[B4Ranch]

Thank you for post this article.

[Natchez Hawk]

Thomas Paine was a "grumpy pamphleteer"?

Or an American hero and the most compelling proponent for the cause of freedom in the colonies.

If you don't like our government, there are several pretty little countries in Europe with religious-oriented constitutional monarchies you might enjoy.

[silverleaf]

Good article. Thanks.

[clearlight]

Excellent work. Articles like this one help to shed some light on organizations like the ACLU, and why they are so dangerous to our country. If any of our founding fathers were around today and saying the same things they said back then, they would be savagely ridiculed (by the left) as brainless religious fanatics.

[little jeremiah]

Bump. Later pingout.

[muir_redwoods]

"Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House,"Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."

This is an absurd statement and first-rate evidence of idiocy. It completely denies the ability of people, irrespective of religious faith, to govern themselves, the premise upon which the country was founded. Not a surprise that he was in congress.

[jackv]

Thank you for the post!

After Thomas Jefferson made the infamous remark about separation of church and state that liberals like to recite, the following weekend he ordered the church services held in the house/senate chambers and requested the military band play the music. Hardly a separation but then the liberals don't care about details.

[cpforlife.org]

Pro-Founding Fathers/Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[RightWhale]

One thing for sure: our Founding fathers did not speak with one voice. Debate was in fact hot and heavy all the way through, and continues hot and heavy. It is possible that no gov't system on earth has been so heavily debated as that of the US.

[bayourod]

Deists? I thought the teacher said Dentists. Then what was all that talk about Washington's teeth about?

[mugs99]

"Misquoting Our Founding Fathers."

ROFL!
This article does just that.
Acording to the Reverend Ashbel Green, Presbyterian minister who had known George Washington personally, "that while Washington was very deferential to religion and its ceremonies, like nearly all the founders of the Republic, he was not a Christian, but a Deist."

"The founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels."
The Rev. Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister and historian (lamented in an 1831 sermon)

There are many, many more quotes from the period. Washington's letters also make it very clear he was a Deist.

This nonsense always ends up with prayer quotes.
FACT: It does not matter what personal religious beliefs the founders held. All of them were secularists!
.

[thackney]

bump to follow

[TAdams8591]

"The founding fathers opposed both government suppression and government establishment of religion. Radical secularists who seek to drive all religious expression from the public square join the ranks of the radical sectarians that our founders sought to declaw."

Exactly to both of the above points. Great article!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Great thread. Saving some of this.

[Red Sea Swimmer]

Most of the Founding Fathers of America were great men. Defaming the dead, especially the righteous dead stirs up divine anger. People who defame the righteous people of the past are cowards of the lowest order.

The dead keep track of the livings actions. Cynics should ask themselves what sort of dreams and hopes the dead may have had for the future of humankind during their lifetimes. At some point in most people's lives a person experiences a feeling of unbridled optimism and truly believes in a world of eventual peace and harmony.

Respect for the dead is a very important thing. Can and will people of today respect the wishes of those that have come before us ?

[Lancey Howard]

Great post, Coleus!!

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I have a question. I have always considered the Declaration of Independence the most important document of our nation. Without it, there would be no Consitution, no Bill of Rights.

I often hear the Declaration is not a legal document--exactly what does that mean? Does it mean it is irrelevant in a court of law?

[Yellow Rose of Texas]

If you go back and research the founders, and others of their era, folks will find the Bible is listed as an important item in their wills. Many listed the Bible before any other property such as land, furniture, the best bed, second best bed, etc.

Religion as practiced in the Europe of their time was a country by country choice. Many who were Catholic in England or Protestant in Spain and France were executed for treason. Judaism and Islam were not tolerated at all in most European countries but were accepted in the colonies long before the Declaration of Independence. America was settled by Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, Puritans, and so many others of different spiritual beliefs. They came here because of the freedom found to worship as they pleased openly and honestly, without fear of execution or ridicule.

It matters not what GOD the founders themselves believed to be supreme, but that religious tolerance was so important to them that it is included in the First Amendment to the Constitution. They envisioned a society full of religious diversity, not a country FREE from religion of any kind.

The First Amendment reads as follows: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishing of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ...

The Queen of England is still the head of the Church of England, as established by Henry VIII, at least on paper. The Anglican Church of the colonies, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more were originally part of the Church of England. The founders intent was to have no established COUNTRY wide religion.

[Coleus]

Back to the Roots: The Founders and the Separation of Church and State