President Adams had a far more complex understanding of religion in general, and Christianity in particular, by the time he was president in 1797.
“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen [Muslims],—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan [Mohammedan] nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
[Adams submitted and signed the Treaty of Tripoli, 1797]”
Our Constitution was written for a Moral and Religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the Government of any other’’.- John Adams.