In the formation of the American government … it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven.
—John Adams (1735-1826), as quoted in The Quotable Atheist, p. 4.
Unfortunately John Adams did not foresee George W. Bush.
Personally, I’m quite partial to Adam’s letter to Jefferson on June 28, 1813:
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/livingrev/religion/text3/adamsjeffersoncor.pdf
Brad
Brad,
I think most of us understand that the founding fathers were rather contradictory about the rightness and goodness of religion. If I recall correctly (feel free to correct me) that Adams also called the Cross an “instrument of grief”, and not just because someone suffered on it. In these letters he comes down rather unkindly on organized religion and preachers, which seems to point that he prefers religion to be a personal matter. He also refers to Jesus as a deist teacher or something like that.
And whether or not Adams was a Christian should have no bearing on whether or not this is a secular republic.
Also Bard, looking at your website, you’ve decided to believe in god because atheists aren’t exactly sure how the universe came into existence? Way to go. Way to revel in the mystery, instead of picking the culturally dominant answer. I’m sure Adams and Jefferson would smile on that.
gosh darnit, of course I mess up when trying to use html tags. the italics should have ended after “bearing”, if I recall correctly.
That is truly excellent. Thanks for posting that for us high-school history haters who don’t know a lot of it, but now find it fascinating.
The depressing part about Bush notwithstanding.
Like all good politicians, our founding fathers carefully assessed their audience when making pronouncements concerning religion, or emotional appeals to “Christian” morality. The Bible is certainly a useful thing to have when trying to make the public feel outraged to the point of action, or to coerce action through guilt or superstition. However, we have a fair idea what books were in their personal libraries, and the Greek and Roman volumes far outnumbered the Christian.
I think there is no question that Adams and Jefferson were obsessed with Christian principles, almost moreso than their religious contemporaries. Of course, their idea of what those “general principles” were did not necessarily agree with others; faith in particular was not high on their lists.
Jefferson is especially interesting. It seems to me that for most of his life he was what I can only describe as a Christian Deist. He did believe there was a God, but a non-interfering one, and he didn’t even have a clear opinion on the afterlife. However, he also believed that Jesus espoused the best philosophy in history (which honestly surprises me; it really isn’t that profound or interesting). He considered Jesus to be a philosopher and visionary, but not a deity or anything of the sort.
What is important to keep in mind, though, is that most or perhaps all of the founders were convinced that government must be secular. As president, George Washington explicitly acknowledged atheists several times, insisting that all people, including Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and even atheists (is it just me, or did Europeans not seem aware of the existence of other religions back then) deserved equal respect and protection under the and just for basic human decency. Jefferson wrote about a Wall of Separation of Church and State, claiming it was the purpose of the establishment clause of the first amendment, and insisting that religion must never come into politics (of course, Jefferson hated religion in general, so this is hardly surprising). And while Jefferson did use flowery Deist language in the Declaration of Independence, no actual government document at the time involved or even mentioned a god in any way.
Unfortunately God did not foresee George W. Bush. Which shows how much He knows.
I guess in Texas, all this will be moot. Anyone founding father who wasn’t a bible-thumping fundy never existed there. Wiped from the slates of history. Exterminated. Just like in the good ol’ nazi days.