Deism and Founding Fathers

This short letter was in answer to John Meadows who attempted to paint all the Founding Fathers as Christians written by Dr. Ben Johnson, Doctor of Divinity; Deist. May,1999.

Though the brief description of Deism accurately supports the argument about the faith of our Founding Fathers, it contains many historical inaccuracies that I would like to bring to light.

Deism is assembled around the idea that God is the creator of all, but then steps back from his creations, leaving no further interaction.

Most Deists see organized religion as a system that creates problems such as oppression, violence and warfare; all of which our founding fathers experienced or witnessed, before claiming independence from Great Britain. The only benefit that religion held in deists’ opinion, was the importance of strong ethics and moral values.

Deism was the favored curriculum within the universities our Founding Fathers attended.

They believed the Bible was not the word of God, for the stories throughout went against the laws of nature.

They did however see particular stories throughout the Bible applicable, for they showed the importance of good moral character.

As to the justification of why our founding fathers were Christian, the internet is simply not a source that has enough accuracy to be considered valuable.

There is a very specific process to the craft of historical methodology. This practice includes the process of asking a question, considering the evidence (primary and secondary sources), coming to a conclusion and communicating the knowledge with others historical scholars.

Though a Google search may say that our Founding Fathers were indeed Christian, we must look further into actual historical evidence to provide the basis of our knowledge.