[Cronos]

their ideas eventually led to the creation of the

Incorrect -- many of the founders were Deists and there were 4 Catholic signers, so it wasn't the reformers ideas

The framers of the constitution instinctively harked back to ancient Greece and Rome and set up their institutions based on Rome (the Senate for example or congressus) -- so do read up on history before commenting

[FredZarguna]

What rubbish. The Roman Church was thoroughly hostile to the idea of the United States of America. Don't try to bulldoze me; I am an apostate of that Church and spent 12 years in Parochial school learning all the nonsense that you learned.

Four adherents of the Church of Rome signed the Declaration of independence? Not even close.

Like most of your "history" this is nonsense. The exact number is ONE: Charles Carrol.

Big Deal. How does that compare to the percentage of Christians who adhered to the Church of Rome in 1776? [Hint: insignificant]. What was their percentage in the entire country? [Hint: insignificant.] Where did the Scottish Enlightenment begin [Hint: a Protestant country.] How many of the founders were deists? [Hint: not that many.]

Attempts to claim Washington as a deist deny the many references he made to the intervention of Providence; hardly a deist position. They also ignore the fact that he was an habitual churchgoer, long after it was no longer politically or socially necessary. The Adams were Unitarians, which was not, until after Emerson's time, a deist philosophy. Yes, Jefferson was a deist, and so was Franklin. So I can see how you might be confused that there were huge numbers of deists among the founders: there were at least twice as many of them as there were Papists.

And by the way, there is even a question about whether Caroll was actually an adherent of the Church of Rome. There is some speculation that he was a Freemason. [His son actually was one.] That would have implied de facto excommunication.

What does Freedom of conscience mean to the Roman Church? Why, in fact, it is regarded as heresy. The Founders' belief in the separation of church and state has a special name in the history of the Roman Church. The heresy is referred to as Americanism.

Deny it.

Most of the Founders, and most of the Founders' ideas came from the English and later Scottish Enlightenments. Those ideas are ultimately founded in the rejection of an arbitrary temporal authority beyond human reason; and that idea in itself is a rejection of the Magisterium, the Pope, the Hierarchy, and Rome. Leo XIII knew this, even if you don't.