The U.S. NOT founded upon Christianity

[LilOlLady]

The U.S. NOT founded upon Christianity
Many Christian's who think of America as founded upon Christianity usually present the Declaration of Independence as "proof" of a Christian America. ...
The U.S. NOT founded upon Christianity - Cached - Similar

Our Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians They were men of The Enlightenment, not men of Christianity. .... Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural .... He led the men who turned America from an English colony into a self-governing nation. ...
Thomas Jefferson - John Adams - Benjamin Franklin - Thomas Painefreethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html - Cached - Similar

 

[LilOlLady]

James Madison;
"Can a free government possibly exist with the Roman Catholic religion?"
-letter to Thomas Jefferson

John Adams;
"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity."

Thomas Jefferson;
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
- "Notes on Virginia"

Ben Franklin;
"I wish it (Christianity) were more productive of good works ... I mean real good works ... not holy-day keeping, sermon-hearing ... or making long prayers, filled with flatteries and compliments despised by wise men, and much less capable of pleasing the Deity."
- Works, Vol. VII, p. 75

Thomas Paine;
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

Our Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians

 

[Oddball]

They were deists, nonetheless.

 

[dilloduck]

Which God were they referring to in all of their writings ?

 

[hortysir]

WADR, are you expecting someone to argue this point?

Has someone said that we were?

Our founders had such a jaded view of Christianity, after being subjects of the Church of England, there is no reason why they would model this country after that standard.

 

[AllieBaba]

The John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! [April 18, 1775]

John Adams:
“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson

"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] |
.......click here to see this quote in its context and to see John Adams' quotes taken OUT of context!


Samuel Adams: | Portrait of Sam Adams | Powerpoint presentation on John, John Quincy, and Sam Adams
“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.” [ "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia]

“ Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity… and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.” [October 4, 1790]

John Quincy Adams:
• “Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

“The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.”
John Quincy Adams. Letters to his son. p. 61

Elias Boudinot: | Portrait of Elias Boudinot
“ Be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers . . . and judge of the tree by its fruits.”

Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence | Portrait of Charles Carroll
" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." [Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]

Quotes of the Founders : Founding Fathers quotes on religion, faith, Christianity

 

[The T]

WADR, are you expecting someone to argue this point?

Has someone said that we were?

Our founders had such a jaded view of Christianity, after being subjects of the Church of England, there is no reason why they would model this country after that standard.

True. However they acknowledged a supreme entity they referred to as the 'Creator'...

[Snip]

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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...

[/Snip]

 

[AllieBaba]

Even About.com knows they were Christian.

"No one can deny that many of the founding fathers of the United States of America were men of deep religious convictions based in the Bible and their Christian faith in Jesus Christ. Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, nearly half (24) held seminary or Bible school degrees."

""While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."
--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God."
--Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever."
--Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.
Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event."
--Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.

"I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ."
--The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.
Founding Fathers Quotes - Christian Quotes of the Founding Fathers

 

[dilloduck]

Suffice it to say, America was not founded on the principles of Atheism.

 

[AllieBaba]

"Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. ... Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."
--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

Benjamin Franklin
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Unites States Constitution

"Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.

That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely 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."
--Benjamin Franklin wrote this in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University on March 9, 1790.

Founding Fathers Quotes - Christian Quotes of the Founding Fathers

 

[AllieBaba]

James Madison
4th U.S. President

"Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ."
--America's Providential History, p. 93.

Patrick Henry
Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."
--The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

Christian Quotes of the Founding Fathers (Page 3)

 

[Jack Fate]

I agree that America was not founded on Christianity. BUT, it was founded upon Christian/Judeo biblical principles.

You have to really focus on what the Christian haters say and how they say it. They are always thinking of ways to undermine the truth about the USA when it comes to Christianity. Christianity is the enemy.

 

[AllieBaba]

Suffice it to say, America was not founded on the principles of Atheism.

As I already told dd, people are willfully ignorant. There is no question that the US was founded on Christian principles. The founding fathers were up front about it and there are REAMS of documents which baldly state it.

 

[Oddball]

I agree that America was not founded on Christianity. BUT, it was founded upon Christian/Judeo biblical principles.

You have to really focus on what the Christian haters say and how they say it. They are always thinking of ways to undermine the truth about the USA when it comes to Christianity. Christianity is the enemy.

The principles were used as a model.

Looking at the "thou shalt not" parts of the 10 Commandments, I see nothing in there which isn't an act of aggression against one's neighbor.

 

[Jack Fate]

I agree that America was not founded on Christianity. BUT, it was founded upon Christian/Judeo biblical principles.

You have to really focus on what the Christian haters say and how they say it. They are always thinking of ways to undermine the truth about the USA when it comes to Christianity. Christianity is the enemy.

The principles were used as a model.

Looking at the "thou shalt not" parts of the 10 Commandments, I see nothing in there which isn't an act of aggression against one's neighbor.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your last sentence.

 

[AllieBaba]

The ten commandments have very little to do with the principles of freedom.

But the founding fathers all agreed freedom is a Christian tenet, and that freedom emanates from God.

 

[Greenbeard]

But the founding fathers all agreed freedom is a Christian tenet, and that freedom emanates from God.

What's ironic is that many American slaves turned to evangelical Christianity for sustenance in the 19th century.

 

[Oddball]

I agree that America was not founded on Christianity. BUT, it was founded upon Christian/Judeo biblical principles.

You have to really focus on what the Christian haters say and how they say it. They are always thinking of ways to undermine the truth about the USA when it comes to Christianity. Christianity is the enemy.

The principles were used as a model.

Looking at the "thou shalt not" parts of the 10 Commandments, I see nothing in there which isn't an act of aggression against one's neighbor.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by your last sentence.

The duty of lawful de jure government is to provide a framework to protect its citizens against aggression, both from within and without.

Problem being right now is that since the onset of the progressive era, gubmint itself has become the greatest aggressor.

 

[davecrowson]

Only when we, as individuals, are ready to sit in judgment, impose sentences and restrict the rights of our sons and daughters, should we be willing to hand these issues off to society. This should never be done casually. Our government was established to protect our unalienable rights and to recognize all men are created equal. We cannot lose sight of this and let it be used by those who would distract us. We instead, need to focus on the common purpose for our government and know that freedom doesn’t always reflect what we may value as society but it will protect your right to choose what you value as an individual.

 

[The T]

But the founding fathers all agreed freedom is a Christian tenet, and that freedom emanates from God.

What's ironic is that many American slaves turned to evangelical Christianity for sustenance in the 19th century.

So what's your point? Or are you trying to derail the thread in your normal fashion?