" You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention." George WashingtonThere are too many other passages such as the above that refute the claims that George Washington was a deist. I have read many and cannot see that George Washington ever believed that God was/is not involved in our lives or our government. As far as others of our Founding Fathers, I cite lines from a few:General George Washington encouraged all of his men to conduct themselves in a Christian manner: "To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to laud the more distinguished character of Christian." On January 1, 1795, George Washington wrote the National Thanksgiving Proclamation: "In such a state of things it is an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience." At one point, Washington said about the correlation of good government and Christian ideals: "True religion affords government its surest support. The future of this nation depends on the Christian training of our youth. It is impossible to govern without the Bible."
Let...statesmen and patriots unite their endeavors to renovate the age by...educating their little boys and girls...and leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system." Samuel AdamsThere is revisionism going on in our history books and school rooms to discredit the Judeo/Christian tenets upon which this nation was founded. Its purpose: to rid America of God."History will also afford frequent opportunities of showing the necessity of a public religion...and the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern." Benjamin Franklin
"Only one adequate plan has ever appeared in the world, and that is the Christian dispensation." John Jay, (original Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court)
"The United States of America were no longer Colonies. They were an independent nation of Christians." John Qunicy Adams
Billy Graham’s daughter said it best after the attacks. Allow me to paraphrase her remarks as to why God has allowed 9/11 to happen: Because God is a gentleman, He has allowed Himself to be shoved aside by our Nation, a long time ago. He’s watching what’s been happening to our country ever since. Now He’s just waiting for us to invite Him back.
I am not saying that Billy Graham's daughter claimed God allowed 9/11 to happen because we deserve it. She was asked a rhetorical question by one of the liberal talking head media personalities. And I am not saying our country deserved 9/11. But it sure did get many people's attention back on God, Who can use evil and turn it around for good.
There are over 200 Founders (55 at the Constitutional Convention, 90 who framed the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights, and 56 who signed the Declaration) and any generalization of the Founders as deists is completely inaccurate.The reason that critics never mention any other than a few of the Founders is evident. For example, consider what must be explained away if the following signers of the Constitution were to be mentioned: Charles Pinckney and John Langdon—founders of the American Bible Society; James McHenry—founder of the Baltimore Bible Society; Rufus King—helped found a Bible society for Anglicans; Abraham Baldwin—a chaplain in the Revolution and considered the youngest theologian in America; Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, John Dickinson, and Jacob Broom—also theological writers; James Wilson and William Patterson—placed on the Supreme Court by President George Washington, they had prayer over juries in the U. S. Supreme Court room; and the list could go on. And this does not even include the huge number of thoroughly evangelical Christians who signed the Declaration or who helped frame the Bill of Rights.
Any portrayal of anything more than a handful of Founders as deists is inaccurate. (Some irreligious Founders: Henry Dearborne, Charles Lee, or Ethan Allen).
This is pulled from the following link: Religious Nature of Founding Fathers
"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion..." -- Lawful treaty negotiated under Washington, confirmed by Senate, signed by Adams
"All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution" -- Proposed language by Jefferson for Virginia constitution.
"I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor. " -- Jefferson
Actually, the letters between Jefferson and Madison take on a decidedly anti-Christian (but not anti-God) tone.
"I know that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his [George Washington's] secrets & believed himself to be so, has often told me that Genl. Washington believed no more of that system [Christianity] than he himself did." -- Jefferson
"But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer [Jesus] of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State." -- Jefferson
And they go on like that. Let's switch authors:
"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history. (See the cases in which negatives were put by J. M. on two bills passd by Congs and his signature withheld from another. See also attempt in Kentucky for example, where it was proposed to exempt Houses of Worship from taxes. " -- Madison
""Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the U. S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them, and these are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does this not involve the principle of a national establishment ... " -- Madison
Washington was widely regarded as a professor of Christianity because it was as required in politics as it is now. He was called, by religious people, a Deist and a Unitarian. Many men of influence, including Jefferson, held church positions of authority while believing contrary to the teachings of the church. Also, "Washington frequently alluded to Providence in his private correspondence. But the name of Christ, in any correspondence whatsoever, does not appear anywhere in his many letters to friends and associates throughout his life."
"George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian. In the enlightened tradition of his day, he was a devout Deist--just as many of the clergymen who knew him suspected."
And Franklin chimes in:
"I believe in one God, Creator of the universe.... That the most acceptable service we can render Him is doing good to His other children.... As to Jesus ... I have ... some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble."
Thomas Paine: "Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly-marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity."
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish [Muslim], appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
"Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."
The list of quotes supporting the original idea of separation of church and state is extremely long.