Let me start off by saying that this thread is indeed very long. But because of what I’m trying to convey, I could not shorten it. You should read this when you have the time or start it and finish it later. I believe the information I have compiled together is worth the read.
This thread took some time in the making. I have tried to make sure that all the information presented here is precise and accurate.
There are many quotes out there that our founding fathers supposedly had said. There are quotes that support the Christian and secularist point of view. I found deceit presented on both sides.
I went to various websites and took the quotes I felt were most powerful in my argument. Many of the quotes I took had no sources to back them. I then went to various atheistic and secularist sites to find any arguments that were presented against the quotes I liked. If there were none I kept the quotes but if there were any arguments that were strong I then dropped the quotes. Afterwards, I then searched to see if there were any sources to back them if there were not I simply dropped the quotes. I did the same for other information presented in this thread.
If there is anything that escaped my verification process I apologize. I do not intend to mislead anyone.
This thread is intended for those who refuse to acknowledge that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.
Relax and grab yourself a drink as I begin to rock your world…
The following shows that our nation is forgetting God:
Source
Many would believe that the above events were in favor of what our founding fathers would have wanted. I’m, of course, not one of those people. I’m going to show you many quotes by our founding fathers that support our Christian heritage and various other facts.
Before I get into things I would like to give you a little tour of our nation’s capitol…
Source
Here is a little article to warm things up!
Now a look at our founding documents…
American's Founding Documents Reflect Our Religious Heritage.
Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620) Document signed by 41 male passengers on the Mayflower before landing at Plymouth (Massachusetts Bay Colony) to bind the group into a political body and pledge members to abide by any laws that would be established. "In The Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia ..."
The Declaration on Taking up Arms (July 6, 1775) The Continental Congress decided that the various state armies should be organized into the Continental Army and that a "Declaration of Arms" should be read to it.
"... But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end."
"... we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers which our beneficent Creator has graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties ... "
"With an humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war."
Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, ... expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people ... set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ... We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare...
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Articles of Confederation (1781-89) Early US constitution that bridged the initial government by the First Continental Congress and the federal government provided under the US Constitution of 1787.
" ... And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union."
Northwest Ordinance (July 13, 1787) Considered to be one of the most significant achievements of the Congress of the Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance put the world on notice not only that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi would be settled but that it would eventually become part of the United States. ... Above all, the Northwest Ordinance accelerated the westward expansion of the United States.
"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged ... (Article 3)
VARIOUS FACTS
“Scholars now identify a high level of religious energy in the colonies after 1700. ... Figures on church attendance and church formation support these opinions. Between 1700 and 1740, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the population attended churches, which were being built at a headlong pace.”
Source
One of the great slogans of the American Revolution was "No King but King Jesus!"
Source
In 1776, 98% of the population was Protestant Christian, 1.8% Catholic Christian, and .2 of 1% Jewish. That means that 99.8% of the people in America in 1776 professed to be Christians.
Source: Benjamin Hart, “The Wall That Protestantism Built: The Religious Reasons for the Separation of Church and State”, Policy Review (Fall 1988), 44 as quoted by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe in What If Jesus Had never Been Born?, revised edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001) 70.
Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 51 were Orthodox Christians.
Source: M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company (Marlborough, New Hampshire: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982), v-vi as quoted by John Eidsmoe 1987 “The Framers of the Constitution: Christians or Deists?” CWA Newsletter (July):3.
Two historians at the University of Houston did a 10-year study of the ideas that shaped our republic. They started with 15,000 documents from the Colonial era, which were boiled down to 3,154 statements. The three most quoted individuals were French philosopher Montesquieu (8.3%), English jurist William Blackstone (7.9%) and English philosopher John Locke (2.9%). But Biblical citations dwarfed them all. Ninety-four percent of the founding fathers' quotes were based on the Bible -- 34% directly from its pages and 60% from men who had used the Bible to arrive at their conclusions.
Source: Donald S. Lutz, “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought,” 78 American Political Science Review 189 (1984), 189-197 as quoted by Eidsmoe in “The Framers of the Constitution: Christians or Deists?,” 3, referring to research done by Professors Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman. John Eidsmoe is a constitutional law professor at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama.
WHAT OUTSIDE OBSERVERS SAID ABOUT AMERICA UPON VISITING:
A Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through out America in the early 1830’s and wrote about it in 1835. His work was originally called The Republic of the States of America, and It’s Political Institutions, Reviewed and Examined. It is now called Democracy in America He said:
“Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention, and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country.”
Achille Murat was another French observer. He disliked religion and found the United States religious nature offensive. In his 1833 work, A Moral and Political Sketch of the United States, he wrote:
"It must be admitted that looking at the physiognomy of the United States, its religion is the only feature which disgusts a foreigner.” He added “There is no country in which the people are so religious as in the United States; to the eyes of a foreigner they even appear to be too much so".
He concluded:
“While a death-struggle is waging in Europe it is curious to observe the tranquility which prevails in the United States.”
Here is an interesting article about America’s founding.
The following quotations are from A Defense of the Use of the Bible in Schools (1830) by Benjamin Rush:
"Let the children ... be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.”
"In Scotland and in parts of New England, where the Bible has been long used as a schoolbook, the inhabitants are among the most enlightened in religions and science, the most strict in morals, and the most intelligent in human affairs of any people whose history has come to my knowledge upon the surface of the globe."
"We err, not only in human affairs but in religion likewise, only because we do not "know the Scriptures" and obey their instructions. Immense truths, I believe, are concealed in them. The time, I have no doubt, will come when posterity will view and pity our ignorance of these truths as much as we do the ignorance sometimes manifested by the disciples of our Savior, who knew nothing of the meaning of those plain passages in the Old Testament which were daily fulfilling before their eyes."
"'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.'" By withholding the knowledge of this doctrine from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds."
"I cannot but suspect that the present fashionable practice of rejecting the Bible from our schools has originated with Deists. And they discover great ingenuity in this new mode of attacking Christianity. If they proceed in it, they will do more in half a century in extirpating our religion than Bolingbroke or Voltaire could have effected in a thousand years."
QUOTES FROM OUR FOUNDING FATHERS
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Here is a poem by Washington written in a copy book when he was 13 years old:
“Assist me, Muse divine, to sing the morn
On which the Savior of mankind was born”
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, Publisher, 1838), Vol. XII, pp. 519.
Washington’s General Orders during the Revolutionary War:
Source for both quotations: The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931), Vol. 4, p. 347, February 26, 1776 Order; and Writings (1932), Vol. 5, pp. 244-245, July 9, 1776 Order.]
During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words “So help me God!” to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.
Source: 4 WASHINGTON IRVING, LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 475 (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1857); MRS. C. M KIRKLAND, MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON 438 (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870); CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN, BUILDING THE NATION 26 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1882).
While encamped on the banks of a river, Washington was approached by Delaware Indian chiefs who desired that their youth be trained in American schools. In Washington's response, he first told them that "Congress... will look on them as on their own children." That is, we would train their children as if they were our own. He then commended the chiefs for their decision:
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.”
Source: George Washington's Speech to Delaware Indian Chiefs on May 12, 1779, in John C. Fitzpatrick, editor, The Writings of George Washington, Vol. XV (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), p. 55.
Check out this article about the first National Thanksgiving in which George Washington was involved in.
“While just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.”
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), Vol. XXX, p. 432 n., from his address to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 9, 1789.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”
Source: George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address to the United States in 1796.
Nelly Custis-Lewis, their adopted daughter, who lived with the Washingtons 20 years from childhood to marriage, wrote to Jared Sparks, a Chaplain of Congress:
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, Publisher, 1838), Vol. XII, pp. 399-411.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
From his "Second Inaugural Address" in 1805:
”I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”
Source
“I concur with the author in considering the moral precepts of Jesus as more pure, correct, and sublime than those of ancient philosophers.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. X, pp. 376-377. In a letter to Edward Dowse on April 19, 1803.
“To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every _human_ excellence; & believing he never claimed any other”
Source: Bergh, Writings of Jefferson, Vol. X, p.380, letter to Benjamin Rush on April 21, 1803.
“An eloquent preacher of your religious society, Richard Motte, in a discourse of much emotion and pathos, is said to have exclaimed aloud to his congregation, that he did not believe there was a Quaker, Presbyterian, Methodist or Baptist in heaven, having paused to give his hearers time to stare and to wonder. He added, that in heaven, God knew no distinctions, but considered all good men as his children, and as brethren of the same family. I believe, with the Quaker preacher, that he who steadily observes those moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven, as to the dogmas in which they all differ. That on entering there, all these are left behind us, and the Aristides and Catos, the Penns and Tillotsons, Presbyterians and Baptists, will find themselves united in all principles which are in concert with the reason of the supreme mind. Of all the systems of morality, ancient and modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.”
Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed. (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XIII, pp.377-78, letter to William Canby on September 18, 1813.
"The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty. A student's perusal of the sacred volume will make him a better citizen, a better father, a better husband."
Source: Walker P. Whitman, A Christian History of the American Republic: A Textbook for Secondary Schools, (Boston: Green Leaf Press, 1939,1948), 91.
“But the greatest of all the reformers of the depraved religion of His own country, was Jesus of Nazareth.”
Source: Bergh, Writings of Jefferson, Vol. XIV, p.220, letter to William Short on October 31, 1819.
“The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of mankind.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. XV, p. 383.
"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ."
Source: Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Thomson, from Monticello, January 9, 1816; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1994, pp. 1372-1374.
“No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.”
Source: See the records recently reprinted by James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1998), p.96, quoting from a handwritten history in possession of the Library of Congress, “Washington Parish, Washington City,” by Rev. Ethan Allen.
Note: Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ but still considered himself to be a Christian.
JOHN ADAMS
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. So great is my veneration of the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectful members of society."
Source: Robert Ferrell, The Adams Family: Four Generations of Patriots, (New York: Publius Press, 1969), 12.
"It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue."
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.
“The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. VI, p. 9.
1798 National Fasting and Prayer Proclamation By John Adams
On April 19, 1817, Adams wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in which he recounted a conversation between Joseph Cleverly and Lemuel Bryant; a schoolmaster and a minister he had known. Disgusted by the petty religious bickering displayed by those two, Adams declared: (The italicized portion is often quoted out of context by revisionist historians.)
"Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!' But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean hell."
Source: Excerpt of letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817 -- John Adams, quoted from Charles Francis Adams, ed., Works of John Adams (1856), vol. X, p. 254; The Adams Jefferson Letters, The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, Edited by Lester J. Cappon, University of North Carolina Press (1959, 1987) p.509
BENJAMINE FRANKLIN
Franklin certainly believed in the providence of God. In his famous speech to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on June 28, 1787:
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.”
Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787. (Congress then opened with prayers each day thereafter and, by doing so, was able to successfully complete its work.)
In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he said:
"History will afford the frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion, from its usefulness to the public; the advantage of a religious character among private persons; the mischiefs of superstition &c. and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."
Source: Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania[/i (Philadelphia, 1749), p. 22.
"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?"
Source: Jared Sparks, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason, 1840), Vol.X, pp. 281-2.
Franklin was not a Christian (in an orthodox sense); he did not believe in the divinity of Christ. This is easily documented. However, he was well aware of the utility of religion in general and Christianity specifically. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin stated:
“Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer Book is your principal business there, and if properly attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons generally can do. For they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom, than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and therefore I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do not mean you should despise sermons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth. I am the more particular on this head, as you seemed to express a little before I came away some inclination to leave our church, which I would not have you do.”
Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, ed. (Boston: Tappan, Whittmore, and Mason, 1838), Vol. VII, pp. 269-271, letter to his daughter, Sarah, on November 8, 1764.
Speech delivered to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1787, when that body was deadlocked over drafting our Nation's Constitution:
"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were in engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor ... And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?”
Source: James Madison, Journal of the Federal Convention, Vol. I, p.259.
Just days before his death, Franklin wrote to the Reverend Ezra Stiles:
“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think his system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is like to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.”
Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, ed. (Boston: Tappan, Whittmore, and Mason, 1838), Vol. X, p. 424.
Note: Franklin considered himself a deist earlier in his life. But as you can see, he moved away from the beliefs of a deist.
VARIOUS FACTS
Church in the U.S. Capitol
The Continental Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war.
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The first national government of the United States, was convinced that the "public prosperity" of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a "spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens," Congress declared to the American people, would "make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people."
Source
Our unique checks-and-balances system of government would never have been conceived through secularism. For example, the 3 Branches of Government is based on Isaiah 33:22. The separation of powers is based on Jeremiah 17:9. Tax exemption of churches is based on Ezra 7:24. Repeatedly in early congressional records, the Bible was used as the premise for discussions and law making. For example, the Congressional Record of September 25, 1789 sites that a discussion of II Chronicles 6 led to the declaring of the first Thanksgiving holiday.
In his first inaugural address, President Washington's stated, "It would be improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being.... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than people of the United States.... We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained." It concluded with a church service at Saint Paul's Chapel, led by the chaplains of Congress.
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"... prior to 1789 (the year that eleven of the thirteen states ratified the Constitution), many of the states still had constitutional requirements that a man must be a Christian in order to hold public office."
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General Order From Lincoln Respecting The Observance Of The Sabbath
VARIOUS QUOTES
From The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. IV, P. 36:
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
"The Promulgation of the great doctrines of religion, the being, and attributes, and providences of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social and benevolent virtues --these can never be a matter of indifference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed,difficult to conceive how any civilized society can well exist without them." - Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story
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AN INTERESTING ARTICLE:
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Alright, so how after all that religious background, how can we be moving to a Godless nation?
It began in 1947!
The Supreme Court used the phrase a “wall of separation between church and state” from the Jefferson letter.
Jefferson penned that phrase to reassure the Danbury (CT) Baptist Association that because of separation of church and state, the government would never interfere with their public religious expressions. For the next 150 years, federal courts followed Jefferson's intent and attached his separation metaphor to the Free Expression Clause of the First Amendment, thus consistently upholding public religious expressions. However, in 1947, the Supreme Court reversed itself and began applying the phrase to the Establishment Clause instead, thus causing federal courts to remove rather than preserve public religious expressions.
Jefferson’s letter was a reply to a letter received by the Danbury Baptists. You can see both letters here.
Here is an analysis of the two letters.
Are you still not convinced that the Jefferson letter was misinterpreted for secularist motives? Jefferson’s behavior contradicts the faulty interpretation of his letter!
VARIOUS FACTS ABOUT THOMAS JEFFERSON
• Jefferson urged local governments to make land available specifically for Christian purposes. Source: Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Bishop Carroll on September 3, 1801 (in the Library of Congress, #19966).
• In an 1803 federal Indian treaty, Jefferson willingly agreed to provide $300 to “assist the said Kaskaskia tribe in the erection of a church” and to provide “annually for seven years $100 towards the support of a Catholic priest.” He also signed three separate acts setting aside government lands for the sole use of religious groups and setting aside government lands so that Moravian missionaries might be assisted in “promoting Christianity.” Source: American State Papers, Walter Lowrie and Matthew St. Claire Clarke, editors (Washington, D. C.: Gales and Seaton, 1832), Vol. IV, p. 687; see also Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, at 103 (1985), Rehnquist, J. (dissenting); see also, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, Richard Peters, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846), Vol. VII, p. 79, Article III, “A Treaty Between the United States and the Kaskaskia Tribe of Indians,” December 23, 1803; Vol. VII, p. 88, Article IV, “Treaty with the Wyandots, etc.,” 1805; Vol. VII, p. 102, Article II, “Treaty with the Cherokees,” 1806.
• When Washington D. C. became the national capital in 1800, Congress voted that the Capitol building would also serve as a church building. Source: Debates and Proceedings of the Congress of the United States (Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1853), Sixth Congress, p. 797, December 4, 1800.
• President Jefferson chose to attend church each Sunday at the Capitol. Source: See the records recently reprinted by James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1998), p. 84.
• Jefferson even provided the service with paid government musicians to assist in its worship. Source: Id. at 89.
• Jefferson also began similar Christian services in his own Executive Branch, both at the Treasury Building and at the War Office. Source: Id. at 89; see also John Quincy Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874), Vol. I, p. 265, October 23, 1803.
• Jefferson praised the use of a local courthouse as a meeting place for Christian services. Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XV, p. 404, to Dr. Thomas Cooper on November 2, 1822.
• Jefferson assured a Christian religious school that it would receive “the patronage of the government”. Source: Letter of Thomas Jefferson to the Nuns of the Order of St. Ursula at New Orleans on May 15, 1804, original in possession of the New Orleans Parish.
• Jefferson proposed that the Great Seal of the United States depict a story from the Bible and include the word “God” in its motto. Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), Vol. I, pp. 494-497, from “Report on a Seal for the United States, with Related Papers,” August 20, 1776; See also this article.
As you can see, the current interpretation of the Jefferson letter is wrong.
Now I would like to get into more into the opposition. The secularists have three main arguments against the idea that the U.S. was founded upon Christianity.
1. Our founding fathers were mostly deists
2. The Jefferson letter
3. The Treaty of Tripoli
I have already touched upon the first argument. But for more of an in-depth approach I would like you to read this article.
The Jefferson letter has already been dealt with.
Now for the Treaty of Tripoli…
Source
Here is a couple of more interesting articles…
The Founders on Public Religious Expression
God: Missing in Action from American History
Reagon's Speech on Religion
In closing I would to leave you with the following information and this quote:
In this important ruling, the Supreme Court clearly defined the meaning of the First Amendment and the doctrine of "Separation of Church and State." The purpose of the First Amendment is merely to prohibit the establishment of an official national church, similar to England's Anglican Church. The Founding Fathers were not trying to prohibit the federal government from supporting religious institutions, promoting a reverence for God, or even favoring Christianity over other religious faiths. According to the Supreme Court's ruling:
"The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other.
That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other—hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly.
Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into places of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "so help me God" in our courtroom oaths—these and all other references to the Almighty that run through our laws, or public rituals, our ceremonies, would be flouting the First Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object to the supplication with which the Court opens each session: God save the United States and this Honorable Court.
We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. . . . When the State encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.”
Source: Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306, 312-314 (1952).
BTW: God is acknowledged in all 50 state constitutions.
This thread took some time in the making. I have tried to make sure that all the information presented here is precise and accurate.
There are many quotes out there that our founding fathers supposedly had said. There are quotes that support the Christian and secularist point of view. I found deceit presented on both sides.
I went to various websites and took the quotes I felt were most powerful in my argument. Many of the quotes I took had no sources to back them. I then went to various atheistic and secularist sites to find any arguments that were presented against the quotes I liked. If there were none I kept the quotes but if there were any arguments that were strong I then dropped the quotes. Afterwards, I then searched to see if there were any sources to back them if there were not I simply dropped the quotes. I did the same for other information presented in this thread.
If there is anything that escaped my verification process I apologize. I do not intend to mislead anyone.
This thread is intended for those who refuse to acknowledge that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation.
Relax and grab yourself a drink as I begin to rock your world…
The following shows that our nation is forgetting God:
Source
Many would believe that the above events were in favor of what our founding fathers would have wanted. I’m, of course, not one of those people. I’m going to show you many quotes by our founding fathers that support our Christian heritage and various other facts.
Before I get into things I would like to give you a little tour of our nation’s capitol…
Source
Here is a little article to warm things up!
Now a look at our founding documents…
American's Founding Documents Reflect Our Religious Heritage.
Mayflower Compact (November 11, 1620) Document signed by 41 male passengers on the Mayflower before landing at Plymouth (Massachusetts Bay Colony) to bind the group into a political body and pledge members to abide by any laws that would be established. "In The Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia ..."
The Declaration on Taking up Arms (July 6, 1775) The Continental Congress decided that the various state armies should be organized into the Continental Army and that a "Declaration of Arms" should be read to it.
"... But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity, and the dictates of common sense must convince all those who reflect upon the subject, that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end."
"... we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers which our beneficent Creator has graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties ... "
"With an humble confidence in the mercies of the Supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war."
Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, ... expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people ... set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ... We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare...
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Articles of Confederation (1781-89) Early US constitution that bridged the initial government by the First Continental Congress and the federal government provided under the US Constitution of 1787.
" ... And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union."
Northwest Ordinance (July 13, 1787) Considered to be one of the most significant achievements of the Congress of the Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance put the world on notice not only that the land north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi would be settled but that it would eventually become part of the United States. ... Above all, the Northwest Ordinance accelerated the westward expansion of the United States.
"Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged ... (Article 3)
VARIOUS FACTS
“Scholars now identify a high level of religious energy in the colonies after 1700. ... Figures on church attendance and church formation support these opinions. Between 1700 and 1740, an estimated 75 to 80 percent of the population attended churches, which were being built at a headlong pace.”
Source
One of the great slogans of the American Revolution was "No King but King Jesus!"
Source
In 1776, 98% of the population was Protestant Christian, 1.8% Catholic Christian, and .2 of 1% Jewish. That means that 99.8% of the people in America in 1776 professed to be Christians.
Source: Benjamin Hart, “The Wall That Protestantism Built: The Religious Reasons for the Separation of Church and State”, Policy Review (Fall 1988), 44 as quoted by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe in What If Jesus Had never Been Born?, revised edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001) 70.
Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 51 were Orthodox Christians.
Source: M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company (Marlborough, New Hampshire: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982), v-vi as quoted by John Eidsmoe 1987 “The Framers of the Constitution: Christians or Deists?” CWA Newsletter (July):3.
Two historians at the University of Houston did a 10-year study of the ideas that shaped our republic. They started with 15,000 documents from the Colonial era, which were boiled down to 3,154 statements. The three most quoted individuals were French philosopher Montesquieu (8.3%), English jurist William Blackstone (7.9%) and English philosopher John Locke (2.9%). But Biblical citations dwarfed them all. Ninety-four percent of the founding fathers' quotes were based on the Bible -- 34% directly from its pages and 60% from men who had used the Bible to arrive at their conclusions.
Source: Donald S. Lutz, “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-Century American Political Thought,” 78 American Political Science Review 189 (1984), 189-197 as quoted by Eidsmoe in “The Framers of the Constitution: Christians or Deists?,” 3, referring to research done by Professors Lutz and Charles S. Hyneman. John Eidsmoe is a constitutional law professor at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama.
WHAT OUTSIDE OBSERVERS SAID ABOUT AMERICA UPON VISITING:
A Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through out America in the early 1830’s and wrote about it in 1835. His work was originally called The Republic of the States of America, and It’s Political Institutions, Reviewed and Examined. It is now called Democracy in America He said:
“Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention, and the longer I stayed there, the more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over the same country.”
Achille Murat was another French observer. He disliked religion and found the United States religious nature offensive. In his 1833 work, A Moral and Political Sketch of the United States, he wrote:
"It must be admitted that looking at the physiognomy of the United States, its religion is the only feature which disgusts a foreigner.” He added “There is no country in which the people are so religious as in the United States; to the eyes of a foreigner they even appear to be too much so".
He concluded:
“While a death-struggle is waging in Europe it is curious to observe the tranquility which prevails in the United States.”
Here is an interesting article about America’s founding.
The following quotations are from A Defense of the Use of the Bible in Schools (1830) by Benjamin Rush:
"Let the children ... be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.”
"In Scotland and in parts of New England, where the Bible has been long used as a schoolbook, the inhabitants are among the most enlightened in religions and science, the most strict in morals, and the most intelligent in human affairs of any people whose history has come to my knowledge upon the surface of the globe."
"We err, not only in human affairs but in religion likewise, only because we do not "know the Scriptures" and obey their instructions. Immense truths, I believe, are concealed in them. The time, I have no doubt, will come when posterity will view and pity our ignorance of these truths as much as we do the ignorance sometimes manifested by the disciples of our Savior, who knew nothing of the meaning of those plain passages in the Old Testament which were daily fulfilling before their eyes."
"'A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.'" By withholding the knowledge of this doctrine from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds."
"I cannot but suspect that the present fashionable practice of rejecting the Bible from our schools has originated with Deists. And they discover great ingenuity in this new mode of attacking Christianity. If they proceed in it, they will do more in half a century in extirpating our religion than Bolingbroke or Voltaire could have effected in a thousand years."
QUOTES FROM OUR FOUNDING FATHERS
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Here is a poem by Washington written in a copy book when he was 13 years old:
“Assist me, Muse divine, to sing the morn
On which the Savior of mankind was born”
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, Publisher, 1838), Vol. XII, pp. 519.
Washington’s General Orders during the Revolutionary War:
Source for both quotations: The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931), Vol. 4, p. 347, February 26, 1776 Order; and Writings (1932), Vol. 5, pp. 244-245, July 9, 1776 Order.]
During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words “So help me God!” to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.
Source: 4 WASHINGTON IRVING, LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 475 (New York: G. P. Putnam & Co., 1857); MRS. C. M KIRKLAND, MEMOIRS OF WASHINGTON 438 (New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1870); CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN, BUILDING THE NATION 26 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1882).
While encamped on the banks of a river, Washington was approached by Delaware Indian chiefs who desired that their youth be trained in American schools. In Washington's response, he first told them that "Congress... will look on them as on their own children." That is, we would train their children as if they were our own. He then commended the chiefs for their decision:
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.”
Source: George Washington's Speech to Delaware Indian Chiefs on May 12, 1779, in John C. Fitzpatrick, editor, The Writings of George Washington, Vol. XV (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), p. 55.
Check out this article about the first National Thanksgiving in which George Washington was involved in.
“While just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.”
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), Vol. XXX, p. 432 n., from his address to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 9, 1789.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”
Source: George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address to the United States in 1796.
Nelly Custis-Lewis, their adopted daughter, who lived with the Washingtons 20 years from childhood to marriage, wrote to Jared Sparks, a Chaplain of Congress:
Source: George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Ferdinand Andrews, Publisher, 1838), Vol. XII, pp. 399-411.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
From his "Second Inaugural Address" in 1805:
”I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”
Source
“I concur with the author in considering the moral precepts of Jesus as more pure, correct, and sublime than those of ancient philosophers.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. X, pp. 376-377. In a letter to Edward Dowse on April 19, 1803.
“To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every _human_ excellence; & believing he never claimed any other”
Source: Bergh, Writings of Jefferson, Vol. X, p.380, letter to Benjamin Rush on April 21, 1803.
“An eloquent preacher of your religious society, Richard Motte, in a discourse of much emotion and pathos, is said to have exclaimed aloud to his congregation, that he did not believe there was a Quaker, Presbyterian, Methodist or Baptist in heaven, having paused to give his hearers time to stare and to wonder. He added, that in heaven, God knew no distinctions, but considered all good men as his children, and as brethren of the same family. I believe, with the Quaker preacher, that he who steadily observes those moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be questioned at the gates of heaven, as to the dogmas in which they all differ. That on entering there, all these are left behind us, and the Aristides and Catos, the Penns and Tillotsons, Presbyterians and Baptists, will find themselves united in all principles which are in concert with the reason of the supreme mind. Of all the systems of morality, ancient and modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.”
Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed. (Washington, D. C.: The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XIII, pp.377-78, letter to William Canby on September 18, 1813.
"The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty. A student's perusal of the sacred volume will make him a better citizen, a better father, a better husband."
Source: Walker P. Whitman, A Christian History of the American Republic: A Textbook for Secondary Schools, (Boston: Green Leaf Press, 1939,1948), 91.
“But the greatest of all the reformers of the depraved religion of His own country, was Jesus of Nazareth.”
Source: Bergh, Writings of Jefferson, Vol. XIV, p.220, letter to William Short on October 31, 1819.
“The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of mankind.”
Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C.: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1904), Vol. XV, p. 383.
"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ."
Source: Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Thomson, from Monticello, January 9, 1816; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1994, pp. 1372-1374.
“No nation has ever existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I, as Chief Magistrate of this nation, am bound to give it the sanction of my example.”
Source: See the records recently reprinted by James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1998), p.96, quoting from a handwritten history in possession of the Library of Congress, “Washington Parish, Washington City,” by Rev. Ethan Allen.
Note: Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ but still considered himself to be a Christian.
JOHN ADAMS
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. So great is my veneration of the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectful members of society."
Source: Robert Ferrell, The Adams Family: Four Generations of Patriots, (New York: Publius Press, 1969), 12.
"It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue."
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.
“The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society, before it can be civilized or made free.”
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. VI, p. 9.
1798 National Fasting and Prayer Proclamation By John Adams
On April 19, 1817, Adams wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson in which he recounted a conversation between Joseph Cleverly and Lemuel Bryant; a schoolmaster and a minister he had known. Disgusted by the petty religious bickering displayed by those two, Adams declared: (The italicized portion is often quoted out of context by revisionist historians.)
"Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!' But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean hell."
Source: Excerpt of letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817 -- John Adams, quoted from Charles Francis Adams, ed., Works of John Adams (1856), vol. X, p. 254; The Adams Jefferson Letters, The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams, Edited by Lester J. Cappon, University of North Carolina Press (1959, 1987) p.509
BENJAMINE FRANKLIN
Franklin certainly believed in the providence of God. In his famous speech to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on June 28, 1787:
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.”
Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787. (Congress then opened with prayers each day thereafter and, by doing so, was able to successfully complete its work.)
In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he said:
"History will afford the frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion, from its usefulness to the public; the advantage of a religious character among private persons; the mischiefs of superstition &c. and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."
Source: Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania[/i (Philadelphia, 1749), p. 22.
"If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?"
Source: Jared Sparks, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore, and Mason, 1840), Vol.X, pp. 281-2.
Franklin was not a Christian (in an orthodox sense); he did not believe in the divinity of Christ. This is easily documented. However, he was well aware of the utility of religion in general and Christianity specifically. In a letter to his daughter, Franklin stated:
“Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer Book is your principal business there, and if properly attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons generally can do. For they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom, than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and therefore I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do not mean you should despise sermons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth. I am the more particular on this head, as you seemed to express a little before I came away some inclination to leave our church, which I would not have you do.”
Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, ed. (Boston: Tappan, Whittmore, and Mason, 1838), Vol. VII, pp. 269-271, letter to his daughter, Sarah, on November 8, 1764.
Speech delivered to the Continental Congress on June 28, 1787, when that body was deadlocked over drafting our Nation's Constitution:
"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were in engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor ... And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?”
Source: James Madison, Journal of the Federal Convention, Vol. I, p.259.
Just days before his death, Franklin wrote to the Reverend Ezra Stiles:
“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think his system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is like to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.”
Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, ed. (Boston: Tappan, Whittmore, and Mason, 1838), Vol. X, p. 424.
Note: Franklin considered himself a deist earlier in his life. But as you can see, he moved away from the beliefs of a deist.
VARIOUS FACTS
Church in the U.S. Capitol
The Continental Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war.
Source
The first national government of the United States, was convinced that the "public prosperity" of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a "spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens," Congress declared to the American people, would "make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people."
Source
Our unique checks-and-balances system of government would never have been conceived through secularism. For example, the 3 Branches of Government is based on Isaiah 33:22. The separation of powers is based on Jeremiah 17:9. Tax exemption of churches is based on Ezra 7:24. Repeatedly in early congressional records, the Bible was used as the premise for discussions and law making. For example, the Congressional Record of September 25, 1789 sites that a discussion of II Chronicles 6 led to the declaring of the first Thanksgiving holiday.
In his first inaugural address, President Washington's stated, "It would be improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being.... No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than people of the United States.... We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained." It concluded with a church service at Saint Paul's Chapel, led by the chaplains of Congress.
Source
"... prior to 1789 (the year that eleven of the thirteen states ratified the Constitution), many of the states still had constitutional requirements that a man must be a Christian in order to hold public office."
Source
General Order From Lincoln Respecting The Observance Of The Sabbath
VARIOUS QUOTES
From The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. IV, P. 36:
"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."
"The Promulgation of the great doctrines of religion, the being, and attributes, and providences of one Almighty God; the responsibility to Him for all our actions, founded upon moral accountability; a future state of rewards and punishments; the cultivation of all the personal, social and benevolent virtues --these can never be a matter of indifference in any well-ordered community. It is, indeed,difficult to conceive how any civilized society can well exist without them." - Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story
Source
AN INTERESTING ARTICLE:
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Alright, so how after all that religious background, how can we be moving to a Godless nation?
It began in 1947!
The Supreme Court used the phrase a “wall of separation between church and state” from the Jefferson letter.
Jefferson penned that phrase to reassure the Danbury (CT) Baptist Association that because of separation of church and state, the government would never interfere with their public religious expressions. For the next 150 years, federal courts followed Jefferson's intent and attached his separation metaphor to the Free Expression Clause of the First Amendment, thus consistently upholding public religious expressions. However, in 1947, the Supreme Court reversed itself and began applying the phrase to the Establishment Clause instead, thus causing federal courts to remove rather than preserve public religious expressions.
Jefferson’s letter was a reply to a letter received by the Danbury Baptists. You can see both letters here.
Here is an analysis of the two letters.
Are you still not convinced that the Jefferson letter was misinterpreted for secularist motives? Jefferson’s behavior contradicts the faulty interpretation of his letter!
VARIOUS FACTS ABOUT THOMAS JEFFERSON
• Jefferson urged local governments to make land available specifically for Christian purposes. Source: Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Bishop Carroll on September 3, 1801 (in the Library of Congress, #19966).
• In an 1803 federal Indian treaty, Jefferson willingly agreed to provide $300 to “assist the said Kaskaskia tribe in the erection of a church” and to provide “annually for seven years $100 towards the support of a Catholic priest.” He also signed three separate acts setting aside government lands for the sole use of religious groups and setting aside government lands so that Moravian missionaries might be assisted in “promoting Christianity.” Source: American State Papers, Walter Lowrie and Matthew St. Claire Clarke, editors (Washington, D. C.: Gales and Seaton, 1832), Vol. IV, p. 687; see also Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, at 103 (1985), Rehnquist, J. (dissenting); see also, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, Richard Peters, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1846), Vol. VII, p. 79, Article III, “A Treaty Between the United States and the Kaskaskia Tribe of Indians,” December 23, 1803; Vol. VII, p. 88, Article IV, “Treaty with the Wyandots, etc.,” 1805; Vol. VII, p. 102, Article II, “Treaty with the Cherokees,” 1806.
• When Washington D. C. became the national capital in 1800, Congress voted that the Capitol building would also serve as a church building. Source: Debates and Proceedings of the Congress of the United States (Washington: Gales and Seaton, 1853), Sixth Congress, p. 797, December 4, 1800.
• President Jefferson chose to attend church each Sunday at the Capitol. Source: See the records recently reprinted by James Hutson, Chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1998), p. 84.
• Jefferson even provided the service with paid government musicians to assist in its worship. Source: Id. at 89.
• Jefferson also began similar Christian services in his own Executive Branch, both at the Treasury Building and at the War Office. Source: Id. at 89; see also John Quincy Adams, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874), Vol. I, p. 265, October 23, 1803.
• Jefferson praised the use of a local courthouse as a meeting place for Christian services. Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, editor (Washington, D. C: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), Vol. XV, p. 404, to Dr. Thomas Cooper on November 2, 1822.
• Jefferson assured a Christian religious school that it would receive “the patronage of the government”. Source: Letter of Thomas Jefferson to the Nuns of the Order of St. Ursula at New Orleans on May 15, 1804, original in possession of the New Orleans Parish.
• Jefferson proposed that the Great Seal of the United States depict a story from the Bible and include the word “God” in its motto. Source: Thomas Jefferson, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian P. Boyd, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), Vol. I, pp. 494-497, from “Report on a Seal for the United States, with Related Papers,” August 20, 1776; See also this article.
As you can see, the current interpretation of the Jefferson letter is wrong.
Now I would like to get into more into the opposition. The secularists have three main arguments against the idea that the U.S. was founded upon Christianity.
1. Our founding fathers were mostly deists
2. The Jefferson letter
3. The Treaty of Tripoli
I have already touched upon the first argument. But for more of an in-depth approach I would like you to read this article.
The Jefferson letter has already been dealt with.
Now for the Treaty of Tripoli…
Source
Here is a couple of more interesting articles…
The Founders on Public Religious Expression
God: Missing in Action from American History
Reagon's Speech on Religion
In closing I would to leave you with the following information and this quote:
In this important ruling, the Supreme Court clearly defined the meaning of the First Amendment and the doctrine of "Separation of Church and State." The purpose of the First Amendment is merely to prohibit the establishment of an official national church, similar to England's Anglican Church. The Founding Fathers were not trying to prohibit the federal government from supporting religious institutions, promoting a reverence for God, or even favoring Christianity over other religious faiths. According to the Supreme Court's ruling:
"The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner, the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other.
That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other—hostile, suspicious, and even unfriendly.
Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into places of worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "so help me God" in our courtroom oaths—these and all other references to the Almighty that run through our laws, or public rituals, our ceremonies, would be flouting the First Amendment. A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object to the supplication with which the Court opens each session: God save the United States and this Honorable Court.
We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being. . . . When the State encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.”
Source: Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306, 312-314 (1952).
BTW: God is acknowledged in all 50 state constitutions.
I wasn't, and my children certainly are not being so taught.
