[society-by-contract]

Far too much is made of the Deism of our Founding Fathers. Deism was a religious fad that swept through the colonies during the latter half of the 18th century and it died out about 1810. The Deists held to the basic tenor of Christian principle and were frequently devout in their own beliefs. The Founding Fathers were very concerned that American society was and would continue to be Christian as they felt it was the single thing that us allowed the freedom to pursue happiness. Any reference to our Founding Fathers being atheists, or somehow less that devout is absolute claptrap.

I agree with everything you wrote, except the assumption that The Founding Fathers (I prefer Framers of the Constitution) are monolithic in thier thought. As individuals, I suspect there was some variation in thier ideas.

[TexanToTheCore]

"I agree with everything you wrote, except the assumption that The Founding Fathers (I prefer Framers of the Constitution) are monolithic in thier thought. As individuals, I suspect there was some variation in thier ideas."

They were not uniform in their beliefs, but this particular piece of claptrap has been misused by so many left wingers that I felt it deserved a definitive reply. One merely has to read the book "The Constitutional Convention" by Boorstine, I think, to understand how disunited they were in their approach to government.

Having said that, the large majority of the Founding Fathers were devout Christians and any representation to the contrary is absolute (again) claptrap.

You may wish to read "The Fourth Great Awakening" by Fogel to understand the defining role Christianity played in our founding. It will leave you stunned.