ff wrote:
> I'm not going to research all those for you, as they are a matter of
> public record. But examples such as these are endless. Here's a few
> more:
>
> "The rising greatness of our country...is greatly tarnished by the
> general prevalence of deism, which, with me, is but another name for
> vice and depravity....I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of
> their number; and indeed that some good people think I am no Christian.
> This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory (being
> called a traitor), because I think religion of infinitely higher
> im****tance than politics....Being a Christian...is a character which I
> prize far above all this world has or can boast." (Quote from The Life
> of Patrick Henry of Virginia by A. G. Arnold in 1854)
All of which indicates that deism was (according to the person quoted)
actually common around that time, and that he didn't like it. This says
nothing about whether the founding fathers were or were not deists, only
that deism was prevalent at that time, which means that it's more likely
that they *were* deists.
> President George Wa****ngton, September 17th, 1796 "It is impossible to
> rightly govern the world without God and the Bible"
And because George Wa****ngton was a Christian this means that all of the
rest of the founding fathers were Christians too?
He also said, "The United States of America should have a foundation
free from the influence of clergy." The Treaty of Tripoli, which was
written during Wa****ngton's administration and signed by John Adams,
said the following in Article 11, "The government of the United States
is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." Too bad Bush
seems to disagree with both of those statements.
I think you are contradicting yourself here when one of your quotes
speaks of the "general prevalence of deism" and the other tries to imply
the founding fathers were all/mostly Christians.
Benjamin Franklin wrote the following in his autobiography:
"Scarcely was I arrived at fifteen years of age, when, after having
doubted in turn of different tenets, according as I found them combated
in the different books that I read, I began to doubt of Revelation
itself."
"...Some books against Deism fell into my hands....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 quote to be refuted, appeared to
me much stronger than the refutations, in short, I soon became a
thorough Deist."
Does this mean that they were all/mostly deists? No, but it certainly
shows that at least one of our founding fathers very definitely *was* a
deist.
So, in answer to the question in the subject line, yes, at least some
were. However, there were at least some deists too.
--
The difference between intelligence and stupidity is that intelligence
has its limits.
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