id the Founding Fathers of the United States really mean to disentangle the Church from the State? Many religious conservatives claim that they did not — Church-State separation, they say, "is a myth, like evolution."[1] They argue that the very concept was invented by the United States Supreme Court in the late 1940s and in later court decisions in the 1960s (supposedly in cases instigated by 'secular humanists,' though this too is false).[2]It is claimed that historically the United States was founded by Christians, strictly for Christians, as a Christian Nation. Frequently quotations are given to support this false historical view, although most of these quotations — if accurate at all — are not even relevant to the debate. Apparently it is believed that by merely demonstrating that if this-or-that particular Founding Father was a pious Christian, that it then follows that he supports an accommodationist view. But clearly this is false given that most separationists are themselves very pious Christians. If we truely wish to understand what the Framers actually intended we must look at what they had to say about religion and the state, not religion per se.
What follows bellow are a number of quotations which corroborate the Supreme Court's constitutional interpretation, which can be simply stated that neither the State nor Federal Government may "pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another."[3] From this evidence it may be concluded that: (i) The principle of state-church separation was carefully established and incorporated into the constitution by the founders; (ii) The Establishment Clause was far reaching, intending to go beyond simply abolishing a national-church; (iii) The Enlightenment had a powerful and dramatic influence on the foundation of the new nation; (iv) The majority of our leading founders were not even Christians, but rather self-described deists; (v) That a number of the founders were also, at times, hostile towards Christian theology.
Notes
1. As quoted in Marvin E. Frankel (1994) Faith and Freedom. New York: Hill and Wang, p. 54.
2. See for example Robert Boston (1993) Why the Religious Right is Wrong. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, pp. 102-106 and 226-228.
3. Hugo L. Black, majority opinion in Everson v. Board of Education. 330 U.S., 1947.
United States Treaty (1796-1797)
"[T]he government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"
( "Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary," 1796-97; from Hunter Miller, Treaties and Other International Acts of the U.S. [1776-1818], Vol. II, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1931, p. 365. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind."
( John Adams, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America" [1787-1788]; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York, 1965, p. 258. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"We think ourselves possessed or at least we boast that we are so of Liberty of conscience on all subjects and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment, in all cases and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact. There exists I believe throughout the whole Christian world a law which makes it blasphemy to deny or doubt the divine inspiration of all the books of the old and new Testaments from Genesis to Revelations. In most countries of Europe it is punished by fire at the stake, or the rack, or the wheel: in England itself it is punished by boring through the tongue with a red hot poker: in America it is not better, even in our own Massachusetts which I believe upon the whole is as temperate and moderate in religious zeal as most of the States. A law was made in the latter end of the last century repealing the cruel punishments of the former laws but substituting fine and imprisonment upon all those blasphemers upon any book of the old Testament or new. Now what free inquiry when a writer must surely encounter the risk of fine or imprisonment for adducing any argument for investigating into the divine authority of those books? Who would run the risk of translating Dupuis? but I cannot enlarge upon this subject, though I have it much at heart. I think such laws a great embarrassment, great obstructions to the improvement of the human mind. Books that cannot bear examination certainly ought not to be established as divine inspiration by penal laws. It is true few persons appear desirous to put such laws in execution and it is also true that some few persons are hardy enough to venture to depart from them; but as long as they continue in force as laws the human mind must make an awkward and clumsy progress in its investigations. I wish they were repealed. The substance and essence of Christianity as I understand it is eternal and unchangeable and will bear examination forever but it has been mixed with extraneous ingredients, which I think will not bear examination and they ought to be separated."
( John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, January 23, 1825; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, pp. 607-608. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."
( John Adams, in his "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America;"[1787-1788]; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York: George Braziller, 1965, p. 258. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"When a Religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and, when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support [it], so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."
( Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780; from Adrienne Koch, ed., The American Enlightenment: The Shaping of the American Experiment and a Free Society, New York: George Braziller, 1965, p. 93. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"It was the Universal opinion of the Century preceding the last, that Civil Govt. could not stand without the prop of a Religious establishment; & that the Xn. [Christian] religion itself, would perish if not supported by the legal provision for its Clergy. The experience of Virginia conspiciously corroboates the disproof of both opinions. The Civil Govt. tho' bereft of everything like an associatd hierarchy possesses the requisite stability and performs its functions with complete success; Whilst the number, the industry, and the morality of the Priesthood, & the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the Church from the State."
( James Madison, letter to Robert Walsh, March 2, 1819; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, pp. 726-727. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"What influence in fact have ecclesiastical establishments had on Civil Society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not."
( James Madison, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," June 20, 1785; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 33. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 789. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"To the House of Representatives of the United States: Having examined and considered the Bill, entitled 'An Act incorporating protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia,' I now return the Bill to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following objections: Because the Bill exceeds the rightful authority, to which Governments are limited by the essential distinction between Civil and Religious functions, and violates, in particular, the Article of the Constitution of United States which declares, that 'Congress shall make no law respecting a Religious establishment.' The Bill enacts into, and establishes by law, sundry rules and proceedings relative purely to the organization and policy of the Church incorporated, and comprehending even the election and removal of the Minister of the same; so that no change could be made therein, by the particular Society, or by the General Church of which it is a member, and whose authority it recognizes. This particular Church, therefore, would so far be a religious establishment by law; a legal force and sanction being given to certain articles in its constitution and administration. Nor can it be considered that the articles thus established, are to be taken as the descriptive criteria only, of the corporate identity of the Society; in as much as this identity, and must depend on other characteristics; as the regulations established are generally unessential and alterable, according to the principles and cannons, by which Churches of that denomination govern themselves; and as the injunctions and prohibitions contained in the regulations would be enforced by the penal consequences applicable to a violation of them according to the local law. Because the Bill vests in this said incorporated Church, an authority to provide for the support of the poor children of the same; an authority, which being altogether superfluous if the provision is to be the result of pious charity, would be a precedent for giving to religious Societies as such, a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civic duty."
( James Madison, as President, vetoing a bill introduced by the Episcopal and Baptist Church, February 21, 1811; from Jack Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 683. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?"
( James Madison, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," June 20, 1785; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 31. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"[T]he appropriation of funds of the United States for the use and support of religious societies, [is] contrary to the article of the Constitution which declares that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting a religious establishment.’"
( James Madison, February 28, 1811; Gaillard Hunt, The Writings of James Madison, Vol. 8, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908, p. 133. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"The difficulty of reconciling the Xn [Christian] mind to the absence of a religious tuition from a University established by law and at the common expense, is probably less with us than with you. The settled opinion here is that religion is essentially distinct from Civil Govt. and exempt from its cognizance; that a connection between them is injurous to both; that there are causes in the human breast, which insure the perpetuity of religion without the aid of law; that rival sects, with equal rights, exercise mutual censorships in favor of good morals; that if new sects arise with absurd opinions or overheated imaginations, the proper remedies lie in time, forbearance and example; that a legal establishment of religion without a toleration could not be thought of, and without a toleration, is no security for public quiet & harmony, but rather a source itself of discord & animosity; and finally that these opinions are support by experience, which has shewn that every relaxation of the alliance between Law & religion, from the partial example of Holland, to its consummation in Pennsylvania Delaware N.J., &c, has been found as safe in practice as it is sound in theory. Prior to the Revolution, the Episcopal Church was established by law in this State. On the Declaration of independence it was left with all other sects, to a self-support. And no doubt exists that there is much more of religion among us now than there ever was before the change; and particularly in the Sect which enjoyed the legal patronage. This proves rather more than, that the law is not necessary to the support of religion."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Everett, March 19, 1823; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 796. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"I observe with particular pleasure the view you have taken of the immunity of religion from civil jurisdiction, in every case where it does not trespass on private rights or the public peace. This has always been a favorite principal with me; and it was not with my approbation that the deviation from it took place in congress, when they appointed chaplains, to be paid from the national treasury. It would have been a much better proof to their constituents of their pious feeling if the members had contributed for the purpose a pittance from their own pockets. As the precedent is not likely to be rescinded, the best that can now be done maybe to apply to the constitution the maxim of the law, de minimis non curant."
( James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822; Madison's Writings, Vol. 3, p. 274; from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents: From Washington to F.D.R., New York: Prometheus Books, 1995, p. 90. )
George Mason (1706-1790)
"[I]t is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth."
( George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776; from Pamela Copeland and Richard MacMaster, The Five George Masons: Patriots and Planters of Virginia and Maryland, University Press of Virginia, 1989, p. 176. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I contemplate with soveriegn 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, letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, January 1, 1802; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 510. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that 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 diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
( Thomas Jefferson, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom," 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 347. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[L]egislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical;"
( Thomas Jefferson, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom," 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 346. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Sir,—I have duly received your favor of the 18th and am thankful to you for having written it, because it is more agreeable to prevent than to refuse what I do not think myself authorized to comply with. I consider the government of the U S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise, of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the U.S. Certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. It must then rest with the states, as far as it can be in any human authority. But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting & prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from. It must be meant too that this recommendation is to carry some authority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those who disregard it; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some degree of proscription perhaps in public opinion. And does the change in the nature of the penalty make the recommendation the less a law of conduct for those to whom it is directed? I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct it's exercises, it's discipline, or it's doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, & the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 1186-1187. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"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 mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
( Thomas Jefferson in his Autobiography, 1821; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 40. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of the general government. I have therefore undertaken on no occasion to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them as the Constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of State or Church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies."
( Thomas Jefferson in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 519-520. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799; from Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, eds., Harper Book of American Quotations, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 499. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[E]veryone must act according to the dictates of his own reason, and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Rev. Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 1187. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"The Virginia act for religious freedom has been received with infinite approbation in Europe, and propagated with enthusiasm. I do not mean by governments, but by the individuals who compose them. It has been translated into French and Italian; has been sent to most of the courts of Europe, and has been the best evidence of the falsehood of those reports which stated us to be in anarchy. It is inserted in the new 'Encyclopædie,' and is appearing in most of the publications respecting America. In fact, it is comfortable to see the standard of reason at length erected, after so many ages, during which the human mind has been held in vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles; and it is honorable for us, to have produced the first legislature who had the courage to declare, that the reason of man may be trusted with the formation of his own opinions…"
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, from Paris, December 16, 1786; from Lloyd S. Kramer, ed., Paine and Jefferson on Liberty, New York: Continuum, 1988, pp. 87-88. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"For we know that the common law is that system of law which was introduced by the Saxons on their settlement in England, and altered from time to time by proper legislative authority from that time to the date of Magna Charta, which terminates the period of the common law, or lex non scripta, and commences that of the statute law, or Lex Scripta. This settlement took place about the middle of the fifth century. But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century; the conversion of the first christian king of the Heptarchy having taken place about the year 598, and that of the last about 686. Here, then, was a space of two hundred years, during which the common law was in existence, and Christianity no part of it. If it ever was adopted, therefore, into the common law, it must have been between the introduction of Christianity and the date of the Magna Charta. But of the laws of this period we have a tolerable collection by Lambard and Wilkins, probably not perfect, but neither very defective; and if any one chooses to build a doctrine on any law of that period, supposed to have been lost, it is incumbent on him to prove it to have existed, and what were its contents. These were so far alterations of the common law, and became themselves a part of it. But none of these adopt Christianity as a part of the common law. If, therefore, from the settlement of the Saxons to the introduction of Christianity among them, that system of religion could not be a part of the common law, because they were not yet Christians, and if, having their laws from that period to the close of the common law, we are all able to find among them no such act of adoption, we may safely affirm (though contradicted by all the judges and writers on earth) that Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 1324-1325. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression."
( Thomas Jefferson, "First Inaugural Address," March 4, 1801; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 492-493. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"[T]he successful experiment made under the prevalence of that delusion on the clause of the constitution, which, while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity thro' the U.S.; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalian & Congregationalist. The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me;"
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800; from Thomas Jefferson: Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 1081-1082. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, a fact like this can become a subject to inquiry, and of criminal inquiry, too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our freedom of religion?"
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to N. G. Dufief, April 19, 1814; from Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, eds., Harper Book of American Quotations, New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 492. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness;"
( Thomas Jefferson, in his "original Rough draught of the Declaration of Independence" before it was revised by the Committee of Five and Congres, 1776; from Julian P. Boyd, ed., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1760-1776, vol. I, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950, p. 243. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"How then is it that they [the Church] lose their native mildness, and become morose and intolerant? It proceeds from the connection which Mr. Burke recommends. By engendering the church with the state, a sort of mule-animal, capable only of destroying, and not of breeding up, is produced, called The Church established by Law. It is a stranger, even from its birth, to any parent mother, on whom it is begotten, and whom in time it kicks out and destroys. The inquisition in Spain does not proceed from the religion originally professed, but from this mule-animal, engendered between the church and the state. The burnings in Smithfield proceeded from the same heterogeneous production; and it was the regeneration of this strange animal in England afterwards, that renewed rancour and irreligion among the inhabitants, and that drove the people called Quakers and Dissenters to America. Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is alway the strongly-marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity."
( Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1792; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, pp. 483-484. )
George Washington (1732-1799)
"We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In the enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States."
( George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793; from John H. Rhodehamel, ed., George Washington: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1997, p. 834. )
United States Constitution (1787)
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
( Article I of the Amendments to the US Constitution. )
United States Constitution (1787)
"The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
( US Constitution, Article VI, Clause 3. )
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John Adams (1735-1826)
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. 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, letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, December 27, 1816; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1983, p. 44. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"Had you and I been forty days with Moses on Mount Sinai and admitted to behold, the divine Shekinah, and there told that one was three and three, one: We might not have had courage to deny it, but We could not have believed it. The thunders and Lightenings and Earthqu[ak]es and the transcendant Splendors and Glories, might have overwhelmed Us with terror and Amazement: but We could not have believed the doctrine, We should be more likely to say in our hearts, whatever We might say with our Lips, This is Chance. There is no God! No Truth. This is all delusion, fiction and a lie: or it is all Chance. But what is Chance? It is motion; it is Action; it is Event; it is Phenomenon, without Cause. Chance is no cause at all. It is nothing. And Nothing has produced all this Pomp and Splendor; and Nothing may produce Our eternal damnation in the flames of Hell fire and Brimstone for what we know, as well as this tremendous Exhibition of Terror and Falshood.
"God has infinite Wisdom, goodness and power. He created the Universe. His duration is eternal, a parte Ante, and a parte post. His presence is as extensive as Space. What is Space? an infinite, sphericle Vaccuum. He created this Speck of Dirt and the human Species for his glory: and with the deliberate design of making, nine tenths of our Species miserable forever for his glory. This doctrine of Christian Theologians in general: ten to one.
"Now, my friend, can Prophecies, or miracles convince You, or Me, that infinite Benevolence, Wisdom and Power, created and preserves, for a time, innumerable millions to make them misserable, forever; for his own Glory? Wretch! What is the Glory? Is he ambitious? does he want promotion? Is he vain? tickled with Adulation? Exulting and tryumphing in his Power and Sweetness of his Vengeance? Pardon me, my Maker, for these Aweful Questions. My answer to them is always ready: I believe no such Things.
"My Adoration of the Author of the Universe is too profound and too sincere. The Love of God and his Creation; delight, Joy, Tryumph, Exultation in my own existence, 'tho but an Atom, a Molecule Organique, in the Universe; are my religion."
( John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 14, 1813; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, pp. 373-374. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"What havoc has been made of books through every century of the Christian era? Where are fifty gospels, condemned as spurious by the bull of Pope Gelasius? Where are the forty wagon-loads of Hebrew manuscripts burned in France, by order of another pope, because suspected of heresy? Remember the index expurgatorius, the inquisition, the stake, the axe, the halter and the guillotine; and, oh! horrible, the rack! This is as bad, if not worse, than a slow fire. Nor should the Lion's Mouth be forgotten. Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years"
( John Adams, in a letter to John Taylor; from Norman Cousins, In God We Trust: The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958, pp. 106-107. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"The priesthood have, in all ancient nations, nearly monopolized learning. And ever since the Reformation, when or where has existed a Protestant or dissenting sect who would tolerate a free inquiry? The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes."
( John Adams in a letter to John Taylor, The Life and Works of John Adams, 1851; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Thoughts, New York: Ballantine Books, 1996, p. 6. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"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, "On the Abuses of Grief," letter to Thomas Jefferson, in Jefferson's Works, Vol. VII, p. 35; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1983, p. 45. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?"
( John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 20, 1815; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 445. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and Dogmatism cannot confine it."
( John Adams, letter to John Quincy Adams, November 13, 1816; from Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation,
Edwin S. Gaustad, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 88. )
John Adams (1735-1826)
"Allegiance to the Creator and Governor of the Milky Way and the Nebulae, and Benevolence to all his Creatures, is my Religion."
( John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, December 3, 1813; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 406. )
Ethan Allen (1738-1789)
"In the circle of my acquaintance (which has not been small), I have generally been denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious I am no Christian, except mere infant baptism make me one; and as to being a Deist, I know not, strictly speaking, whether I am one or not, for I have never read their writings; mine will therefore determine the matter; for I have not in the least disguised my sentiments, but have written freely without any conscious knowledge of prejudice for, or against any man, sectary or party whatever; but wish that good sense, truth and virtue may be promoted and flourish in the world, to the detection of delusion, superstition, and false religion; and therefore my errors in the succeeding treatise, which may be rationally pointed out, will be readily rescinded."
( Ethan Allen, Reason the Only Oracle of Man, Boston: J.P. Mendum, 1854, Preface. )
Ethan Allen (1738-1789)
"Nothing is more evident to the understanding part of mankind, than that in those parts of the world where learning and science has prevailed, miracles have ceased; but in such parts of it as are barbarous and ignorant, miracles are still in vogue; which is of itself a strong presumption that in the infancy of letters, learning and science, or in the world's non-age, those who confided in miracles, as a proof of the divine mission of the first promulgators of revelation, were imposed upon by fictitious appearances instead of miracles.
"Furthermore, the author of Christianity warns us against the impositions of false teachers, and ascribes the signs of the true believers, saying, ‘And these signs shall follow them that believe, in my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.’ These are the express words of the founder of Christianity, and are contained in the very commission, which he gave to his eleven Apostles, who were to promulgate his gospel in the world; so that from their very institution it appears that when the miraculous signs, therein spoken of, failed, they were considered as unbelievers, and consequently no faith or trust to be any longer reposed in them or their successors. For these signs were those which were to perpetuate their mission, and were to be continued as the only evidences of the validity and authenticity of it, and as long as these signs followed, mankind could not be deceived in adhering to the doctrines which the Apostles and their successors taught; but when these signs failed, their divine authority ended. Now if any of them will drink a dose of deadly poison, which I could prepare, and it does not ‘hurt them,’ I will subscribe to their divine author and end the dispute; not that I have a disposition to poison any one, nor do I suppose that they would dare to take such a dose as I could prepare for them, which, if so, would evince that they were unbelievers themselves, though they are extremely apt to censure others for unbelief, which according to their scheme is a damnable sin."
( Ethan Allen, Reason the Only Oracle of Man, Boston: J.P. Mendum, 1854. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the dissenting [puritan] way. But I was scarce 15 when, after doubting by turns of several points as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation it self. Some books against deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at [Robert] Boyle’s lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough deist."
( Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography; from Autobiography And Other Writings, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 58. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"He [Reverend Whitefield] us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, and lasted to his death."
( Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography; from Autobiography And Other Writings, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 110. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
( Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanack," 1758; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1983, p. 259. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"I oppose my Theist to his Atheist, because I think they are diametrically opposite and not near of kin, as Mr. Whitefield seems to suppose where (in his Journal) he tells us, ‘Mr. B. was a Deist, I had almost said an Atheist.’ That is, Chalk, I had almost said Charcoal."
( Benjamin Franklin, letter to Thomas Hopkinson, Oct. 16, 1746; from his Articles Of Belief And Acts Of Religion, 1726-1757. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"Upon one of his [Reverend Whitefield] arrivals from England at Boston, he wrote to me that he should come soon to Philadelphia, but knew not where he could lodge when there, as he understood his old kind host Mr. Benezet was remov'd to Germantown. My answer was; You know my house, if you can make shift with its scanty accommodations you will be most heartily welcome. He reply'd, that if I made that kind offer for Christ's sake, I should not miss of a reward. — And I returned, Don't let me be mistaken; it was not for Christ's sake, but for your sake."
( Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography; from Autobiography And Other Writings, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 110. )
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
"Serving God is doing good to Man, but praying is thought an easier service, and therefore more generally chosen."
( Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Maxims, 1753; from Ormond Seavey, ed., Autobiography And Other Writings, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 284. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. what have 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, "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," June 20, 1785; from Jack N. Rakove, ed., James Madison: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1999, p. 32. )
James Madison (1751-1836)
"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 enterprize [sic], every expanded project."
( James Madison, letter to William Bradford, April 1, 1774; from Edwin S. Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 37. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"Now, had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it."
( Thomas Paine, in his "Examination of the Prophecies," 1807; from Philip S. Foner, ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, Vol. II, New York: The Citadel Press, 1969, p. 890. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
( Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason, 1794; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, New York: Library of America, 1995, p. 666. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."
( Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part II, 1795; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, p. 826. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."
( Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason, 1794; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, p. 677. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. … I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
( Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason, 1794; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, p. 666. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the Creator, and who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial miseries, and remove the cause that has sown persecutions thick among mankind, to expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from this pretended thing called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful to man, and every thing that is disbonourable to his Maker. What is it the Bible teaches us? — rapine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the New Testament teaches us? — to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married, and the belief of this debauchery is called faith."
( Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part II, 1795; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, p. 822. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces only atheists and fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism; and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests; but so far as respects the good of man in general, it leads to nothing here or hereafter."
( Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part II, 1795; from Thomas Paine: Collected Writings, NY: Library of America, 1995, p. 825. )
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
"As to the book called the Bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions, and a history of bad times and bad men. There are but a few good characters in the whole book. The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles, which is a parody on the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the eastern world, is the least hurtful part. Everything told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday — in Latin Dies Solis, the day of the sun; as the next day, Monday, is Moon-day."
( Thomas Paine, letter to Andrew Dean, 1806; from Philip S. Foner, ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, Vol. II, New York: The Citadel Press, 1969, p. 1484. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"It is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus Christ] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentence toward forgiveness of sin; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, of so much absurdity, so much untruth and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross, restore to him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some and the roguery of others of his disciples."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820, Works, Vol. 4., p. 320. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desireable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."
( Thomas Jefferson, "Notes on the State of Virginia," 1782; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 286. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"The truth is that the greatest enemies to the doctrines of Jesus are those calling themselves the expositors of them, who have perverted them for the structure of a system of fancy absolutely incomprehensible, and without any foundation in his genuine words. And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a Virgin Mary, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 594. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"For if we could believe that he [Jesus] really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods and the charlatanisms which his biographers father on him, and admit the misconstructions, interpolations and theorizations of the fathers of the early, and fanatics of the latter ages, the conclusion would be irresistible by every sound mind, that he was an impostor."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, August 4, 1820; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 1435. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"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 the State of Virginia," 1782; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 285. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise: but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, and Stewart. At what age of the Christian church this heresy of immaterialism, this masked atheism, crept in, I do not know. But heresy it certainly is."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, August 15, 1820; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 568. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [Revelation], and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to General Alexander Smyth, January 17, 1825; from Fawn M. Brodie, Thomas Jefferson, An Intimate History, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1974, p. 453. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is easier to acquire wealth and power by this combination than by deserving them, and to effect this, they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer for their purposes."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio Spafford in 1814; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 371. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were he to return on earth, would not recognize one feature."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Thomson, January 9, 1816; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 1372-1373. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813; from George Seldes, ed., The Great Quotations, Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1983, p. 370. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789; [ Richard Price had written to Jefferson about the harm done by religion and wrote "Would not Society be better without Such religions? Is Atheism less pernicious than Demonism?" Oct. 26, 1788.] from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 935. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I join you therefore in sincere congratulations that this den of the priesthood is at length broken up, and that a protestant popedome is no longer to disgrace the American history and character. If, by religion, we are to understand Sectarian dogmas, in which no two of them agree, then your exclamation on that hypothesis is just, 'that this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.' But if the moral precepts, innate in man, a made a part of his physical condition, as necessary for social being, if the sublime doctrines of philanthropism, and deism taught us by Jesus of Nazareth in which all agree, constitute true religion, then whithout it, this would be, as you again say, 'something not fit to be named, even indeed a Hell.'"
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, May, 5, 1817; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 512. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Nor did the question ever occur to me before Where did we get the ten commandments? The book indeed gives them to us verbatim. But where did it get them? For itself tells us they were written by the finger of god on tables of stone, which were destroyed by Moses: it specifies those on the 2d. set of tables in different form and substance, but still without saying how the others were recovered. But the whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been plaid with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts are genuine. In the New testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have been proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 421. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power and preeminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, July 5, 1814; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 433. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"When I meet with a proposition beyond finite comprehension, I abandon it as I do a weight which human strength cannot lift: and I think ignorance, in these cases, is truely the softest pillow on which I can lay my head."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, March 14, 1820; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 562. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Rev. James Madison, July 19, 1788; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 924. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789; from Adrienne Koch, The Philosophy of Thomas Jefferson, Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1957, p. 89. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor."
( Thomas Jefferson, notes for a speech, c. 1776; from Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, The Harper Book of American Quotations, eds., New York: Harper & Row, 1988, p. 498. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"We should all then, like the quakers, live without an order of priests, moralise for ourselves, follow the oracle of conscience, and say nothing about what no man can understand, nor therefore believe; for I suppose belief to be the assent of the mind to an intelligible proposition."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, August 22, 1813; from The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence, Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987, p. 368. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"The hocus pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, December 8, 1822; from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents: From Washington to F.D.R., New York: Prometheus Books, 1995, p. 104. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"If anybody thinks that kings, nobles, or priests are good conservators of the public happiness send them here [to Paris]. It is the best school in the universe to cure them of that folly."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Wythe, August 13, 1786; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, p. 859. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"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 blindfolded fear. You will naturally examine first, the religion of your own country. Read the Bible, then as you would read Livy or Tacitus. The facts which are within the ordinary course of nature, you will believe on the authority of the writer, as you do those of the same kind in Livy and Tacitus. The testimony of the writer weighs in their favor, in one scale, and their not being against the laws of nature, does not weigh against them. But those facts in the Bible which contradict the laws of nature, must be examined with more care, and under a variety of faces. Here you must recur to the pretensions of the writer to inspiration from God. Examine upon what evidence his pretensions are founded, and whether that evidence is so strong, as that its falsehood would be more improbable than a change in the laws of nature, in the case he relates. For example, in the book of Joshua, we are told, the sun stood still several hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus, we should class it with their showers of blood, speaking of statues, beasts, etc. But it is said, that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly, what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand, you are astronomer enough to know how contrary it is to the law of nature that a body revolving on its axis, as the earth does, should have stopped, should not, by that sudden stoppage, have prostrated animals, trees, buildings, and should after a certain time gave resumed its revolution, and that without a second general prostration. Is this arrest of the earth's motion, or the evidence which affirms it, most within the law of probabilities? You will next read the New Testament. It is the history of a personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions: 1, of those who say he was begotten by God, born of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws of nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven; and 2, of those who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition, by being gibbeted, according to the Roman law, which punished the first commission of that offence by whipping, and the second by exile, or death in fureâ.…
"Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you. If you find reason to believe there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under his eye, and that he approves you, will be a vast additional incitement; if that there be a future state, the hope of a happy existence in that increases the appetite to deserve it; if that Jesus was also a God, you will be comforted by a belief of his aid and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision. I forgot to observe, when speaking of the New Testament, that you should read all the histories of Christ, as well of those whom a council of ecclesiastics have decided for us, to be Pseudo-evangelists, as those they named Evangelists. Because these Pseudo-evangelists pretended to inspiration, as much as the others, and you are to judge their pretensions by your own reason, and not by the reason of those ecclesiastics."
( Thomas Jefferson, letter to his nephew Peter Carr, August 10, 1787; from Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings, New York: Library of America, 1984, pp. 902-904. )
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Encyclopedia Brittanica (Mortimer Adler, 1968)
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."
( Mortimer Adler, ed., "Chapter 22: Religion and Religious Groups in America," The Annals of America: Great Issues in American Life, Vol. II, Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1968, p. 420. )
Ian Robertson
"At the time of its Founding, the United States seemed to be an infertile ground for religion. Many of the nation's leaders—include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin—were not Christians, did not accept the authority of the Bible, and were hostile to organized religion. The attitude of the general public was one of apathy: in 1776, only 5 percent of the population were participating members of churches."
( Ian Robertson, Sociology, 3rd edition, New York: Worth Publishing Inc., 1987, p. 410. )
John E. Remsburg (1848-1919)
Not only did he [General Washington] uniformly absent himself on communion days, but the entries in his diary show that he remained away for several Sundays in succession, spending his time at home reading and writing, riding out into the country, or in visiting his friends. But if Bishop White cherished a faint hope that Washington had some faith in the religion of Christ, Dr. Abercrombie did not. Long after Washington’s death, in reply to Dr. Wilson, who had interrogated him as to his illustrious auditor’s religious views, Dr. Abercrombie’s brief but emphatic answer was: “Sir, Washington was a Deist.” Washington rarely attended, as we have seen, any church but the Episcopal, hence, if any denomination of Christians could claim him as an adherent, it was this one. Yet here we have two of its most distinguished representatives, pastors of the churches which he attended, the one not knowing what his belief was, the other disclaiming him and asserting that he was a Deist. The Rev. Dr. Wilson, who was almost a contemporary of our earlier statesmen and presidents, and who thoroughly investigated the subject of their religious beliefs, in his sermon already mentioned affirmed that the founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels, and that of the presidents who had thus far been elected – George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson – not one had professed a belief in Christianity. From this sermon I quote the following:
“When the war was over and the victory over our enemies won, and the blessings and happiness of liberty and peace were secured, the Constitution was framed and God was neglected. He was not merely forgotten. He was absolutely voted out of the Constitution. The proceedings, as published by Thompson, the secretary, and the history of the day, show that the question was gravely debated whether God should be in the Constitution or not, and, after a solemn debate he was deliberately voted out of it.…There is not only in the theory of our government no recognition of God’s laws and sovereignty, but its practical operation, its administration, has been conformable to its theory. Those who have been called to administer the government have not been men making any public profession of Christianity.…Washington was a man of valor and wisdom. He was esteemed by the whole world as a great and good man; but he was not a professing Christian.”
Dr. Wilson’s sermon was published in the Albany Daily Advertiser in 1831, and attracted the attention of Robert Dale Owen, then a young man, who called to see its author in regard to his statement concerning Washington's belief. The result of his visit is given in a letter to Amos Gilbert. The letter is dated Albany, November 13, 1831., and was published in New York a fortnight later. He says:
“I called last evening on Dr. Wilson, as I told you I should, and I have seldom derived more pleasure from a short interview with anyone. Unless my discernment of character has been rievously at fault, I met an honest man and sincere Christian. But you shall have the particulars. A gentleman of this city accompanied me to the Doctor’s residence. We were very courteously received. I found him a tall, commanding figure, with a countenance of much benevolence, and a brow indicative of deep thought, apparently approaching fifty years of age. I opened the interview by stating that though personally a stranger to him, I had taken the liberty of calling in consequence of having perused an interesting sermon of his, which had been reported in the Daily Advertiser of this city, and regarding which, as he probably knew, a variety of opinions prevailed. In a discussion, in which I had taken a part, some of the facts as there reported had been questioned; and I wished to know from him whether the reporter had fairly given his words or not.…I then read to him from a copy of the Daily Advertiser the paragraph which regards Washington, beginning, ‘Washington was a man,’ etc., and ending, ‘absented himself altogether from the church.’ ‘I indorse,’ said Dr. Wilson, with emphasis, ‘every word of that. Nay, I do not wish to conceal from you any part of the truth, even what I have not given to the public. Dr. Abercrombie said more than I have repeated. At the close of our conversation on the subject his emphatic expression was — for I well remember the very words — ‘Sir, Washington was a Deist.’”
In concluding the interview, Dr. Wilson said: “I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more.”
( John E. Remsburg, Six Historic Americans, New York: Truth Seeker Co., 1906, pp. 119-122. )
Dr. Moncure Conway (1832-1907)
"In editing a volume of Washington's private letters for the Long Island Historical Society, I have been much impressed by indications that this great historic personality represented the Liberal religious tendency of his tune. That tendency was to respect religious organizations as part of the social order, which required some minister to visit the sick, bury the dead, and perform marriages. It was considered in nowise inconsistent with disbelief of the clergyman's doctrines to contribute to his support, or even to be a vestryman in his church.
"In his many letters to his adopted nephew and young relatives, he admonishes them about their manners and morals, but in no case have I been able to discover any suggestion that they should read the Bible, keep the Sabbath, go to church, or any warning against Infidelity. Washington had in his library the writings of Paine, Priestley, Voltaire, Frederick the Great, and other heretical works."
( Moncure D. Conway, The Religion of Washington; from John E. Remsburg, Six Historic Americans, 1906, pp. 128-129. )
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Dr. Rush told me (he had it from Asa Green) that when the clergy addressed General Washington, on his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen their address as to force him at length to disclose publicly whether he was a Christian or not. However, he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly, except that, which he passed over without notice."
( Thomas Jefferson, journal entry February 1, 1800, published in The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. I, p. 284; from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, New York: Prometheus Books, 1995, p. 39. )
Barry Schwartz
"As President, Washington regularly attended Christian services, and he was friendly in his attitude toward Christian values. However, he repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary.... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative. George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian. In the enlightened tradition of his day, he was a devout Deist—just as many of the clergymen who knew him suspected."
( Barry Schwartz, George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol, New York: The Free Press, 1987, pp. 174-175. )
James Thomas Flexner
"Washington's religious belief was that of the enlightenment: deism. He practically never used the word ‘God,’ preferring the more impersonal word ‘Providence.’ How little he visualized Providence in personal form is shown by the fact that he interchangeably applied to that force all three possible pronouns: he, she, and it."
( James T. Flexner, George Washington: Anguish and Farewell [1793-1799], Boston: Brown & Company, 1972, p. 490. )
Edwin S. Gaustad
"The only ultimate protection for religious liberty in a country like ours, Madison pointed out—echoing Jefferson;—is public opinion: a firm and pervading opinion that the First Amendment works. ‘Every new & successful example therefore of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance.’"
( Edwin S. Gaustad, Faith of Our Fathers: Religion and the New Nation, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 56. )
Franklin Steiner (1878-1968)
"Little is known concerning President Monroe's religious views. We do not know if he had any, and if he did, what they were. His biographer, Daniel C. Gilman, says: ‘He was extremely reticent in his religious sentiments, at least in all that he wrote. Allusions to his belief are rarely, if ever, to be met with in correspondence.’ (pp. 245-246.) A still later biography by George Morgan does not even say so much as this one by Gilman. The six volumes of his Writings confirm the fact of his reticence on religious subjects."
( Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, New York: Prometheus Books, 1995, p. 94. )
Roger G. Kennedy
"He [Aaron Burr] was ever thereafter unconsulate — not bitter nor complaining, but unwilling to trust much in persons and not willing at all to trust in ideology. As he revealed on his deathbed, he did not wish to be once more disappointed at that marrow of his being where theology resides. As he was dying his kinsman Judge Ogden Edwards induced him to accept the presence of a Reformed Dutch clergyman, who inquired if he wished to ask God's pardon through the intercession of Jesus Christ. ‘To which he said, with deep and violent emotion, “on that subject I am coy.”’"
( Roger Kennedy, Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson: A Study in Character, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 36. )
Richard M. Rollins
"Separation of church and state was necessary in the new utopia. [Noah] Webster saw the two as different forms of government; one dealt with the temporal happiness of man, the other with his spiritual redemption. The messengers of salvation should not be allowed to sit in judgement of commercial and political affairs, nor should those involved in politics have any voice in church matters, let alone actively support one specific sect. The two different types of government could not be reconciled, and to attempt to do so, he believed, was to attempt ‘to mix oil with water, or to make the most discordant sounds in nature…harmonize.’ He feared their cooperation, for each made it's subjects in its own field ‘sufficient slavish.’ But of the two, the clergy were by far the more dangerous. They hid their lust for domination behind the guise of saintliness and had consistently deceived people in the past. the ‘ambassadors of Christ’ had too often ‘joined the terrors of eternal damnation to the iron rod of civil magistrates in order to extend an unlimited authority over the persons, the purses, and the consciences of their devoted vassals.’"
( Richard M. Rollins, The Long Journey of Noah Webster, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980. p. 31. )
W. T. Jones (Professor of Philosophy at the California Institute of Technology)
"The Age of Reason is also called the Enlightenment or the Age of Rationalism. Its leaders include several philosophers—the Marquis de Condorcet, René Descartes, Denis Diderot, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire—and the English philosopher John Locke. The leaders of the Age of Reason relied heavily on the scientific method, with its emphasis on experimentation and careful observation. The period produced many important advances in such fields as anatomy, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Philosophers of the Age of Reason organized knowledge in encyclopedias and founded scientific institutes. The philosophers believed that the scientific method could be applied to the study of human nature. They explored issues in education, law, philosophy, and politics and attacked tyranny, social injustice, superstition, and ignorance. Many of their ideas contributed directly to the outbreak of the American and French revolutions in the late 1700's."
( William T. Jones, The World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago, IL: World Book Inc., 1988, No. 1, p. 139. )
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