I keep hearing folks out there saying that our country was founded by Christians, for Christians and that the founding fathers intended the United States to be a Christian nation. What everyone should be proud of is the fact that this country was founded on freedom and religious tolerance as stated in the first amendment to our constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”. Why is it then that the words “Under God” weren’t added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954 and “In God We Trust” to paper currency until 1957? What we need to keep in mind here is that the founding fathers grew up in a much different world than we live in today. These men were children of The Age of Reason, also known as The Age of Enlightenment, which stretched roughly from 1650 to 1800 and was characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics. These revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western world. The truth is that most people who made the voyage to settle the new world did so to escape the tyranny of a national church in their native homeland for the opportunity to practice their individual beliefs or lack thereof without fear of persecution. By the time the seeds of revolution were germinating in the colonies, the religion du jour was something called Deism. Deism is derived from deus, the Latin word for god. Deists believed that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of God, but found fault with organized religion and could not believe in supernatural events such as miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures or the Trinity.
Many of the framers of our constitution practiced Deism, although some would not admit this publicly for fear of being branded an atheist. Thomas Jefferson referred to himself as a Unitarian, but went on to write a treatment of the Biblical gospels which he titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, more commonly known as the Jefferson Bible, which exhibits a strong deist tendency for stripping away all supernatural and dogmatic references from the Christ story. Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography, “Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist”.
Other notable Founding Fathers may have been more directly deist. These include James Madison, possibly Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen, and Thomas Paine (who published The Age of Reason, a treatise that helped to popularize deism throughout the USA and Europe). Paine is quoted as saying “In Deism our reason and our belief are happily united”.
Although rarely publicized, Deism is still being practiced and one of the organizations keeping it alive is the World Union of Deists (deism.com). Their motto is “Belief In God + God Given Reason = Deism”, so if your Old Tyme Religion just ain’t doing it for you anymore, you can check out what Deism has to offer.
Whatever you believe in, take The Dude’s advice and pour yourself a tasty beverage, kick back and take it easy, man.
Many of the framers of our constitution practiced Deism, although some would not admit this publicly for fear of being branded an atheist. Thomas Jefferson referred to himself as a Unitarian, but went on to write a treatment of the Biblical gospels which he titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, more commonly known as the Jefferson Bible, which exhibits a strong deist tendency for stripping away all supernatural and dogmatic references from the Christ story. Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography, “Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist”.
Other notable Founding Fathers may have been more directly deist. These include James Madison, possibly Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen, and Thomas Paine (who published The Age of Reason, a treatise that helped to popularize deism throughout the USA and Europe). Paine is quoted as saying “In Deism our reason and our belief are happily united”.
Although rarely publicized, Deism is still being practiced and one of the organizations keeping it alive is the World Union of Deists (deism.com). Their motto is “Belief In God + God Given Reason = Deism”, so if your Old Tyme Religion just ain’t doing it for you anymore, you can check out what Deism has to offer.
Whatever you believe in, take The Dude’s advice and pour yourself a tasty beverage, kick back and take it easy, man.
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