“Try to weasel around these quotes from the Founding Fathers:”
Thank you. You’ve just confirmed that the Founding Fathers were devout Christians. Only 1 was a deist: Thomas Jefferson. But what you’re completely missing here is the fact that the Framers never put one word of God or Christianity into the U.S. Constitution, even though most were deeply religious. Many framers, like Washington, were Episcopalians, some of which were Vestrymen or Clergymen.
To understand why they left these items out, the answer is simple. They NEVER wanted the government to be a Christian organization, nor practice Christian beliefs, nor endorse God or Jesus, or any religious figure at all. They wanted clear separation between the two, removing all religious tests, endorsements, or mention of God or Christ from anything to do with the supreme law. Instead, they used the Bible, among other legal references, to carefully craft the Constitution in order to eliminate religious endoctrination. Period. Even when Benjamin Franklin wanted it clearly included into the Constitution, all the others rejected his requests.
It wasn’t until the first Congress that there was even a Bill of Rights, so the framers placed freedom of religion below that of the core legal system of the federal government. Now, at the state level, this discussion was completely different.
You can’t have it both ways. Which one is it???
You are twisting yourself into knots attempting to reach for something that does not exist.
You and I agree that the term Christian is not in the founding documents, however, any claim that the founders did not believe Christianity to be a founding principal and guide for our republic is simply not sustained by the writings of the founders.
Those who have falsely claimed, for example, that the Bible cannot be read in public schools are either ignorant of the founders writings, or are intentionally misreading the Constitution.
Ben Rush, who penned the words “shall pass no law either respecting.....etc”, later wrote that the Bible should NEVER be removed from public education.
I hope we do agree on this: The intent in the founding documents, and the message in Jefferson’s letter was to assure that the United States would never had an OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT mandated religion, such as was the case in England with the Church of England.