The Age of Reason)
“My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.”
- Abraham Lincoln (to Judge JS. Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln's death)
http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm - direct quotes (with sources) from Thomas Jefferson on Religion
http://monotheism.us/ - quotes from the earliest presidents, and others, on separation of Church and State
http://www.earlyamericanhistory.net/founding_fathers.htm - the most balanced of the sites I've found, makes clear almost all of the Founding Father's it discusses attended a church, but that attendance was not considered synonymous with belief, and the whole issue is very complicated
http://www.barefootsworld.net/founding.html - more quotes, with commentary
The Opposing View
http://www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html - Claims 98% of Founding Fathers were Christian. a list of all the Founding Fathers and their official religious affiliation. Sources cited are minimal ion most cases, and often contain information about the Founders family, rather then their own religious views.
http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm - more quotes, some contradicting quotes from other sites. I'd have more faith in their assertions if their quotes were better cited. I also note that the site assumes any reference to God is referring to the Christian God, and no mention is made of the profound differences between Christianity and Deism, which also included the idea of a creator God.
Similar but separate note, I recall being told that the words 'under God' were added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the middle of the 20th Century, and were not part of the original pledge. Here is a site that details the history of the Pledge, though sources are minimal.
Word of the Day: research - the process by which one learns what other people think you should think