Christian or Deist?

It is common to hear the accusation that our Founding Fathers were deists, and that they were influenced by the 17th century Rationalism of Descartes, and the 18th century Enlightenment of Rousseau. Where did these arguments come from, and are they true? Did these empty philosophies, which offer no hope for mankind, and which did greatly influence the irrational slaughter of the French Revolution and the guillotining of Louis XVI, actually impact the founding of our own nation? Those who deny our Christian heritage would like us to think so.

The truth is far different from what those revisionist historians want us to believe. One of the greatest political influences on our Founders was John Locke, a 17th century Oxford academic and medical researcher who opposed authoritarianism. Locke, who was a Christian, was considered by Thomas Jefferson to be one of the greatest men who ever lived. It was Locke's political ideas that led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the bloodless overthrow of British King James II.

It was the Christian religion, however, that was the driving philosophy behind the deliberations of our Founding Fathers. The Baptists had a large part to play in that. It was "that little Baptist state," as George Washington called Rhode Island, that gave the world the first ever government that was completely tolerant of all religions. And it was the Baptist influence that ensured that religious freedom became a part of our first amendment.

The Pilgrims, most of whom were Puritans from the Anglican Church of England, came to Amerca seeking religious freedom. But they were just as intolerant of any other beliefs as the Church of England was. They required membership, tithes, and infant baptism of all citizens in their colonies. Several colonies persecuted non-conformists by putting them in stocks, with beatings, or banishment, and as late as 1767, three Baptist preachers in Fredericksburg, Virginia were jailed for not submitting to the Anglican church. That church still exists in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I used to attend there when I was in the Marine Corps in Quantico.

This is what drove Roger Williams and many others to found the Rhode Island colony on the true principle of religious freedom. It is a credit to the wisdom of our Founders to have come to the realization that what they had in Rhode Island was what was needed in the new nation.

The idea that this country was built by Deists is a 20th century invention. No contemporary ever called the Founders Deists, and neither did the next three or four generations following them. In fact, in a celebrated case before the United States Supreme Court in 1892, The Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States, Associate Justice, David J. Brewer, declared in the majority decision that all the evidence proves that America is a Christian nation. The Deist idea is a revisionist historical view that germinated in the last century and was watered by the 1962 and 1963 Supreme Court decisions to kick God, the Bible, and prayer out of our public schools. It has now become the parasitic vine that is smothering the tree and the truth.

What is Deism anyway? Deists claim that they believe in God. What god they believe in they don't really know. It is certainly not Jesus Christ, they deny His deity. Deism believes that a god created the universe and then left it alone to its own machinations. He is not a personal god, he doesn't care what happens to mankind, and he does not involve himself in the affairs of men.

Were our Founders really Deists? Is that what Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington were. Doubt is also cast upon John Adams and most of the rest of them as well. Is there any truth to these accusations?

Thomas Paine may have been a Deist. He was sort of a "Rebel Looking for a Cause." His famous pamphlet, Common Sense, stirred the passions of the colonists against the tyranny of King George III. When the American Revolution was over, he had nothing to do and went to France to try and help foment the French Revolution, but his writings were not appreciated there and he lived the rest of his life in obscurity.

Paine once wrote a pamphlet called The Age of Reason. In it he denied the Word of God and the deity of Christ. When he showed his work to Benjamin Franklin, Franklin reportedly answered with the now famous phrase, "He who spits into the wind spits into his own face."

This is the same Franklin who is positively identified by modern historians as a Deist, and is accused of having had as many as fifty children by many mistresses. (My eighth grade history teacher told my class that one.) But is that consistent with the man Franklin really was?

When George Whitfield came to America preaching in the Great Awakening, Franklin struck up a friendship with him and went to hear him speak on several occasions. Whitfield testified that although Franklin was sincerely interested in the message and spoke highly of Whitfield, as far as he knew, Franklin was never saved.

Still, Franklin had a list of maxims that he tried to live by and one of these was two simple words, "Imitate Jesus." When the convention met in 1787 to hammer out a new constitution for the country, there were so many differences of opinion in the beginning that the delegates were nearly at each other's throats. It was Franklin that took the floor and spoke saying, "If a sparrow cannot fall without the knowledge of the Almighty, can a nation be built without His guidance?" He quoted several passages of Scripture before moving that the delegates get on their knees and cry out to God for help in forging the new nation. Deists don't quote Scripture, nor do they cry out to God for help.

Thomas Jefferson is another one that modern historians most assuredly avow was a Deist. But can we find that in any of his writings? Take a look at the Declaration of Independence, which was written by Jefferson with some editing help from Franklin and Adams. In it he claims that man is "endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights."

There is an immediate problem here for Deists. They don't believe that the Creator cares at all about His creation. A Deist god would never endow creation with any rights.

It is interesting to note that every year of Jefferson's presidency he had written into his annual budgets funding for the evangelization of Indians. He is also quoted as having said, "Indeed I tremble for my country when I consider that God is just, and that His justice will not sleep forever." A Deist god could not be just, neither would a Deist tremble at the thought of judgment.

George Washington also gets a poor hearing from modern historians. His integrity is challenged. It is claimed he sired children with his slaves. (That idea was suggested by the British historian, Sir Arnold Toynbee, without the first hint of evidence.) The truth is he was a member of the Episcopal Church. He was a man of the highest character and probity, and a man of such stature and dignity that people felt small and humbled just to be in his presence. Of all the writings and testimonies of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, not one person that ever knew him ever wrote one negative thing about him. He was a man of honor and well deserving of the title, "Father of Our Country."

It is my opinion that he was the greatest American that ever lived. We literally would not have had a country without him. His leadership as commanding general of the Continental Army, and his presence as the President of the Constitutional Convention, as well as being our first president, assured America's place in history. And if you'll take time to read his farewell address to the army and his proclamation of the first Thanksgiving Day holiday, you will be hard pressed not to believe that he was truly a Christian.

While Washington was the Father of our Country, James Madison was given the title, "Father of the Constitution." Madison declared that they had created a government based on the principles found in the Ten Commandments and the New Testament. Obviously Madison believed America was a Christian nation.

There is so much more that even a modest amount of research could find. Those claiming the Founders were Deist are either too lazy to search for the truth, or they are intentionally trying to cover it up in order to push their own anti-Christian agenda.

We were definitely founded as a Christian nation. Whether or not we are today is another story, but the second president, John Adams, has the answer for us. One day as he sat in the Continental Congress, Benjamin Rush asked him in a whisper if he thought America would succeed against the British. Adams replied, "Yes, if we fear God and repent our sins."

That was good advice in his day, and we would be well advised to do the same in our own day.