Several of your letters are merely examples of typical anti-Catholic bigotry, which was common among Protestants of that time. The one by Rev. Bird Wilson is merely his opinion. Probably you could find some equally strange quotes from Jerry Falwell, if you looked. And the others, for the most part, can be explained as aberrations or exaggerations, or stages through which the writers passed.
Jefferson may have been a Deist, although some of his writings suggest he was also a broad Christian. Ben Franklin may have been an atheist, or as I said, an agnostic. He seems to have been involved with the Hellfire Club when he was in England, although that could have just been an instance of sinning.
I am familiar with “natural law” theory among the early Greeks and Romans, and in fact it was not the same thing as what was passed down later and adopted into common law, although the Greeks and Romans certainly contributed to it.
So. If I looked around, no doubt I could find some texts stating that the earth was flat, but that wouldn’t really prove anything, taken out of context.
Many of the quotes have nothing to do with Catholicism. They dealt with the Trinity, and the concept of God itself.
I was asking about those quotations. Why did the Founding Fathers maintain such a stance? What could have been their reason for doing so? That will suffice as an answer.
Oh, and thank you for putting the discussion back on track.
The others were desperately dodging the arguments, and trying to get me banned.