Increasingly, we live in an upside-down world: much of what we believe is the exact opposite of the truth. I'm not just talking, of course, about hard-to-prove propositions of theology, politics, or social character. We disbelieve many things which are relatively easy to verify, and believe things which are relatively easy to disprove.

The statement in the title above -- or one of a dozen similar variants -- have become rampant in recent years. Many people seem have gotten the impression that the founding fathers were a bunch of anti-theists, or were generally hostile to organized religion.

For example, "Shy David", an anti-theist who isn't at all shy about letting us know how he feels about Christians, writes:

Ignore for the moment the fact that America's "founding fathers" were mostly atheists, Humanists, and Diests who loathed and dispised Christianity...

I'm not claiming to be an expert on history. But I know enough to hear protestations like the above as the equivalent of insisting that we fought the Irish in World War II. However basicly intelligent (and sometimes kind) the person offering it, the position is one of massive historical ignorance. And it's not mere ephemeral trivia: what people think about the founding of our country carries into the political debate today. Which is probably why there's been such an effort to confuse them.

After reading the quote above, I was motivated to answer this question once and for all by going through the founding fathers, researching and documenting their religious outlook and affiliations. Mercifully, I discovered I don't have to -- someone else did the deed here. Have a look at the lists yourself -- even the most sceptical reading turns up less than a handful of deists (three or four by my count), and not a single atheist. Christians, christians everywhere: in fact, the top 3 denominations alone -- Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist -- all Christian -- included over 90% of the founding fathers.

And they generally weren't just, as some would contend, nominal Christians. As best as I can tell from their writings, many of them loved God passionately. For example, I had decided to start with the list of signers of the Declaration of Independence*, and thus with John Hancock, a wealthy businessman who helped bankroll the revolution.

[* I'm naturally a terrible speller. Each time I write that, I must carefully make sure I'm not talking about the "singers" of that document -- which, as far as I know, has never been set to music.]

Among other things, Hancock sponsored a national "Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer":

“In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments, …at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness… Resolved; …Thursday the 11th of May…to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation …and a Blessing on the … Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights..." [1]

Hancock's faith wasn't just talk:

Hancock's father and grandfather were ministers, his grandfather being particularly prominent. Hancock contributed a considerable amount of money to the construction of the new Brattle Street Church. [2]

Hancock is by no means atypical, in my experience. There are many such quotes attributable to the founding fathers.

Critics like "Shy David" tend to conflate a desire to avoid a state-sponsored religion and distrust of the clergy with a hatred for God or religion in general. Instead, the founding fathers had a nuanced view of religion, which is hard for people, with our current simplistic thinking to understand. Thus, today participants in both sides of this debate tend only to quote the phrases that support their position.

For example, Thomas Jefferson was, in my opinion, a deist. He wasn't a Christian in the strict biblical sense, but neither was he hostile to faith -- which is the conclusion so many anti-theists draw. Jefferson certainly distrusted the clergy, and rejected the idea of the trinity:

"It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one and one is three, and yet, that the one is not three, and the three are not one.... But this constitutes the craft, the power, and profits of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more flies" (Ibid, p. 205). [3]

... but to say he "hated" the Christian faith is absurd, given his other statements -- and actions. Though he didn't accept the miracles, he believed the teachings of Jesus were the best teachings ever presented to mankind. He even procured Federal (yes, Federal!) funds for the missionary efforts among the Indians!

And regarding church attendance, the The Library of Congress notes:

It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and of James Madison (1809-1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House--a practice that continued until after the Civil War--were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared.

Diarists recorded that Jefferson "constantly" and "regularly" attended such services with his family. [More here.] Now, mind you, these are the behaviors of a man who was supposed to be a chief critic of Christianity among the founding fathers!

Likewise, Thomas Paine certainly was a deist and rejected the bible. But he was also an avowed opponent of atheism. He would have bristled at the allegation he had anything against god-belief: he loved God, he simply felt the god of the bible was a distortion of that image.

And Benjamin Franklin was supposedly a deist, but it was in fact he who insisted that the Continental Congress be opened in prayer -- a tradition which continues to this day. Franklin also insisted that public schools teach that Christianity was the best religion in the world, and attempted to dissaude Thomas Paine from publishing his famous anti-Christian tract.

Franklin wrote to his daughter, advising her to attend church without fail:

Go constantly to church, whoever preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer Book [Franklin was an Episcopalian] is your principal business there, and if properly attended to, will do more towards amending the heart than sermons generally can do. For they were composed by men of much greater piety and wisdom, than our common composers of sermons can pretend to be; and therefore I wish you would never miss the prayer days; yet I do not mean you should despise sermons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear waters come through very dirty earth. [4]

Again, hardly an opponent of organized religion in general, much less Christianity in specific. He separated his dislike of certain persons, and their inability to live up to their own teachings, from his love of the teachings themselves.

We're pretty much left with Ethan Allen (who didn't actually make furniture). Allen, though he briefly fought for the US, who not exactly a role model.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) he and Colonel Benedict Arnold captured Fort Ticonderoga in the first colonial victory of the war, notwithstanding the fact that they basically knocked on the door, walked in and took over. The fort was neither well maintained nor well guarded at the time (there were only 22 British troops stationed there), and the garrison had no idea that hostilities had broken out in Lexington and Concord....

Allen was no military genius, rather an overbearing, loud-mouthed braggart. He was also a staunch patriot who apparently did not know the meaning of fear. More importantly, he had the loyalty of the Green Mountain Boys, as unruly a bunch of roughnecks as any in history. [4]

Overall, the number of such "deists" pales in comparison to the standard run-of-the-mill Christians. Where Allen, Jefferson, Paine, and Franklin could be counted as deists, they stand alongside John Hancock, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Benjamin Rush, James Madison, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Noah Webster, John Whitherspoon, Samuel Chase, and so many, many others Christians, Unitarians, and others who were clearly neither deists nor atheists. A very religious bunch, in general.

The poverty of the founding-fathers-hated-religion case can be easily seen by examining pages like this which attempt to prove the infidelity of said founders. We are to believe

... the founding fathers found organized religion, particularly Christianity, Catholicism or Protestantism, to be the bloodiest religion in the history of the human race. The Christians, in their religious fanaticism, have created lies twisting and contorting, in order to hide, disquise, and defuse.

Amazingly, unlike quote pages from the other side, featuring a truckload dozens of sources, the aforementioned page only references seven founders, a few of whom were actually known to be practicing Christians -- leaving, yet again, only quotes from Ethan Allen, Paine, Franklin, and Jefferson.

Attempts to make the founding fathers appear to be a group of "atheists, Humanists, and Diests who loathed and dispised Christianity" generally rely upon several tactics, all of which strike me as dishonest:

1. Quoting opposition to an established church. For example, from James Madison:

"Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity in exclusion of all other religions may establish, with the same ease, any particular sect of Christians in exclusion to all other sects?"

This doesn't show Madison wasn't a Christian -- much less demonstrates hostility to faith. It simply shows he opposed having a state-established religion. I agree with Madison completely here -- am I suddenly an infidel as well?

James Madison quotes also include [5]:

"A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our name enrolled in the Annals of Heaven."

"Before any man can be considered a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."

"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection to to perceive in (the ability of the delegates to reach agreement on the Constitution of the United States) a finger of that Almighty Hand, which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief."

Madison had complex views on religion. He apparently was quite devout as a young man, but grew more focused on the relationship between church and state as he aged. I'm not aware of him ever being anything but a Christian.

2. Selective quoting and omission. Sadly, both sides practice this. I am just as unhappy seeing Jefferson depicted as an enemy of religion as I am in seeing him depicted as an orthodox Christian.

Again, our Founders generally had nuanced views -- incomprehensible, apparently, to many today -- viewing religion as good, but state-sponsored religion as bad. Or they viewed belief in God as good, but some specific sect (Calvinism, Catholicism) as one of the worst evils on earth. Often such fervor was motivated by an equally strong devotion to another specific conception of God and faith -- not general impiety as we are to believe.

3. A Treaty with Muslims. The US had problems with the mostly-Islamic Barbary Pirates, who were attacking our commercial ships. In such foreign correspondence, US leaders sought to play down any idea our government was an institution of Christian doctrine.

Thus, far down into the document, the Treaty of Tripoli states:

"As the Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion..."

To give some background, here is an excerpt from a letter from General Eaton, "US Naval Agent to the Barbary States" about the situation:

April 8th. We find it almost impossible to inspire these wild bigots with confidence in us or to persuade them that, being Christians, we can be otherwise than enemies to Musselmen. We have a difficult undertaking!

The operative word here is "diplomacy." You can see why the letter opened the way it did -- because then (as now, sadly) many Muslims were being told that Christians desired nothing more than to wipe them now. Instead, the founders had trade on their minds, not genocide.

Further, this quote has been incorrectly placed into George Washington's mouth:

Misquotations
"The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." -- These are not Washington's words, but are from a treaty between the U.S. and Tripoli (Article 11), negotiated during Washington's administration, but ratified in 1797 and signed by President John Adams. The passage in question reads: "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 Musselmen, -- and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan 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"

This passage argues there are no specificly Christian doctrines or practices incorporated into our government which would bring us into conflict with Muslims on religious grounds.

As a Christian, I agree entirely: other than a general belief in God as law-giver and rights-giver -- which many religions share -- we see nothing in our government which specificly enshrines Jesus as God's only son, or the Virgin Birth, requires taking of Communion, or any other exclusively Christian religious beliefs or practices. Unlike England, we have no "established" church.

Normally, a document like the Treaty of Tripoli would be nothing more than an interesting historical footnote. But ardent secularists have seized upon a sentence fragment within it as proof of the infidelity of the Founders, and functionally elevated it a status above all other public statements, speeches, and writings from said Founders, including, apparently, the Declaration of Independence itself, which inconveniently locates the origins of our rights in a belief in God.

4. Confusion about Congregationalism and Unitarianism: Many founders were Congregationalists, which has today become the "Church of Christ" -- an extremely liberal Protestant denomination. But that wasn't the case, historically, being the belief of the Puritans:

Congregationalism was the predominant religious denomination throughout much of New England during Colonial times and the 1800s. In 1776, over 12% of Maine residents, 13% of New Hampshire residents, 13% of Connecticut residents, and 16% of Massachusetts residents were Congregationalists. Congregationalism was one of America's "mainstream" Protestant denominations.

Today members of the United Church of Christ (and others who identify themselves as Congregationalists) comprise less than 1 percent (0.7%, ARIS/Kosmin, 2001) of the U.S. population.... It is inadvisable to refer to individuals who lived and died as Congregationalists prior to the 1950s as "members of the United Church of Christ." This was never a name they applied to themselves. Furthermore, the United Church of Christ today has positioned itself as one of America's most "liberal" or "progressive" denominations. This denomination would in many ways be unrecognizable to the relatively conservative (sometimes even Puritanical) Congregationalists of the 1700s and 1800s.
[Famous Congregationalists, emph added]

Likewise "Unitarian" back then didn't mean what it means today: Colonial Unitarians rejected the idea of the trinity -- as some Christian Pentecostal "Oneness" churches do today -- but they certainly weren't deists or atheists:

It should be noted that the Unitarians and Universalists are groups that existed long before the creation of Unitarian Universalism. In particular it must be noted that the cohort of prominent Unitarians from the American colonial and early national eras would almost certainly not subscribe to Universalism; these people were essentially radical Protestant Christians. [6]

The term "Universalist" has also changed its meaning. This is what Benjamin Rush (devout Christian, signer of the Declaration, friend of Thomas Paine and other founders) wrote AFTER he had converted from a Presbyterian to a Universalist:

"Of the poor services I have rendered to any of my fellow creatures I shall say nothing. They were full of imperfections and have no merit in the sight of God. I pray to have the sin that was mixed with them, forgiven. My only hope of salvation is in the infinite transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of his Son upon the Cross. Nothing but his blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come Lord Jesus! Come quickly! And take home thy lost, but redeemed Creature! I will believe, and I will hope in thy salvation! Amen, and amen!" [7]

This is nothing like you would hear from a member of the modern Unitarian Universalist church. So don't let others mislead you by saying this or that Founder was a "Unitarian" or "Universalist" -- most such people would have essentially been Christians, or no further from it than Jehovah's Witnesses.

5. Political/Religious Infighting. Many quotes are produced -- from his political enemies -- to accuse Jefferson and others of being impious. Certainly, now as then, we need to examine those quotes and their substance, not accept them at face value.

In fact, such arguments are self-refuting -- in an attempt to show the certain founding fathers were anti-Christian, they admit that the prevailing mood of the country included a strong vein of religious discourse, and the Christian faith was generally held to be positive and beneficial.

Likewise, there are a few heated responses which also need to be read in context, like this one from Thomas Jefferson:

"They (the christian clergy) believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly: for I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

This particular turn of phrase seems to have become a rallying cry for today's political left, apparently implying Jefferson was the sworn opponent of the Christian faith. But Jefferson isn't saying that at all -- indeed, this letter was written to a devout Christian, Benjamin Rush (above).

In context:

I promised you a letter on Christianity, which I have not forgotten... I have a view of the subject which ought to displease neither the rational Christian nor Deists, and would reconcile many to a character they have too hastily rejected...

Even rational Christians will agree with me on this point.

Indeed, I agree with him completely on this point:

... the clause of the constitution... while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity thro’ the U. S.; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalians & Congregationalists.

Context: Certain clergy, from certain popular denominations, want to see their church established as a state church, as they were in England. Jefferson opposes that idea and nothing more:

The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me... [8, PDF, p 70]

Jefferson was only their enemy in that one particular way: he didn't want to see their particular sect established as the state religion. That's it. He's not saying he's an enemy of clergy in general, much less Christianity as a whole -- as his later conduct proved.

6. Appeal to the culture of the time.

This is, by far, the oddest argument raised: basicly, since everyone went to church, it's really hard to determine who's "really" a Christian. So the Founding Fathers were probably really impious, even though almost all of them attended church regularly.

What a strange argument! First, it concedes the very point it denies: that nearly everyone went to church. Right. That's entirely the point: the founding fathers were generally Christians, not atheists nor agnostics nor deists. And that our government arose in and from a climate of general piety, not scepticism.

Further, we are to believe that men who would potentially sign their own death warrant (the Declaration of Independence), and publish it for the British to read, would be cowards in the face of religious persecution? Apparently.

Last, this is a bit hypocritical, it seems to me: Today, the vast majority of Americans still call themselves Christians. And, just like in colonial times, we can't tell who are "really" Christians. But does the religious left argue that Christianity isn't a potent influence in the same way, arguing: "Well, just because many go to church, it doesn't prove they really believe it..."

It seems if a founder said he was a Christian -- even though some apparently more more than free to say they weren't -- that didn't prove anything. But if a modern conservative politician says so, well, there's no chance that his thinking won't influence his legislation and voting.

So, to wrap things, up, the founders were mostly Christians. They were not, as "Shy David" and so many others claim, mostly deists and atheists.

Certainly, there were a number of prominent deists and unitarians, but neither term (particularly not unitarian) implied the kind of hostility to open religious practice and religiously-motivated thinking that many ardent modern secularists display.

Finally, the "Founding Fathers" weren't just Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin -- with an occasional obligatory walk-on appearance from Thomas Paine. They included the members of the Contintental Congress, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and countless men who fought and died to give us this nation.

As a whole, they were an extremely religious bunch, and without their faith in God, we probably would not have the country we have today. They desired neither a nation with a single established faith, nor a nation bereft of religious sentiment and belief. Let's not stop walking that tightrope.