Faith of our Fathers?

Just what did the "Founding Fathers" of the United States really think about religion? And more to the point, what were their religious intentions when founding the US?

Who were the "Founding Fathers"?
This term is popularly used to refer to those most responsible for declaring independence from British rule, to those who drafted the Nation's main documents and to the first few American Presidents and high officials. Often these were the same people, with a few exceptions. More properly, the term refers to the 55 members of the First Continental Congress, although that would exclude such important figures as Thomas Jefferson, who was not in attendance.

The core of the list generally includes the following (in alphabetical order): John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine and George Washington.

Most of these men were Freemasons, whose membership is limited to those who profess a belief in "a deity". Freemasonry requires such a statement of belief, but it has no requirement for whom that deity must be. In Arabic nations, it may be Allah, in Hindu countries it can be Vishnu, elsewhere it might be Zoroaster, Odin, Elegue or any other deity. However, at that time, the most common belief amongst European and North American Freemasons was Deism.

Deism
Deism was by far the most common belief system amongst the Founding Fathers. It is a faith that has been with us for millennia-at least since the Greeks. The term "deism" comes from the Latin word "deus", meaning "deity" or "god". It is the most impersonal and broad term for a god that can be imagined, and Deists often use the term "god" to refer to nature, or to the universe as a whole. Deists believe in a creator who made the universe and nature and, when creation was finished, went away, leaving the universe to its own devices.

Deists do not believe in Yahweh (the god of Christians, Moslems and Jews), nor any other gods of other religions. They do not believe in the divine inspiration of the Christian Bible, nor in the divinity of Jesus. Deists do not believe in communication with any deity by prayer, nor in divine revelation. However, Deists can be as "spiritual" and as devout of theists as any Christian, and may feel just as strongly about their god. Deism is still practiced today, most commonly in the faith of the Unitarians and Universalists.

Most of the Founding Fathers were of British ancestry, so they were familiar with the influence of religion in a country where a national religion (the Church of England) had immense power, and wars had been fought over differences of religious belief. They wanted none of that in their new, utopian State. Most of them had been raised in Protestant environments, which naturally had some influence upon them, although not always in a positive manner.

Christians often imply that the Founding Fathers must've been devout Christians because they used terms such as "prayer", "God", "Divine", "Providence", "Creator" or "heaven". These terms are certainly not exclusive to Christians! Most religions--from Islam to Hinduism-use these very same terms. They were also commonly used as figures of speech and in poetic language-even amongst agnostics and humanists. The only real way to tell whether or not these terms are intended to reflect Christian faith is to see if they are used in conjunction with the words "Jesus" or "Christ", or are used in a specifically Christian context.

It is admittedly difficult to peer into the minds of people dead for 150 or 200 years to determine what they meant when they said "god", but their own words provide some interesting insights. It is also telling that, in their formation of a new State, the Founding Fathers specifically structured a nation where religion and religious beliefs were prohibited from being required-indeed, were prevented from having any political influence.

The Age of Enlightenment
The 18th century is often referred to as the "age of enlightenment". This was partly due to the scientific advances that contributed to the industrial revolution, and partly to the advances in philosophy (especially the contributions of Voltaire, Hume, Locke and Rousseau). The power of churches was fading and-even among the clergy-many professed to be skeptical of certain doctrines that previously were sacrosanct. For the first time, people could freely admit their doubts about religion, and atheism was not uncommon, especially amongst educated men.

In fact, it is not surprising how few of the Founding Fathers were practicing Christians; in the late 18th century it is estimated that somewhere between 5 and 10% of the residents of the Colonies were in any way devout Christians or regularly attended Christian church services. Nevertheless, as Deists, they did share a belief in a creator, even if it happened to be someone other than Yahweh.

So, what is a "Christian"?
Since we have defined what makes a person a Deist, we should take a quick look at what makes a person a Christian. Although there are literally hundreds of different sects within that term, there are at least eight articles of faith that all of them share. They are:

• Yahweh (the traditional name of the God of the Bible) created the universe and everyone in it
• Yahweh is the only "true" god (or shares that role with Jesus and the Holy Spirit)
• Jesus is the literal son of Yahweh
• Jesus came to earth and lived as a human
• Jesus was put to death to atone for the sins of men
• Jesus came back to life after being buried, and still lives today
• Jesus will return to be physically united with his followers
• His followers must repent of their sins and be baptised

It is reasonable to say that, if someone professes to be a Christian but does not accept one or more of these tenets, they are not genuinely a Christian. Likewise, just because a person considers Jesus to have been an important philosopher or moralist, does not make them a Christian. The Dalai Lama considers Jesus to have been a most virtuous character; nevertheless, the Dalai Lama is not a Christian. Some Jews and Muslims revere Jesus, and even atheists may think of him as having been a good person and an important ethical figure, but none of these things makes a person a Christian.

Christians who assert that the Founding Fathers were also Christians often quote the words and writings of the Founding Fathers out of context. Some, like David Barton of "Wallbuilders", intentionally misquote their words or create outright fabrications with no historical documentation whatsoever. In circumstances of doubt, it is useful to bear the following in mind: it is much more likely that a nonbeliever would make a statement that gives the impression of religious devotion than for a believer to make a statement that gives the impression of not having religious devotion. In other words, since Thomas Jefferson used the terms "Providence" or "Creator", but also wrote of religions-"They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies", it is far more likely that his more specific and critical words accurately reflect Jefferson's beliefs. If a believer to give the impression of disbelief, it is a sin. A nonbeliever has no such compunction.

The Christian notion of nationhood
There is another very good reason to disbelieve Christian attempts to portray the United States as founded upon Christian principles: it is contrary to their own Bible. In 1 Peter 2:13-14, Peter (allegedly) writes "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." Thus, Peter—the founder of Christianity—disallows the very revolution that enabled the establishment of the United States.

Godless documents
If there is something that survives the Founding Fathers that gives insight into their thinking, then surely it is the documents they wrote, upon which the United States is based: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. All three of these documents were shaped by Thomas Paine, and further refined by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and others. These men's beliefs come through clearly in their words. The Declaration of Independence makes no mention of the Christian god, but of "Nature's God". Note the context: "….the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them…." This is clearly a reference to the god of Deism-nature. The other spiritual references in the Declaration of Independence are to "divine Providence" and a "Creator"; both terms used by Deists.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights make absolutely no mention of a God or of rights coming from a supernatural source. In fact, both documents explicitly state that all of the citizen's rights are the result of "natural law", and that the citizens themselves were the sole source of power and authority over the nation. Indeed, the only mentions of religion and the State in the Constitution are the following:

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

"The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

During the presidency of John Adams, the United States enacted a treaty with the Mediterranean nation of Libya, part of which reads:

"As the government of the United States 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 [Muslims]...it is declared...that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever product an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries...The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation."

If the Founding Fathers had wanted to make the United States a Christian nation, they had every opportunity to do so; yet they did just the opposite by expressly forbidding that from happening. This is an obvious fact, although it is conveniently overlooked by Christian historical revisionists.

Following are some of the words of the Founding Fathers.

Any bolded or underlined emphases are mine.

John Adams - second President
John Adams was a Deist who dismissed the notion of sin or damnation.

"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?"

"God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy* is got rid of, there never will be any liberal science in the world."

"…this would be the best of worlds if there were no religion in it." --letter to Thomas Jefferson

"The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses."

"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?"

"What havoc has been made of books through every century of the Christian era? Where are fifty gospels, condemned as spurious by the bull of Pope Gelasius? Where are the forty wagon-loads of Hebrew manuscripts burned in France, by order of another pope, because suspected of heresy? Remember the index expurgatorius, the inquisition, the stake, the axe, the halter and the guillotine; and, oh! horrible, the rack! This is as bad, if not worse, than a slow fire. Nor should the Lion's Mouth be forgotten. Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years?"

"Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it."

Benjamin Franklin - Co-author of the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution
Franklin was one of the most important participants in the Revolution who never went on to be President. He was, however, appointed the first Postmaster General as well as being the Ambassador to France. We was an inventor, scientist, writer, printer and freethinker. He also found time to establish the first public library in the United States. Franklin was not a Christian, but rather a deist, as he stated in his own words, below. Although he had more regard for the Christian god and for the teachings of Jesus than did many Deists, he nevertheless was highly critical of the Christian religion.

"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies."

"My parents had early given me religious impressions, and brought me through my childhood piously in the dissenting [puritan] way. But I was scarce 15 when, after doubting by turns of several points as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation it self. Some books against deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at [Robert] Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough deist."

"If we look back into history for the character of the present sects in Christianity, we shall find few that have not in their turns been persecutors, and complainers of persecution. The primitive Christians thought persecution extremely wrong in the pagans, but practiced it on one another. The first Protestants of the Church of England blamed persecution in the Romish Church, but practiced it upon the Puritans. These found it wrong in the bishops, but fell into the same practice themselves both here and in New England."

"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

Thomas Jefferson - third President, co-author of the Declaration of Independence
Jefferson was certainly not a Christian in any conventional sense. He did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, in salvation or the inspiration of the Bible. He considered Jesus to have been a mortal philosopher and nothing more. He went so far as to cut up a New Testament and re-edit it so that it no longer contained any of Jesus' alleged miracles or claims of divinity. (This-the "Jefferson Bible"--is still in print.) More than any other Founding Father, he vigorously asserted that religious beliefs had no business in government. For holding these opinions he was attacked by Christian leaders throughout his life.

Some Jefferson quotes:

"Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state', therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society."

"I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling in religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise, of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must then rest with the states, as far as it can be in any human authority. But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting & prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from.... I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct it's exercises, it's discipline, or it's doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, & the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it. I am aware that the practice of my predecessors may be quoted.... Be this as it may, every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, & mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U.S. and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents."

"…no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."

"Where the preamble [of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom] declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting the words "Jesus Christ," so that it should read, "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."

"... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should `make no law respecting establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state."

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

"The most sacred of the duties of a government [is] to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens."

"Our civil rights have no dependence upon our religious opinions more than our opinions in physics or geometry."

"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own."

"On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind."

"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies. The Christian God is a being of terrific character -- cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust."

"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth."

"The hocus-pocus fantasy of a God, like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs."

"Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences.... If it end in a belief that there is no god, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise and in the love of others it will procure for you."

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

"I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others."

"I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, a fact like this can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our freedom of religion? and are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule for what we are to read, and what we must believe?"

James Madison - fourth President, co-author of U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
Madison's beliefs are difficult to discern, since he refused to discuss them through most of his adult life. As a teen he had planned to enter the Christian ministry, but seems to have had a change or loss of faith and abandoned that ambition. Throughout his political life he was highly critical of the Christian religion and was committed to total and complete separation of church and state.

"Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any Manner contrary to their conscience".

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & Govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."

"The civil government ... functions with complete success ... by the total separation of the Church from the State."

"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 of all other sects?"

"A just government, instituted to perpetuate liberty, does not need the clergy."

"Democracy does not need the church, or the clergy."

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people."

"Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize, every expanded prospect."

Thomas Paine - the author of The Rights of Man and Common Sense; two books invaluable to the Revolutionary cause.
He is probably the original author of the Declaration of Independence, which was later modified by Thomas Jefferson (and to a lesser extent, Benjamin Franklin); scholars also suspect that he may have been the real author of the Bill of Rights. Paine's book "Common Sense" was perhaps the single most important factor in causing the Colonies to rise up in revolution against Great Britain. In 1776, more than a half-million copies were sold in America, which made it the best-selling book in the Colonies at that time.

Paine was the only Founding Father to demand an end to slavery; a call not heard until Abraham Lincoln later read Paine's writings.

Among the Founding Fathers, Paine was probably the most outspoken critic of organized religion and of Christianity in general. He referred to the Christian Bible as "a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalise mankind." Theodore Roosevelt called Paine a 'filthy little atheist', although that term is inaccurate, as Paine was a deist rather than an atheist. So hated was Paine by the Christian community in the United States that his name has largely been blotted from American history, despite being one of the most important figures in the Revolution and the establishment of the United States. In fact, it was Thomas Paine who thought up the name "the United States of America", and first used it in print.

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

"I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. … I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

"The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on nothing; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing and admits of no conclusion."

"Yet this is trash that the Church imposes upon the world as the Word of God; this is the collection of lies and contradictions called the Holy Bible!"

"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon that the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."

"Now, had the news of salvation by Jesus Christ been inscribed on the face of the sun and the moon, in characters that all nations would have understood, the whole earth had known it in twenty-four hours, and all nations would have believed it; whereas, though it is now almost two thousand years since, as they tell us, Christ came upon earth, not a twentieth part of the people of the earth know anything of it, and among those who do, the wiser part do not believe it."

"As to the book called the Bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions, and a history of bad times and bad men. There are but a few good characters in the whole book. The fable of Christ and his twelve apostles, which is a parody on the sun and the twelve signs of the zodiac, copied from the ancient religions of the eastern world, is the least hurtful part. Everything told of Christ has reference to the sun. His reported resurrection is at sunrise, and that on the first day of the week; that is, on the day anciently dedicated to the sun, and from thence called Sunday - in Latin Dies Solis, the day of the sun; as the next day, Monday, is Moon-day."

George Washington - commander of Revolutionary forces, first President.
The term "Father of our Country" is not an exaggeration when applied to George Washington. A natural and fearless leader of men, with shrewd judgment and organizational skills, he rallied the revolution as perhaps no one else could have. After the decisive defeat of the British, he was offered the chance to be crowned king of the newly free Colonies; this he refused to accept. So vital is Washington to the foundation of the United States that it is hardly surprising that Christians have expended tremendous effort to claim him as one of their own. This they have been unable to do, for Washington was not a Christian-he was a Deist.

A mistake that Christian "historians" often make is to claim that Washington was a Christian because he used expressions like "the Creator", "Providence" or "Divine". In fact, these are figures of speech and are common to Deists, rather than being professions of Christian faith. For example, in 1777, he wrote "We must endeavor to deserve better of Providence, and, I am persuaded, she will smile on us." "She" is hardly the sort of term that a Christian would use to refer to Yahweh.

Washington the "vestryman"
Much has also been made about the fact that Washington was a "vestryman" at his local church. Christians tout this, intending to inspire visions of Washington officiating in church services. That is an entirely inaccurate image. In those days, the vestry functioned as the county court, and the vestryman was in charge of levying property taxes. Since Washington was not only an expert surveyor but also the largest land-owner in the parish, it made sense that he would be a vestryman. It was not a role that required any acts of devotion, but it did allow Washington access to the inner workings of the dominant church in the Colonies. In those days it was also required to be a vestryman before one could serve in the House of Burgesses (much like today's Board of Supervisors). It was common for any man with political or social aspirations to become a vestryman in the main church of their area. For example, in the book Old Chruches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, Bishop William Meade wrote
"Even Mr. Jefferson, and George Wythe, who did not conceal their disbelief in Christianity, took their parts in the duties of vestrymen, the one at Williamsburg, the other at Albermarle; for they wished to be men of influence."

Interestingly, in 1780, the state of Virginia abolished the civil duties of the vestryman, after which Washington seldom attended church there.

Washington's writings
Washington kept meticulous diaries through most of his adult life and wrote many thousands of letters. Most of these documents have survived and have been examined and catalogued. In all of his correspondence and in his diaries, Washington never once mentions the name "Jesus" or "Christ"! In fact, the only handwritten record of Washington ever referring to Jesus Christ was when he was 13 years old--in copying a poem.

In 1789, a group of clergymen wrote to Washington, complaining that there was no mention of Jesus in the US Constitution. This was Washington's reply:
"I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta [the Constitution] of our country."

"In the Enlightened Age and in this Land of equal Liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States."

Martha
Washington's wife, Martha, was a devout Episcopalian, and Washington attended church services with her as a sign of his respect for her. However, he was conspicuously silent about any beliefs, never made any profession of faith and refused to participate in any religious rituals. Washington would not kneel when prayer was given. He never took part in the Sacraments or Communion, preferring to get up and leave the church building when they began.

Nelly Custis-Lewis
Another common source of "biographical information" about Washington's alleged religious beliefs comes from the writings of one Nelly Custis-Lewis, George Washington's step-granddaughter. Typical of her claims is that, when Washington died, his wife, Martha "resigned him without a murmur into the arms of his Savior and his God, with the assured hope of his eternal felicity." That all sounds very nice, but it is untrue. Martha was in the room with George when he died, but so were at least five other people: Washington's friend and secretary Tobias Lear, his overseer George Rawlins, his personal physician Dr. James Craik, and two other physicians--Dr. Elisha Dick and Dr. Gustavus Brown. Each of these men individually chronicled Washington's final hours, and all accounts agree: Washington spoke of his last will and testament, of burial plans and other secular matters. He never made any religious remarks, nor did anyone else in the room, including Mrs. Washington, who sat at the foot of the bed. It was Lear who was next to Washington when he died, to whom he addressed his last words and who arranged his body.

Nelly Custis-Lewis admitted that "I never witnessed his private devotions. I never inquired about them", and "he was not one of those who act or pray, 'that they may be seen of men' [ref. Matthew 6:5]. He communed with his God in secret [ref. Matthew 6:6]." The lack of any evidence did not prevent Nelly Custis-Lewis from claiming "His life, his writings, prove that he was a Christian." Considering that Washington's thousands of pages of handwritten text in both his diaries and his correspondence never once used the words "Jesus" or "Christ", that is a curious claim indeed.

The Rev. Dr. Beverly Tucker of the Episcopal church later attempted to show that Washington was indeed a communicant, but after thoroughly researching the claims of Nelly Custis-Lewis, he was forced to dismiss them as untrue.

The Bishop and the Reverend Doctor
Washington's church attendance is limited to that of the Episcopalian church. The two men who are best qualified to speak about his attendance and behavior were Bishop White and Reverend Dr. James Abercrombie of that church. Bishop White was the leader of the Episcopal Church in the United States from 1787 to 1836. Before that, as Reverend William White, he had been the rector of the church in Philadelphia where President and Mrs. Washington attended services for more than 20 years. By all evidence, Bishop White knew Washington better than did any other clergyman.

In a letter dated August 13, 1835, a Colonel Mercer sent Bishop White this inquiry:
"I have a desire, my dear Sir, to know whether Gen. Washington was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, or whether he occasionally went to the communion only, or if ever he did so at all. ... No authority can be so authentic and complete as yours on this point."

Two days later, Bishop White replied:
"Dear Sir: In regard to the subject of your inquiry, truth requires me to say that Gen. Washington never received the communion in the churches of which I am the parochial minister. Mrs. Washington was an habitual communicant... I have been written to by many on that point, and have been obliged to answer them as I now do you.

In the book The Memoir of Bishop White, by his executor and biographer The Rev. Dr. Bird Wilson, it is stated even more succinctly:
"Though the General [Washington] attended the churches in which Dr. White officiated, whenever he was in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary war, and afterwards while President of the United States, he never was a communicant in them"

The Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie, the rector of the other church in Philadelphia that Washington sometimes attended with his wife, wrote in a letter to a friend:
"With respect to the inquiry you make, I can only state the following facts: that as pastor of the Episcopal Church, observing that, on sacramental Sundays George Washington, immediately after the desk and pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the congregation -- always leaving Mrs. Washington with the other communicants -- she invariably being one -- I considered it my duty, in a sermon on public worship, to state the unhappy tendency of example, particularly of those in elevated stations, who uniformly-turned their backs on the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the President; and as such he received it. A few days after, in conversation, I believe, with a Senator of the United States, he told me he had dined the day before with the President, who, in the course of conversation at the table, said that, on the previous Sunday, he had received a very just rebuke from the pulpit for always leaving the church before the administration of the sacrament; that he honored the preacher for his integrity and candor; that he had never sufficiently considered the influence of his example, and that he would not again give cause for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious display of religious zeal, arising altogether from his elevated station. Accordingly, he never afterwards came an the morning of sacrament Sunday, though at other times he was a constant attendant in the morning."

In answering a letter to his friend the Bishop Wilson, Abercrombie wrote
"Sir, Washington was a Deist."

Weems, and the "Lie of Washington"
Some of the claims of Washington being a Christian originated with the door-to-door salesman Mason Locke Weems, who wrote extensively about Washington and other Founding Fathers. Although Weems was a contemporary of Washington, he apparently never knew him, but that didn't stop him from attributing all manner of Christian acts to him. It was Weems who made up the long discredited legends of Washington chopping down the cherry tree and throwing the silver dollar across the Potomac. Weems made many claims of Christian piety for Washington, all of which are at odds with the many more scholarly biographies of Washington. These fables were gathered into a book titled The Life of Washington: the Great Enriched with a number of Very Curious Anecdotes, Perfectly in Character, and Equally Honorable to Himself, and Exemplary to his Young Countrymen, a title that betrays the aim of the book—moralizing parables rather than accurate biography. Nevertheless, the book became very popular and did more to mislead the public about Washington than any other book.

Other biographers
Paul F. Boller's book Washington and Religion exhaustively researched Washington's beliefs and dealings on religious matters, and had this to say: Arthur B. Bradford, an associate of Ashbel Green (both of whom were Presbyterian ministers) had known George Washington personally. Bradford wrote that Green,
"often said in my hearing, though very sorrowfully, of course, that while Washington was very deferential to religion and its ceremonies, like nearly all the founders of the Republic, he was not a Christian, but a Deist."

Another of Washington's Christian biographers--the Rev. Jared Sparks (at one time the president of Harvard University)--wrote
"The circumstance of his [Washington] withdrawing himself from the communion service at a certain period of his life has been remarked as singular. This may be admitted and regretted, both on account of his example and the value of his opinions as to the importance and practical tendency of this rite."

Here we have one of the most extensively researched and reported upon people of the 18th century, for whom there is no evidence to support any claims that they ever prayed, took sacraments or communion in church and who never made any mention of Jesus or made a profession of faith. Despite this, Christian "historians" assert he was a devout Christian!

And so, of the main figures responsible for the foundation of the United States, none were devout, practicing Christians. Most were deists or Unitarians, some were agnostics; most of the rest were pointedly silent about religious beliefs.

It remains a troubling fact to many Christian Americans, that the Founding Fathers carefully created a nation without a national religion, and without religious leaders in governmental positions. That they specifically established a division between religions and the government, so that no belief system could infringe upon the equal rights of all citizens, whether Christians, Jews, Satanists or atheists. That so many Founding Fathers were critical of religions or merely considered religions to be, in the words of Thomas Jefferson--"fables and mythologies".