“Alexander Hamilton probably had more of a Jewish upbringing than Disreali”
Thank you for this. I was not aware of it before. I will do a bit of “looking up”. Of late, there has been a recurrent thread with the position that the founders were a purely “Christian” state (mostly aimed at hammering Muslims I’m afraid).
It was always my impression that our founding was far more ecumenical than some of us evangelicals would like to believe. Your information gives me an excuse to do some overdue research on the subject.
The Founding Fathers were a mixed bag religiously. John Adams was a very religious Protestant. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist, and rejected mainstream Christianity (he even authored a Bible that went so far as to remove everything supernatural, leaving only the moral & ethical teachings). Ben Franklin similarly rejected Christianity, and organized religion in general (he did, however, contribute to help Mikveh Israel build its first synagogue in Philadelphia). George Washington was somewhere in between Adams and Jefferson.
The Founding Fathers were a mixed bag religiously. John Adams was a very religious Protestant. Thomas Jefferson was a Deist, and rejected mainstream Christianity (he even authored a Bible that went so far as to remove everything supernatural, leaving only the moral & ethical teachings). Ben Franklin similarly rejected Christianity, and organized religion in general (he did, however, contribute to help Mikveh Israel build its first synagogue in Philadelphia). George Washington was somewhere in between Adams and Jefferson.