The founding fathers were NOT Christian, and America is not based on Christian principles.
I'm British, but I spent much of my life in the USA, so...
One of my favorite times of the year is the Presidents month of
February. Why? Because it gives me an annual opportunity to make a
dent in the historical and religious ignorance of the political and
Christian knee jerk right wingers. They spend almost full time in
perverting American history claiming that the bible and Christianity
were at the foundation of this nation. What total hogwash. Once a
year I get to bring a few undisputed facts to their attention.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, 1968, vol.2, p.420, quote: "One of the
embarrassing problems for the nineteenth-century champions of the
Christian faith was the fact that NOT ONE of the first six presidents
of the United States was a Christian. They were Deists."
In Deism there is no personal God, only an impersonal "force"
or "energy" or "natures God" or "providence" . In Deism, the bible is
nothing but literature, and bad literature at that. Jefferson and
Paine both called it "a dunghill". Others of our founders used the
same language. In Deism, Jesus was nothing more than a nomadic
teacher. I will now let these men speak for themselves:
GEORGE WASHINGTON: "Being no bigot, I am disposed to humor Christian
ministers and the church" looking for servants, he said: "I will be
happy to have atheists, Jews, Christians or Mohammedans. " In 1831,
Episcopalian minister Bird Wilson said in a sermon: "Washington is no
more than a Unitarian, if anything." Washington refused to take
communion, looking upon it as superstition. He refused to ever kneel
in church according to his wife and minister, James Abercrombie. The
Treaty of Tripoli, under Washington, Article 11 begins: "As the
government of the United States is NOT IN ANY SENSE founded on the
Christian religion." This Treaty was ratified by the senate in 1797
under Adams, without a SINGLE OBJECTION...
THOMAS JEFFERSON: Author of the Declaration of Independence. "I have
examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find
in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature.
They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of
innocent men, women and children since the introduction of
Christianity have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What
has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world
fools, and the other half hypocrites. And to support roguery and
error all over the earth."
JAMES MADISON: Author of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. "A just
government instituted to perpetuate liberty, does not need the church
or the clergy. During almost 15 centuries the legal establishment of
Christianity has been on trial. What have been been its fruits? These
are the fruits in all places: pride and indolence in the
clergy...ignorance and servility in the laity...and in both clergy
and laity superstition, bigotry and persecution. " Madison
passionately objected to state supported chaplains in Congress and
the military, as well as the exemption of churches from taxation. And
rightly so. They should be taxed.
JOHN ADAMS: "The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus has made a
convenient cover for absurdity" Adams signed the Treaty of Tripoli,
which states that the United States is not in any sense founded on
the Christian religion. Episcopalian minister Bird Wilson, in a
sermon of October 1831, summed up the religion of our founding
presidents in these words: "Among all of our Presidents, from
Washington downward, not one was a professor of Christianity. "
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Not a founding president but a giant who shared
exactly the same religious views: quote: "Christianity is not my
religion and the bible is not my book. I have never united myself in
any church because I could never give assent to the long, complicated
statements of Christian doctrine and dogma." Lincoln never joined any
church and was never baptized, looking upon it as superstition. His
wife said: "my husband is not a Christian, but is a spiritual man I
think." The most magnificent Pulitzer-Prize biography of this giant
is Carl Sandburg's"Abraham Lincoln." And as Sandburg put it: "His
views were such as would place him entirely outside of Christianity. "
Thomas Jefferson put in one succinct sentence what they all
believed. "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus,
by a supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be
classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of
Jupiter." (letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823)
Why are these facts of American history not being taught in our High
Schools? What forces are at work in our society to keep historical
truth from our young people? We get all hot and sweaty about
censoring movies and television. A far, far more lethal virus that is
at work is the censorship of the religious views of our first six
presidents, our Founding Fathers. Why is this not being taught? Why
is your minister not telling you about it, assuming he is
historically literate?
The genius Goethe said it best: "Nothing is more terrifying
than...ignorance in action."