Faiths of the Founding Fathers

This article is reprinted with permission from the July 7, 2006 edition of the New York Law Journal. © 2006 ALM Properties Inc. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.  

7/7/2006 N.Y.L.J. 2, (col. 3)

Is the United States a Christian nation? The question is in some ways a ridiculous one, given the staggering array of beliefs within the general 'Christian' label--one person's Christianity being another person's heresy--and the speed with which doctrinal discussions can dissolve to fisticuffs even within each denomination's own ranks. And, of course, our government neither sponsors nor mandates any particular form of worship or belief system, notwithstanding Justice Sunday. Nonetheless, the majority of the population claims to be Christian, vocal religiosity has been a notable American trait since de Tocqueville, and our political discourse is becoming increasing bold in its pandering to fundamentalist religious groups, some of whom would welcome an American theocracy. So, the question is increasingly asked, most frequently in variation: what were the religious beliefs of the founding generation of our country?

In 'The Faiths of the Founding Fathers,' professor of religious studies at the College of William & Mary and church historian David L. Holmes provides a succinct and reliable answer to this question. As Holmes explains, the United States in 1790 was on its way to becoming a cacophony of competing sects, mostly Protestant and strongly influenced by John Calvin. The most revered founders--Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin--were deists. Their wives and daughters, with the exceptions of strong-willed Abigail Adams (the daughter of a Congregationalist minister) and the flexible Dolly Madison (born Quaker), were generally orthodox, observant Christians. A number of very important, although less well-remembered, founders were also orthodox in their beliefs. In short, the United States in 1790 was noisily religious, generally Christian, and strongly influenced by the animating features of deism and modern libertarianism--a healthy skepticism about dogma, a strong belief in reason, and a general unwillingness to dictate private devotions.
 

Deism posits a single, universal God and rejects dogma, superstition, and exclusivity. Colonial deists rejected many doctrines set forth in the Apostle's and Nicene Creeds and other creeds [original sin not in either creed] and other expressions of 'essential doctrine'--including Jesus' divinity, the Trinity, original sin, and atonement. Although some deists considered themselves as the true heirs to the authentic message of Jesus, others, like Tom Paine, regarded Christianity as absurd. The College of William & Mary was a center of American deism in the colonial period, where it was cutting-edge philosophy. Deism also was spread throughout the colonies through the masonic fraternity, which was enormously popular among Washington's general staff and the signers of the Declaration and the Constitution.
 

As Holmes demonstrates, there can be no doubt about the deism of Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin. Adams, born into the Congregationalist church of the pilgrims, considered the divinity of Jesus and other orthodoxies as irrational superstition inconsistent with the God of Reason. Jefferson, born into the established Church of Virginia, abolished William & Mary's divinity school and refused to serve as godfather because he would not profess to the Trinity. He abhorred Calvin as the worshipper of a false god and condemned the book of Revelation--a key text for many evangelicals, and the plot source for the 'Left Behind' bestsellers--as 'the ravings of a maniac.' Although Franklin embodied the protestant work ethic and valued religion as providing social stability and charitable works, he considered all religions basically equal and contributed to the construction of every church and synagogue in Philadelphia during his lifetime. He did not accept Jesus as divine and was opposed to any doctrine that elevated faith over works: '[R]eligion has always suffered...when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtues.' Amen to him.
 

Categorizing Madison and Monroe seems less obvious, in part because both men were reticent about their religious beliefs. Madison was raised orthodox but became a vocal advocate for religious liberty and separation of church and state. Monroe was a mason and a Francophile. Holmes, like the majority of historians before him, concludes that both men were deists.
 

Pious stories about Washington have been invented with regularity since Parson Weems, and representations of Washington on his knees, hands lifted in fervent prayer, are staples of American folk art. Today, evangelistic revisionists seek to portray him as an orthodox Christian. In fact, although Washington attended Episcopal services throughout his life, he didn't care much about its doctrine and he disregarded many of its rituals. He was never confirmed and he routinely left services before communion, even though it meant leaving his observant wife behind. (A minister actually reproved him, though not by name, for 'turning his back' on the Eucharist). He was an active mason, and his public pronouncements invariably used coded masonic and deistic terminology such as 'Providence,' 'the Grand Architect,' and 'the Author of All Good,' rather than the overtly Christian imagery of the day, such as 'Savior' or 'Redeemer.' The trump card, pulled from Holmes' knowledge of church history, comes from the unimpeachable testimony of Washington's own ministers. The Reverend Bird Wilson, a pillar of the established church and an intimate protégé and biographer of Washington's pastor, stated unequivocally in an 1831 sermon that Washington was a deist. To anyone not wearing ideological blinders, such testimony should end any debate about Washington.
 

As already indicated, the women were generally more traditional, in part due to their exclusion from the institutional sources of deism, namely college and the masonic fraternity. Many influential founders were also orthodox, and Holmes singles out three of for discussion: Samuel Adams, the 'father of the revolution,' a staunch Congregationalist who opposed masonry; Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress, an active evangelical who helped establish the New Jersey and American Bible Societies as well as the Princeton Theological Seminary; and John Jay, co-creator of the Federalist Papers, diplomat, and first Chief Justice, an evangelical Episcopalian who believed the Bible divinely inspired and inerrant. These men and women were founders too.
 

Holmes' concise summary should be required reading for anyone, politician or citizen, who seeks to realign the founders' religious views to further his or her own agenda. Such attempts are bad history and disrespectful of the founders' achievement in avoiding sectarianism and guaranteeing religious liberty for all. The paradigmatic American attitude toward religion, to the extent there is one, combines a healthy respect for the good features of religion, a recognition that all human endeavors are imperfect, and a willingness to challenge established orthodoxies. This attitude finds support in both the tenets of colonial deism as well as, it must be added, the teachings of a young Jewish carpenter from Nazareth. Whether deist, atheist, or evangelist, our founders created a system that respected all religious views without mandating any one of them.
 

Phil Schatz is a partner of Wrobel & Schatz LP. His law degree is from Mr. Jefferson's university [the University of Virginia], but he sides with the Federalists.

7/7/2006 NYLJ 2, (col. 3)