Macfistowannabe said:
George Washington - Episcopalian
John Adams - Unitarian
Thomas Jefferson - [Questionably] Unitarian
"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a god." -- Thomas Jefferson
"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, and believing he never claimed any other." -- Thomas Jefferson
James Madison - Episcopalian
James Monroe - Episcopalian
John Quincy Adams - Unitarian
Andrew Jackson - Presbyterian
Martin Van Buren - Dutch Reformed
William Henry Harrison - Episcopalian
John Tyler - Episcopalian
Thoughs, etc?
First off, this is a clear misrepresentation of the Founding Fathers, along with the religious climate of the day. There was the first "Great Awakening," yes, in the 1760s, but by the time of the American Revolution, the U.S. was highly disillusioned with religion. The Founding Fathers were more accurately products of the secular Enlightenment, and has less to do with religion. Most of the Founding Fathers were Episcopalian in name only, as, prior to independence, it was the state religion. This doesn't mean that they were fervent, regular churchgoers--and I have direct quotes to prove it.
Little is known about what George Washington thought about religion. He's noticeably silent in history about it, but historians believe that he attended Episcopalian services infrequently.
However, we do have this:
"As the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,--as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquillity of Messelmen,--and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mohammedan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever interupt the harmony existing betweenthe two countries"--Treaty of Tripoli in 1797, Article XI. Drafted during Washington's second term and ratified during John Adams' term. It was also ratified by the U.S. Senate unanimously.
John Adams is also a bit more forthright:
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved--the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"--John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson
"But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed.--John Adams in a letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816, "2000 Years of Disbelief", John A. Haught
"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 carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity." --John Adams
Thomas Jefferson is even more vocal:
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are serviley crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State."--Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association on Jan. 1, 1802, "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Edition," edited by Lipscomb and Bergh, 1903-04, 16:281
"(When) the (Virginia) bill for establishing religious freedom, the principles of which had, to a certain degree, been enacted before, I had drawn in all the latitude of reason & right. It still met with opposition; but, with some mutilations in the preamble, it was finally passed; and a singular proposition proved that it's protections of opinion was meant to be universal. Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantel of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohametan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."--Thomas Jefferson, from his autobiography, 1821, "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Edition," edited by Lipscomb and Bergh, 1:67
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."--Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on Virginia, Jefferson the President: First Term 1801-1805," Dumas Malon, Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1970, p. 191
"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise.. affect their civil capacities."--Thomas Jefferson, "Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779, The Papers of Thomas Jefferson," edited by Julron P. Boyd, 1950, 2:546
In regards to your quote above, Jefferson did see himself, at times, as "Christian," but he looked very disdainfully on orthodoxy. You should try and read "The Jefferson Bible" sometime. He eliminated the Old Testament, removed several books from the New Testament, and from the existing texts, removed all passages he believed perverted Christianity. Jefferson would clearly not approve of today's evangelical Christianity.
James Madison, also the writer of the Constitution, was steadfastly opposed to tax-exempt statuses for religion and had the same zeal in desiring a complete separation of church and state:
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." -- James Madison, "A Memorial and Remonstrance, 2000 Years of Disbelief" by James A. Haught
"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and all of which facilitates the execution of mischievous projects. Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded project."--James Madison, "2000 Years of Disbelief" by James A. Haught
"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."--James Madison in a letter to Edward Livingston in 1822
"It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will best be guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Government from interference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others."--James Madison, "James Madison on Religious Liberty", edited by Robert S. Alley, ISBN pp 237-238
"The Civil Government, though bereft of everything like an associated hierarchy, possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success, whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the TOTAL SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH FROM THE STATE."--James Madison
As for James Monroe onwards, there aren't many quotes out there on what they thought about religion, so I can't say one way or another in regards to their religious beliefs. However, for America as a whole, religion was in decline from the time of the American Revolution to around 1840, which is the time of the second "Great Awakening." It is at this time that ministers created the myth of the "Christianity" of the Founding Fathers. To convert as many people as possible, they wanted desperately to convince people that America was founded as a "Christian nation" and then paraded the Founding Fathers as examples of it. The problem is, of course, is that they were all lies from the beginning. Period.
Overall, the Founding Fathers were not very religious (as a reflection of the times and their social class), and what religion they did have had a lot in common with the French "Enlightenment," which was non-Christian, as a whole. Thomas Jefferson et al. were more likely agnostic "Deists," and the reference to "the Creator" in the Constitution is a direct reference to Deism, as that's exactly the term Deism used to refer to "God." But we owe an awful lot to the Enlightenment, as if it weren't for his heavy emphasis on secular humanism, we would likely have devolved into religious wars.
It was also their view that separation of church and state served a dual purpose: to prevent religion from perverting government, but also to prevent government from perverting religion. They had very unconventional religious beliefs, and they knew how easy it was for "the religious majority" to want to start legislating their morality. Happen to remind you of a certain situation today?
Melon
