The founders were indeed Christians

There is a new attack gaining ground on the left. That is the notion that america was not founded on Christian principles and that the foundeds themselves were Godless heathens. To wit the following letter and response to the Ft. Wayne Daily Punctilio (aka Journal Gazette):

U.S. not founded on Christianity

I would like to disabuse Sen. John McCain of the notion that the Constitution establishes the United States as a Christian nation. The legacy of the Founding Fathers, deists all, not Christians, is clear.

John Adams noted, “It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service (forming American government) had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven.” The Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the Senate and signed into law by President John Adams in 1797, says the “government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”

I would invite McCain to point to the relevant clause in the Constitution establishing the U.S. as a Christian nation. McCain claims America was founded on “the values of Judeo-Christian values, which were translated by our Founding Fathers which is basically the rights of human dignity and human rights.” However, Thomas Jefferson observed that “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned.” Benjamin Franklin revealed that he believes Christians have always been persecutors.

If a person is unaware of what the Constitution says, he or she has no business running for office.

STEVEN B. TODD Fort Wayne

The Nation's founders were indeed Christians

Steven E. Todd claims that, because he was able to muster three or four quotes from the founders supporting his claim, the US was not founded on Judeo-Christian principles. This approach ignores the mountain of evidence to the contrary and gives undo weight to the few references Todd was able to dig up.

How does Todd square President Adams’s remark in a letter to Jefferson that the nation was founded on "the general principles of Christianity” with Adams’s Tripoli Treaty? How does he explain the almost universal presence of the Bible and prayer in schools, chaplains in Congress, missionaries paid for by tax dollars, Church Services held in the US Capitol for nearly 70 years? How does he explain Washington’s first inaugural address and his adding "So help me God" to the oath of office? Explain Washington's first Thanksgiving message? The list of letters, documents and deeds supporting the founders’ Christian beliefs is nearly endless.

Todd’s use of the Tripoli Treaty is odd on two counts. First, the Tripoli Treaty is perhaps the first example in our nation’s history that appeasement does not work. The treaty was forged with an earlier form of Muslim extremists, the Barbary pirates, in a misguided effort to stop Barbary piracy and enslavement of Christian sea crews. Second, the treaty was more a statement that America was not constituted as a Christian theocracy – unlike other Christian nations of the time Spain, England and Germany as well as the Muslim entities with which the treaty was formed – than a repudiation of or clarification to our First Amendment. In a lesson we continue to learn today, appeasing evil extremists is never a good idea. The treaty failed utterly. Barbary piracy continued until Jefferson sent the US Navy and Marines “to the shores of Tripoli” to route the pirates in 1803.

Throwing in Jefferson’s and Franklin’s quotes about atrocities that happened to have been committed in Christianity’s name in no way changes the principles upon which this country was founded any more than noting that Howard Hughes was a bit of an eccentric changes the fact that he was a brilliant businessman and aviator. The religious persecution noted here has as much to do with why America was founded in the first place as it does with any one of a long line of Inquisitions. At any rate, this argument is a red herring nothing more.

Todd’s ability to ignore the overwhelming preponderance evidence supporting our Christian heritage in favor of a miniscule few out of context quotes is truly breathtaking. Using the same logic, I suppose Todd would make the argument that because it has a row of resturants and a souvenir shop near the exit Disneyland is not an amusement park. Like the argument against “Christian founders,” you’d have to be willing to ignore all of the evidence.