Our "Christian" Founding Fathers

Let me make this clear up-front, I am a Christian.  That's a statement however that has no one single meaning. So here's what it means to me.

1. I believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God.
2. I believe Jesus Christ is his son, born of a virgin.
3. I believe Christ was crucified, died, was buried and rose again three days later as the ultimate sacrifice for me.
4. I believe in the Trinity of God, Son and Holy Spirit.
5. I believe baptism is to be by immersion. I do NOT believe someone won't go to Heaven if they aren't baptized.
6. I believe communion is to be served every church service and should be open to any who wish to partake.
7. I believe once in grace always in grace.
8. I believe each person's salvation is a matter solely between them and God. Just because you have determined something is a sin for you does not automatically make it a sin for me.

Now, all that being said, I was also raised to question everything in regards to religion. Never take anyone else's word for what the Bible says or what it means, not even the minister's. And I don't. So blind and mindless belief bugs the hell out of me. It also really bothers me when people twist history to support their position, especially when they try to twist it to support their religious position in an effort to push legislation of their particular religious view.

At this time of year I hear a lot of wonderful patriotic talk, which is a good thing. But I also hear lots of comments about our great Christian founding fathers and how our country was founded on Christian principles. This is when I start to get twitchy. This is one of those things that I feel falls in to the category of “you heard it all your life and never stopped to question it”. Well, I did. Based on their writings and the vocabulary used very few of our founding fathers were actually Christians in the sense that we define that today. For a few examples let's look at Washington, John Adams, Sam Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Franklin and Paine.

• Neither Jefferson, Franklin or Paine believed in the resurrection or the divinity of Christ..
• Of the eight only one, Sam Adams, professed to a belief in the Trinity.
• The two Adams' are the only ones who claim a belief in the Biblical miracles.
• None were ever noted to take communion, nor be confirmed in the churches they attended. Though they all did attend church with the exception of Paine.

The truth is most of them were Deists and, well, the fact is while all Christians are Deists, not all Deists are Christians. Quite a few were Masons which also holds a Deist belief system. So, while our founding fathers did seem to all believe in some form of higher power, it can't really be said with any accuracy that they were Christians.

Then there are those who gloss over this after it's pointed out to them with the “well our country is founded on Christian principles”. Eh, that's a weak one in my opinion. Our country was founded on moral principles, the same ones found in Christianity. However, Christians don't hold a monopoly or moralism. Any number of other belief systems hold to the same moral values as Christianity. So it is just as possible for someone of another belief to say our country was founded on their religious belief system.

There's nothing wrong with having religious beliefs. I have very strong religious beliefs. The problem comes in when people just accept a belief as true because other people have said so. There is nothing holy or righteous about blindly following the words of another human.