Were the Founders Christian?

Some were. Some were not, and for others the answer becomes more complex.

Washington was nominally an Episcopalian but did not attend services often and (scandalously) did not call for a minister on his deathbed as was the custom.

Jefferson and Franklin were Deists; they believed that God was benevolent but remote. They did not think that God intervened in his creation either much or at all and doubted the supernatural parts of the Bible. Jefferson created a version of the Gospels that matched his Enlightenment views, removing all supernatural events including the resurrection of Jesus.

John Adams was a Unitarian and a devout man, but Unitarians disagree with other Christians about the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), arguing that God does not have three persons. Most Unitarians, then as now, would find Jesus admirable but not divine.

Other Founders were conventionally Christian; still others were irreligious.

Why write about this? On several occasions over the years, students have told me that America was founded by Christians and is a Christian nation. I cannot agree with the first statement, at least not without numerous exceptions. As for the second, America is a Christian nation, and a Jewish nation, and a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and an atheist nation, and a nation of many other views, too.

If you think I’m anti-Christian, think again. See the First Amendment, written principally by Founder James Madison, which says that the government cannot interfere in the practice of religion, and that the government cannot endorse one religion over others. That provides a strong protection for religious practice, for Christians and everyone else.

This week, we’ve studied the Founding Fathers and the creation of the Constitution, a remarkable but certainly not perfect or holy or divinely-inspired document.

By the way, I hold religious views that are extremely important to me and I’m grateful to have been born in the United States where I can hold those views without interference and practice my faith without fear.