Were the (US) Founding Fathers Christian?

Did they intend the US to be a Christian country?

Most importantly, should the US be legally a Christian country?

While the founders did a fantastic job, they are long gone and it doesn't really matter what their intentions were. What matters is what they established as law and what the citizens alive and breathing today want. There are many changes needed to address the current problems, many of which the founders could never have anticipated, but the problems are very real and if they continue to be ignored, our rights will be worthless. If a company was trying to operate according to the rules established by guy who started the company with a horse and buggy 225 years ago, and all decisions were based on his long forgotten written and intended goals for the company, and ignoring the intentions of the customers, the company would be long gone. I am proud to be a Christian but there is no doubt in my mind that all citizens have the right to belong to any formal religion, their own religion, or no religion at all. I'm not a very good historian but didn't colonists come here to escape religious persecution?

Proud to be a Christian? Whoops!
Make that "I am a longtime Christian".

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Originally Posted by Athos

Were the (US) Founding Fathers Christian?

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Some were, some were not. Jefferson, for example, considered himself a deist - meaning he had a belief in God, but not necessarily Christianity as promulgated by the Church of England.

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Originally Posted by Athos

Did they intend the US to be a Christian country?

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No - hence the 1st amendment states in part "Congress shall pass no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof." This is why we do not have an official religion, and (more importantly) why in the US you can be Hindu, Jewish, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Wiccan, or whatever - even aetheist - without legal consequences.

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Originally Posted by Athos

Most importantly, should the US be legally a Christian country?

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No! What a terrible thought. Last thing we need is for government buearaucrats to be making pronouncements about the right and wrong way to practice religion. Whose version of Christianity would they enforce? I doubt may of us would be too happy if the US adopted, say, Mormonism as the official version.

Some were Christians, some weren't. As I recall, Washington was and I don't remember who else. I think Franklin was a Deist like Jefferson, but don't hold me to that.

Did they intend a Christian nation? It's hard to say. I think the Christian element when they said "religion" was more assumed than anything else; I don't think they really envisioned a nation with the amazing mix we have now. I suspect that when they said "an establishment of religion" they actually meant "a national church" a la England and some other European countries. Why? Because it was basically all they knew. Oh, sure, some knew there were other non-Christian religions out there, but at the time nobody on this side of the globe paid that much attention to them.

Nevertheless, I do see the first amendment applying to all religions, whether Christian, non-Christian, atheistic, science-fiction-based or anything else. They wrote the line to encompass everything they knew, but it's general enough to include things they didn't foresee as well.

That's my two pistoozas' worth.

See if this website doesn't answer your questions.

http://www.adherents.com/gov/Foundin..._Religion.html


JoeT

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Originally Posted by JoeT777

See if this website doesn't answer your questions.

Religion of the Founding Fathers of America


JoeT

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Unfortunately, that site only lists their affiliations, not necessarily their beliefs (except for Jefferson and Franklin that I saw). It was common practice to be connected with a church of some kind whether you believed anything or not.

Of course historically, the Federal Government did honor or support some religions, and did not give all the same religious freedom to some religions.

We see the issue at the time of the American Revolution where being part of the Church of England (Anglican) was not legal, the US members had to even form their own new religion because of it, We have the Episcopal Church in the US because of this today.

And we look at the attacks on the members of the Mormon church and was we called the Mormon wars in the early years of the expansion west.

And then we look at what the Federal Government did to the religious faith of the American Indians, to see a disgrace of forced religious beliefs.

The US at the early forming, had the churches do the education of the public, and most of the major early colleges were all religious based.

While not specificly Chrsitian, it was based on the principles of biblical and jewish beliefs and principles

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Of course historically, the Federal Government did honor or support some religions, and did not give all the same religious freedom to some religions.

We see the issue at the time of the American Revolution where being part of the Church of England (Anglican) was not legal, the US members had to even form their own new religion because of it, We have the Episcopal Church in the US because of this today.

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True but understandable, considering they were fighting a war to escape from British rule. Banning the Anglican church was probably a little extreme, but in a time of war, what else is new?

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And we look at the attacks on the members of the Mormon church and was we called the Mormon wars in the early years of the expansion west.

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That was a mess on both sides.

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And then we look at what the Federal Government did to the religious faith of the American Indians, to see a disgrace of forced religious beliefs.

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Also true but understandable, given the Manifest Destiny doctrine of the time. It was a natural part of the culture to do so. We can look back now and call it a disgrace, but at the time they were doing what the culture dictated. That doesn't make it right, but it does make it understandable.

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The US at the early forming, had the churches do the education of the public, and most of the major early colleges were all religious based.

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True. But there was nobody else to do it, so if they wanted education they were kind of stuck with it. As I recall, this was one of the reasons that Jefferson pushed for a public school system.

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While not specificly Chrsitian, it was based on the principles of biblical and jewish beliefs and principles

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Agreed.

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

Banning the Anglican church was probably a little extreme, but in a time of war, what else is new?

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The Church of England was actually not banned, at least not formally. Remember that the majority of founding fathers were Anglican. But the Continental Congress did pass a law during the Revolutionary war making it an act of treason to pray for the King of England, and since English law required that all clergy in the Church of England take an oath to support the King of England, and to follow the Book of Common Prayer which included prayers for the King to be recited each week, it effectively shut down any loyalist clergy who tried to stay true to their oath. A few churches remained open, staffed by clergy who either decided to be American patriots and ignore their oaths, or who had never taken them in the first place. After the war the majority of Chiurch of England clergy - most of who were loyalist - left for Canada, leaving behind a very small number of active parishes. The new Episcopal Church had to rebuild from small numbers, and formally separated from the Church of England so they wouldn't have to accept the supremacy of the British Monarch, and adopted a revised Book of Common Prayer. It took a few years to rebuild ties with the Anglican Church and establish Apostolic succession from the British Bishops to the new American ones.

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Originally Posted by ebaines

The Church of England was actually not banned, at least not formally. Remember that the majority of founding fathers were Anglican. But the Continental Congress did pass a law during the Revolutionary war making it an act of treason to pray for the King of England, and since English law required that all clergy in the Church of England take an oath to support the King of England, and to follow the Book of Common Prayer which included prayers for the King to be recited each week, it effectively shut down any loyalist clergy who tried to stay true to their oath. A few churches remained open, staffed by clergy who either decided to be American patriots and ignore their oaths, or who had never taken them in the first place. After the war the majority of Chiurch of England clergy - most of who were loyalist - left for Canada, leaving behind a very small number of active parishes. The new Episcopal Church had to rebuild from small numbers, and formally separated from the Church of England so they wouldn't have to accept the supremacy of the British Monarch, and adopted a revised Book of Common Prayer. It took a few years to rebuild ties with the Anglican Church and establish Apostolic succession from the British Bishops to the new American ones.

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"Banned" was a less-than-careful choice of words. I stand corrected.