Since the early days of this Republic, various of our Founding Fathers were accused of being irreligious, impious, and even atheist. Those accusations are unsupportable lies told by those whose own “tolerance” of the faithful informs not only their personal agendas but taints and twists their biographical descriptions of the Founders, as well.
Often, for example, most of the most renowned and revered of the men of the founding generation are labeled “deists.” Deism was a theological philosophy popular in the 18th century, especially among the stratum of men associated with the Enlightenment. Stated simply, a deist believes in God but considers Him an absent master, unconcerned with the quotidian comings and goings of His earthly creations.
Every one of the Founders listed in the following survey (with the possible exception of Benjamin Franklin) would reject such an appellation and in fact, never referred to themselves as deists (again, with a passing reference to himself made by Franklin).
While the men mentioned herein held different interpretations of the characteristics of God, of His Son, Jesus Christ, and of the most correct way to worship them, they unanimously and sincerely believed that God was an all-powerful Creator and providentially interceded for mankind, particularly in the quest for liberty and the freedom of conscience that permitted diversity of worship.
Despite the claims of designing detractors furthering their own transparent agendas, none of our Founding Fathers abhorred religion. To the contrary, they embraced piety and encouraged others to do likewise.
As the following digest will demonstrate, however, the five men whose religious views are outlined below each fervently believed in a merciful Creator who took notice of the affairs of men and took, at times, a very active role in aiding the fight for American freedom.
Finally, the representatives included in this article were chosen for a specific purpose.
First, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are highlighted for their reputation (undeserved, mind you) of being the most impious of the Founders. On the other hand, John Adams is often described as being dogmatic and Puritanical, and for that reason, he is also noted in this brief overview. As the father of his country, George Washington naturally merits attention in this article. Finally, James Madison is known to history as the Father of the Constitution and holds a place of special respect for his intellect, his famed adherence to the republican “middle way,” and his thoughtful and erudite defense of religious tolerance. For this reason, Madison is a member of this small sample of Founders.
We begin with the senior member of the class, Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin was the most well-known American of his day. Although raised in the Calvinist environment of New England, young Benjamin was exposed at an early age to the writings of renowned English Whigs and deists, John Locke and Joseph Addison.
Franklin learned from these tutors that the principles of liberty were best promoted by personal piety and public virtue. He drank draught after draught from this cool, clear stream of thought and feasted freely from the cornucopia provided by these thoughtful promoters of freedom.
The more Franklin learned the lessons of the laws of nature and man’s place in the universe of ideas, he understood that not only was religion not an enemy of freedom but was often its most ardent ally.
The famous Philadelphian witnessed many manifestations of the interest of Providence in the affairs of man. The stories of timely storms, favorable fogs, and other “acts of God” are well known to students of the American War for Independence. “God”, wrote Franklin, “sometimes interferes by His particular providence and sets aside the effects which would otherwise have been produced by … causes.” Hardly the words of a man who saw the Creator as a hands-off deity.
In that vein, moreover, there is the story retold by James Madison of Franklin’s heartfelt plea made at a critical moment of near-fatal impasse during the rancorous debates that had raged for over a month at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Madison recorded that the following words were spoken by the Nestor of the Convention:
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 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 labour 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.
The course of his life and the tenor of his written works reveal that tolerance of the faiths of others was the sine qua non of a godly man in Franklin’s estimation. As with many of the men of our founding generation, Benjamin Franklin fostered faithfulness and firmly believed that any creed that compelled man to live freely and love God and his fellow man was to be praised and promoted.
John Adams
John Adams was the son of a deacon, John Adams’ personality was shaped by the austere Puritanism of his infancy. Adams developed a deep reverence for God and an atavistic admiration for those good and holy Puritans who came before him.
Although certainly no deist, John Adams recognized the benefit to society from the practice of religions other than his own. Despite his reputation for austerity, Adams was no rock-ribbed Puritan unable to see the goodness in other creeds.
Like Franklin, Adams rejected the dogmatism of many of his fellows, preferring instead to follow a path of goodness to his fellowman and faithful obedience to revealed principles of righteousness.
One of the principles embraced wholeheartedly by Adams was freedom. In another point of similarity between himself and Dr. Franklin, Adams learned much of the foundational doctrines of freedom from the pages of the works of John Locke.
One author elegantly describes the effect of Locke’s philosophy on the mind of the pious Adams: “He [John Adams] seemed especially influenced by enlightened theists such as John Locke, who argued that reason applied to faith would enhance, not obliterate, Christianity.” Adams derived from his reading of Locke, and others of that vein, that revelation commingled with reason resulted in a substance that aided the spread of freedom and allowed its roots to more firmly fix themselves in the hearts and minds of man.
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As with most of the other Founding Fathers, Adams’ approach to religion and the tolerance of its practice is often misstated by contemporary critics determined to deracinate the founding of this nation from the fertile soil of belief in the divine. For instance, there is this example provided by the recommendable book Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman:
Those hoping to prove the irreligiousness of the Founders have no trouble finding ammunition from Adam founding-faith-books. The liberal magazine The Nation and the website www.deism.org both homed in on this comment from Adams: “Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.’” But in typical culture war behavior, neither The Nation nor deism.org included the rest of the quote, in which Adams explained that the negative sentiment soon passed and was replaced by his realization, “Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite society, I mean hell.”
This undisguised discrimination disregards the undeniable and ever-present truth that our Founding Fathers may have held distinct notions of God and espoused different doctrines, but to a man they knew and wrote that the freedom enjoyed by our nation would be jeopardized by any diminution of morality.
Witness this famous quote from John Adams himself:
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
George Washington
