It has been recently stated that our Founding Fathers were not religious, and that their principles and beliefs are neither appropriate nor relevant in contemporary America, you be the judge ...George Washington, June 8, 1783 in a letter to the governors of the states on disbanding the army: "I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and, finally, that he would be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation."
Thomas Jefferson, April 21, 1803 in a letter to Dr. Benjamin: "My views...are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. 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..."
1781, Query XVIII of his Notes on the State of Virginia: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
James Madison, 1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia: "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We've staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity...to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
John Adams, "The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my religion..."
I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not take in vain the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Taken from a letter to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813: "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were....the general principles of Christianity....I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature."
Benjamin Franklin, March 9, 1790 in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University: "Here is my creed. I believe in/on God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshiped.
That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever Sect I meet with them.
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, is the best the World ever saw, or is likely to see."
Constitutional Convention of 1787, taken from original manuscript of the speech: "God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel!"
--sja
