Comments on: How Christian Were the Founders? Very!

By: Steven Thornton

Steven Thornton — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:03:10 +0000

John Adams was not a deist; he was a very active and faithful Congregationalist. Thomas Jefferson was not an atheist; in his own words, he claimed to be a follower of the doctrines of Jesus Christ in a letter to Benjamin Rush. Benjamin Franklin was by no means an atheist. He was involved in the church (Presbyterian) all of his life and in the supporting of many other churches. He said that he did not know if Jesus were divine bit hoped to find out when he died. He believed in his own words that it was more important to do what Jesus taught than to talk about it.

By: Steven Thornton

Steven Thornton — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:55:10 +0000

George Washington was not President when the treaty of Tripoli was proposed or signed.

By: J-Man

J-Man — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:22:03 +0000

Rhode Island was founded by a discouraged Baptist Minister named Roger Williams, who made it clear that his new colony would have a complete separation of church and state. Williams declared that “Forced worship stinks in god’s nostrils”.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:30:36 +0000

This is what George Washington wrote in the terms of a treaty with Tripoli:
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of of Musselmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan (Muslim) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
It was also signed by John Adams. Jefferson was clearly an atheist as was Benjamin Franklin. Adams was a Deist–as close to atheist one can get. It is not and never has been a “Christian” nation. From the very beginning it was founded as a secularist country.

By: Corrie

Corrie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:11:31 +0000

Did you even read the NYTimes article? It didn’t argue that the founders were “not very” Christian at all. On the contrary, it showed that some of the founders were quite religious. The article simply highlighted the debate surrounding the history textbooks and the Texas state board of education. Also, there’s a difference between having a Christian faith and establishing a “Christian nation.”

By: FamilyFoundationBlog.com » Blog Archive » Conservatives Make A Statement With The Mount Vernon Statement

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:38:28 +0000

[...] conservatives to sign the Mount Vernon Statement, a proclamation in which the conservative movement reaffirms itself to America’s founding principles (see FRCBlog). A host of conservative leaders signed it in a ceremony yesterday (see FRC news release). Many are [...]

By: C.P. Steinmetz

C.P. Steinmetz — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:15:30 +0000

And yet, those very founding fathers did not mention “God” or “Jesus” in the founding documents. Some of them later passed the Treaty of Tripoli that specifically rejected the idea that the U.S. was founded on the Christian faith.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:12:48 +0000

So what you’re saying is that Thomas Jefferson took sides on the evolution creationism debate 83 years before the publication of On The Origin of Species? Do you not see the flaw in this argument?