Forefathers' Christian roots debatable

July 30, 2006

VALLEY VOICES/Bill Siedler

A month ago, I wrote regarding the assertions made in a much forwarded e-mail from a presumably conservative Christian group. Among other things, the e-mail claimed - through the use of selected quotes - that our public school texts do not give proper credit to the religious beliefs of America's founders, therefore undermining students' appreciation that theirs is, and always was, a &#8220Christian Nation.” Some founders were summoned to the cause by name: Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and a favorite of Christian conservatives, Patrick Henry.

Henry was an important figure in the American Revolution, but can he be called a &#8220founder” any more than Tom Paine or Ethan Allen, both of whom were almost certainly deists who had nothing but contempt for the clergy of their time? Taken together, two were firebrands and propagandists, the other a foot soldier of the revolution. None of these men possessed the temperament or the inclination to deal with the consensus, compromise and politics necessary to &#8220found” a new nation.

What of Jefferson, Adams and Madison?

Thomas Jefferson, of course, was a &#8220founder” of the first tier, instrumental in the creation of America's most spiritual document, the Declaration of Independence, and perhaps our nation's most misunderstood concept, the separation between church and state. Jefferson was, as the forwarded e-mail declares, &#8220… a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus.” Jefferson's life, actions and writings, however, reveal that he was no committed Christian, at least in the sense that many people understand what it means to be &#8220Christian” today.

A student of the Enlightenment, Jefferson studied the ancient moralists, including the pagans Cicero, Epectetus and Seneca. He also studied the teachings of Jesus.

According to historian Garry Wills, Jefferson came to view Jesus as the first among moral philosophers. But there is no evidence that Jefferson believed in Jesus' divine nature. In fact, he found so much of the New Testament to be absurd, that he literally cut and pasted parts from an old family Bible, creating what is known as &#8220The Jefferson Bible.”

In it, we find no account of either the beginning or end of the Gospel stories, which Jefferson claimed were written by &#8220groveling authors with feeble minds.” Jefferson's Bible contains no annunciation, no virgin birth, no angels - and no resurrection. Jefferson's Jesus was a great teacher whose message was the morality of absolute love and service.

As for Jefferson's signature work, the Declaration of Independence references a &#8220Creator” and &#8220Nature and Nature's God” but not &#8220Christianity,” &#8220Christ” or &#8220Jesus.” Castigated as an atheist by the clergy of his day and dragooned into service as a &#8220Christian Soldier” by today's religious conservatives, the best bet is that Jefferson was neither.

The much forwarded e-mail has founder and second president John Adams quoted thusly: &#8220The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of government with the principles of Christianity.” This quote, if true, gives us no insight to Adams' privately held personal beliefs though, does it?

In truth, the quote belies the fact that Adams was a deist to his core. His private writings and letters from his many years of correspondence with Thomas Jefferson decry the excesses of Christianity, particularly Catholicism.

The document associated with Adams that is used most by secularists to counter the kind of references found in the e-mail is the U.S. treaty with Tripoli in 1797. Unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate and signed by then-president Adams, it reads, &#8220The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

It is an irony that my e-mail source would quote James Madison to the effect that our government depends on individual Americans living their lives according to the &#8220principles of the Ten Commandments.”

Madison may indeed have encouraged citizens to adhere to the tenets of the Ten Commandments. But without doubt, the &#8220Father of the (Godless) Constitution,” and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, is secure in his bona fides as a champion of church-state separation, more so than even Jefferson.

Garry Wills writes that Madison was more effective, consistent and absolute in the cause of disestablishment of religion - not in hostility to religion - to keep it free from the state for the good of religion. Irving Brant writes, &#8220Madison never became a church member, but in maturity expressed a preference for Unitarianism.”

This helps explain a quote from an 1803 letter Madison wrote, objecting to the use of government land for churches. It's a quote to which I think Jefferson and Adams also would have subscribed: &#8220The 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.”

Longtime Valley resident Bill Siedler teaches history at Palmer High School. His Valley Voices guest opinion column appears every four weeks.