The recent Tribune article about American Founders Month contains a worrisome discussion about the “Why I Love America” group that is advocating the notion of declaring our government should become a Christian nation.
They opine that our country’s founders actually intended this structure. While the “Why I Love America” has the right to think and believe whatever they want to, the notion that we live in some kind of theocracy is demonstrably false.
I have been a long time member of the non-profit organization Humanists of Utah. We believe that rational thinking and responsibility leads to a joyful life. Over the years we have sponsored public lectures on issues important to us and, we believe, the general public. In December 2006, we had the privilege to hear James L. Clayton — who was then the Distinguished Research Chair of the University of Utah History Department — speak on the subject, “How Religious Were America’s Founders?”
He discussed what he called the “Big Six Major Founders” to delineate the beliefs of America’s seminal thinkers. Here are some quick hits from his lecture:
On George Washington
“…given a choice of whether to conform to an established church or stand for individual freedom, Washington would clearly have chosen the latter. He simply had no interest in theology. In short, Washington was a good man, but not a particularly religious man.”
On Thomas Jefferson
“…scholars agree that Jefferson was not a believer in Christianity in any ordinary sense. Like most of the founders, Jefferson believed in an overriding providence that guided the affairs of the United States. But he valued intellectual and religious freedom far more than Christian dogmatism and strongly believed that the government had no authority to mandate religious conformity.”
On Benjamin Franklin
“…above all other Americans then, [Franklin] exemplified the importance of science. His scientific world view embodied a rational perspective free from superstition. The “pursuit of happiness” outlined in Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence was his goal in life, not submission and obedience to a particular creed.”
On James Madison
“…of all of the Founders, Madison wanted the wall of separation to be the highest and the most formidable barrier between church and state. His biggest disappointment in the ratification process of the First Amendment was that the First Amendment did not also apply to the states.”
On John Adams and Alexander Hamilton
Both Adams and Hamilton were more closely associated with Christianity than the aforementioned founders, but both abhorred the idea that the new government include formal religious strictures.
A major takeaway from Professor Clayton’s remarks is that our nation’s founders were not an homogenous group on the subject of religion. While they included freedom of religion in the First Amendment, I believe that they intended freedom from religion to be included.
Wayne Wilson
Wayne Wilson, is a lifelong freethinking resident of Utah who retired from Intermountain Health in 2017.
