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What America’s Founders Really Thought About the Bible
hegospelcoalition.org/ ^ | January 10, 2017 | Justin Taylor, Daniel L. Dreisbach

Posted on 09/14/2025 3:34:19 AM PDT by daniel1212

John Adams, in his retirement, was disheartened. What had his life in politics counted for? he wondered.

The renewal in 1805 of a 30-year friendship with Doctor Benjamin Rush reinvigorated him. ...

In one conversation about the “perfectibility of man” and religion’s role in making “men and nations happy,” both Rush and Adams lamented the moral decay they witnessed in the world around them. “By renouncing the Bible,” Rush interjected, “philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral Subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. It contains a faithful representation of all its follies, Vices & Crimes.” He then concluded: “All Systems of Religion, morals, and Government not founded upon it, must perish, and how consoling the tho[ugh]t! — it will not only survive the wreck of those Systems, but the World itself. ‘The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it [Matt. 16:18].’”...

Adams, as I note in my book Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers, was not alone among his contemporaries in making this remarkable claim. John Dickinson, the acclaimed “penman of the Revolution,” for example, similarly observed, “The Bible is the most republican Book that ever was written.” Such sentiments were common in the political discourse of the age...

To the founders, republicanism meant, at least, this: popular government, committed to the rule of law, in which government authority is derived from the consent of the governed and exercised through freely and fairly chosen representatives of the people.... Although they held a wide range of views about Jesus, salvation, and even the Bible’s divine origins, the founding generation looked to the Bible for insights into human nature, civic virtue, social order, political authority and other concepts essential to the establishment of a new political society. Many saw in Scripture political and legal models – such as republicanism, separation of powers, and due process of law – that they believed enjoyed divine favor and were worthy of emulation in their polities.


TOPICS: Education; History; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: aclu; constitution; law; scotus
excerpts. Also as relevant HISTORICAL QUOTES IN CONTRAST
1 posted on 09/14/2025 3:34:19 AM PDT by daniel1212
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To: daniel1212

Republicanism. A wonderful idea. Far better than democracy.


2 posted on 09/14/2025 3:42:12 AM PDT by exnavy (See article IV section 4 of our constitution.)
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To: daniel1212

Good post. Thanks.


3 posted on 09/14/2025 3:48:19 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait.)
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To: daniel1212

Thank you.


4 posted on 09/14/2025 5:09:32 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: exnavy

Republicanism at least doesn’t lead to mob rule and reigns of terror.


5 posted on 09/14/2025 6:25:59 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: daniel1212

Isaiah 33:22 states:

“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us”

While the Scripture says that God is Lord over all, it does define three branches of government; Judicial, Legislative, and Executive.

I wonder if the writers of the Constitution were influenced by this verse?

It seems that way to me.


6 posted on 09/14/2025 7:13:24 AM PDT by left that other site (You Shall Know The Truth, and The Truth Shall Make You Free.)
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To: No name given

” THE Bible is thr Rock upon our Republic rests.” Andrew Jackson


7 posted on 09/14/2025 9:23:50 AM PDT by cowboyusa ( YESHUA IS KING OF AMERICA AND HE WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: daniel1212

The FFs were so rooted in the Bible that in most states/colonies, RCs were explicitly prohibited from holding office.

Charlie Kirk gave the exact stats in one of his college appearances. The video has been shown often in the last few days. It’s been posted on FR recently.


8 posted on 09/14/2025 9:32:03 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: daniel1212

P


9 posted on 09/14/2025 9:40:30 AM PDT by GranTorino (Bloody Lips Save Ship)
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To: All
Religion% of Adherents in General Population of Pre-Revolutionary 13 Colonies% of Founding Fathers
Episcopalian/Anglican25%43%
Presbyterian12%17%
Congregationalist20%13%
Baptist8%2%
Lutheran5%1%
Catholic1%1%
Unitarian1%2%
DeistLess than 1%10%
Theistic RationalistLess than 1%5%

10 posted on 09/14/2025 10:55:57 AM PDT by Cronos
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