I found this book when it was referenced in another book. It was good. It seems to be written very matter of factly. It doesn’t draw big conclusions or point to an agenda. It just gives stories and facts. This work is profoundly helpful and I have used content here in dozens of conversations already. It’s worth the read. I wish there was an update as the epilogue walks through the faiths of modern presidents but ends with W.

read for class

An overview of the religious environment in Colonial America, and the views of many of the key figures. Shatters many of the myths we've been taught: while Christianity (in its various forms) was the predominate religion, many of the Founding Fathers were Deist, and were adamant about separation of Church and State.

Fairly academic is in approach, it's pretty readable and makes a very strong case for the author's views. Some excellent ideas on why men of the era were Deist while their wives were generally orthodox Christians, though that subject is only touched on lightly (the author states it was beyond the scope of that book). Essentially, the Deist views were taught in college, where women were not allowed. Also, the church was a social opportunity for the women who had to stay at home (unlike the working men), and provided a greater comfort for suffering (very high infant mortality rate; while the men grieved, they could go back to work and socializing; women stayed at home and continued grieving).

An excellent conclusion is while a few of the Founding Fathers were what today would be called Christian, most (such as Jefferson, Adams, Monroe -- and even Washington!) would most likely be shunned by the religious right today.

This took me a while to get through, but it was worth it!
Going through each individual father (Washington, Jefferson, Adams, etc) Holmes traces the evidence for each founding father's individual belief.
The main thesis Holmes is driving at is that the vas majority of the founding fathers were not necessarily orthodox Christians as many modern-day Americans tend to believe, but rather a form of religious thought known as deism. As such, the vast majority of the fathers, while believing in a deity that created the world and defined the boundaries of natural law, did not believe in the reliability of the Bible or in the full deity of Jesus. Thomas Jefferson, in particular, cut out the portions of the New Testament that allowed for the supernatural.
The terms "Nature's God" and "the Creator" were very basic deistic names for their own idea of God, and it was this belief that most helped to mold the ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
However, the fathers were not completely left without an orthodox Christian witness. Samuel Adams, known to history as the "Father of the Revolution", was an incredibly pious Christian who upheld the authority of Scripture, the deity and atoning death of Jesus Christ, and the reality of the Godhead.

A balanced view of the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers.

Because I'm interested in both religion and history, I'm always struck by comments in contemporary America about the religious views and values of the Founding Fathers. The conversation often indicates that many Americans today believe that the Founding Fathers share their views of Jesus, the Bible, and religious doctrines and that after a change of clothes, any of the Founding Fathers would be comfortable sliding into a pew beside them, sharing a hymn book, and discussing the morning's message. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this gem of a book, David L. Holmes, the Walter G. Mason Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary, examines the religious views and beliefs of the some of the leading Americans during and after the Revolutionary War, the writing of the Constitution, and the early National Period of our history and places their religious beliefs into the religious environment of their era.
In order to understand the religious traditions of individuals like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, Holmes investigates the religious culture of the late colonial period and details the most influential religious groups in each colony. He also discusses the forms of Deism that existed in the American colonies and early American Republic and highlights the impact that Deism had on the educated men and women of the Revolutionary Period.
Using both their words and drawing conclusions from their actions, Holmes concludes that Martha Washington, Samuel Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, and the daughters of Thomas Jefferson believed in the orthodox Christian views of the period. But not so for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams, James and Dolley Madison, and James Monroe. As a group, these latter individuals were respectful of Christianity and believed that religion played a beneficial role in society. However, also as a group, they admired the teachings of Jesus as an ethical code, but downplayed or denied his divinity. Several, especially John and Abigail Adams held Unitarian beliefs, and a few were agnostic. While each of the individuals in this latter group attended mainstream Christian churches, their beliefs, obviously, were radically different from the beliefs of contemporary evangelicals.
In summing up his conclusions, David Holmes noted that "whatever their private beliefs, most maintained formal affiliations with Christian denominations. In the spirit of the times, some questioned doctrines that they believed could not be reconciled with human reason. As a result, they rejected such Christian teachings as the Trinity, the virgin birth, the resurrection, and the divinity of Jesus. Yet orthodox Christians participated at every stage of building the nation and many of their founders' wives and daughters displayed an orthodox Christian commitment. Despite this diversity of belief, the founding generation held certain convictions in common. Most believed in a guiding Providence and in a life after death....They respected the ethical teachings of Jesus. Many believed that simple virtue and morality were of greater importance than adherence to a particular set of religious doctrines. Above all, they valued freedom of conscience and despised religious tyranny. ...In the circle of the founding fathers, both men and women embraced these religious ideals." Definitely a thought provoking book about a controversial dialogue in American society.

Interesting look at some of our founding fathers' religious practices -- not quite what many of today's Christian conservatives wish to believe. I found their continuing study of religion and their willingness to change their beliefs as they evolved very heartening. We have their insistence on tolerance to thank for our own freedoms.

Not the best read in the world, but I learned a lot. Great argument fodder for those who loathe the religious right.

Very good summary of the founders thoughts and beliefs about religion. He does a good job of breaking their beliefs down into three categories - Deist, Deist Christian, and Christian - and then pointing out that these are not discrete categories but rather points along a spectrum of beliefs. I especially liked the section where Holmes went over how they can distinguish between a founder who has deistic beliefs and one who has more traditional Christian beliefs. Also informative was his section comparing how our founders treated religion in their campaigns and office with that of modern presidents, starting with Reagan.

The Faiths of the Founding Fathers is a concise book that covers the role of religion in the American colonies at the time of independence and the personal beliefs of founding fathers such as Washington, Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson.

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It may be surprising to hear that church and the state were closely intertwined in the American colonies. In 1770, nine of the thirteen colonies had official state churches that were supported with tax revenue [10]. In New England, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire were officially Congregationalist; across southern New York, Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, the Episcopalian (Anglican) church was implemented much as it was back in England. [34]

If Episcopalianism can be understood as a familiar form of Anglicanism, Congregationalism is a bit more obscure. Born from a Calvinist sect within the Anglican church (the Puritans), Congregationalism emphasized:
- Personal responsibility
- Education (Harvard and Yale were Congregationalist institutions)
- Acts of service
- Democracy and equality versus hierarchy (each church was self-governing, with self-elected leadership)
- Sober discussion of morality versus ritual in services [10-15]

New England has always had a unique culture within the United States: a strong emphasis on education, a sober elevation of results and substance over form, and participation rather than hierarchy and deference as a norm in organizations. To what extent the legacy of Puritanism still holds would be an interesting thread to pull.

But I digress. After sketching the lay of land -- the Puritan north and Episcopalian south -- Holmes reviews a set of our Founding Fathers (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Franklin) and their religious beliefs against this backdrop.

There are certainly differences between them, but if I had to summarize the broad commonalities:
- The founding fathers believed in a God;
- They believed that this God created the world but did not interfere in worldly affairs;
- They believed primarily in the power of human reason to guide behavior;
- They believed that many of the lessons in the Bible and taught in sermons were good ones that aligned with reason, but not all did;
- In line with the above, they generally didn't attend regular services but thought it was net good for the population to do so.*

*E.g. Jefferson saw all churches as a way of guiding people to good morality even if imperfectly so. He donated personally to building funds for Episcopal, Baptist, and Presbyterian congregations [84]. In his head they were all flawed in their teachings in different ways, but also still on net a positive influence.

Most of the founding fathers were essentially Deists. Deists are monotheists that belief in a Supreme Being who set the universe in motion but who does not intervene in it. Deists "continued to respect the moral teachings of Jesus without believing in his divine status" [44] and that most rules for good behavior could be derived from reason [45-46; 126]. Holmes emphasizes at various points throughout that this Deist view of Christianity was common amongst the educated classes of Americans. And it makes intuitive sense as a way to think about Christianity for anyone steeped in Enlightenment thinking: discard the pomp and circumstance, discard the miracles and revelation and mystery, discard the hierarchy, but keep the melty chocolate center of neighborly love.

The book ends with a discussion of modern US presidents. It was written in 2006 during the Bush II administration, the last time we had any national conversation about religion. Holmes concludes correctly that the Founding Fathers had reverence for many Christian ideas, were moral men, but that we oughtn't for the most part consider them orthodox Christians in any sect. When we think about the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution: the US was probably not meant to be an explicitly Christian nation, but it DEFINITELY was not meant to be a postmodern nation, devoid of any common sense of who we are and common understanding of right and wrong.

This book offers a clear, concise evidence-based corrective to claims that the "founding fathers" were Christian, let alone evangelical Christians. Most were Deists of one level of commitment or another, who, among other convictions, did not accept the divinity of Christ, the Trinity or the workings of God in human affairs, and had neither belief nor interest in a personal relationship with Christ. Heresy to some today, but Holmes draws upon extensive evidence--from letters to church habits to their own testimonials--to show the fact. And all the while, he remains careful and reflective, sensitive to the feelings he is treading on. The chapters on Washington, Jefferson, Monroe (especially) and distinguishing a Deist from a Christian are particularly interesting. As brief as it is as a scholarly summary for lay readers, though, its mini-biographies feature too many unnecessary details and lack story-telling power.

Faith of the Founding Fathers class fall of sophomore