[forktail]

Well PH aside that is completely wrong.

Thomas Jefferson was a deist. He did not believe in any religion but did beieve in God. George Washington was far more interested in Freemasonry than he was in Christianity. The Freemason's "pirate-like" deomcratic outlook on Religion is certainly what the Framers had in mind and if you disagree please look at The Federalist (Papers).

[Tauzero]

"Well PH aside that is completely wrong.

Thomas Jefferson was a deist. He did not believe in any religion but did beieve in God."


No, not competely wrong. In fact, exactly right, when it comes to Thomas Jefferson.


Thomas Jefferson believed Jesus gave us the most sublime ethical code ever known (his word that -- sublime), and considered himself a christian, in the most meaningful sense of the word (paraphrase of Jefferson again), i.e. as a subscriber to the ethical doctrines of Jesus as put forth in the gospels.

But certainly he didn't think much of most of the self-described Christian sects of his day.

[4CJ]

Thomas Jefferson was a deist. He did not believe in any religion but did beieve in God.

Another myth. TJ attended church services regularly - services held in the chambers of the House of Representatives.

Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, 21 Apr 1803:

To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other.

On 4 Mar 1805 President Jefferson prayed a National Prayer for Peace:

"Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners."

"Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues."

"Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whome in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of earth."

"In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."

Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson:

Monticello, January 9, 1816.

I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never said nor saw.

Thomas Jefferson was NOT a deist. He believed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. A Christian.

[Antoninus]

Thomas Jefferson was a deist. He did not believe in any religion but did beieve in God.

Jefferson also believed that the moral code set down by Christ was the "most perfect" that had ever been conceived--so much so that he actually created his own version of the Gospel for reference, removing all aspects of the miraculous. Look it up.

Most of the other founders, most notably John Adams, were very devout Christians.