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George Washington, American president and revolutionary (1732-1799).
Not an atheist, but a deist (and a freemason). For more about the views
of the founding fathers regarding religion, see these web sites:
The Founding
Fathers Were Not Christians
America - Not a Christian Nation
John Adams, American president, diplomat, and political
philosopher (1735-1826).
A very anti-dogmatic Unitarian.
"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
Thomas Paine, English born American author and revolutionary
leader (1737-1809).
Labeled an atheist, but actually a deist, raised by Quakers, who was extremely
critical of organized religion. According to Carl Sagan in The Demon Haunted World, "later
generations reviled him for his social and religious views. Theodore Roosevelt
called him a 'filthy little atheist.' . . . He is probably the most illustrious
American Revolutionary uncommemorated by a monument in Washington, D.C."
Paine wrote in The Age of Reason, "Whenever we read the obscene
stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions,
the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible [by
which Pain means the Old Testament] is filled, it would be more consistent
that we called it the word of a demon than 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." The Age of Reason also attacks Christianity as a system
of superstition that "produces fanatics" and "serves the purposes of despotism."
When the book reached England, several sellers were convicted of blasphemy
and jailed.
"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always
the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law."
"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."
Thomas Jefferson, American president, author, scientist,
architect, educator, and diplomat (1743-1826).
Deist, avid separationist.
"Question boldly even the existence of God."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies."
"To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that
the human soul, angels, God, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings,
or that there is no God, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise:
but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy,
and Stewart. At what age of the Christian church this heresy of immaterialism,
this masked atheism, crept in, I do not know. But a heresy it certainly
is. Jesus told us indeed that 'God is a spirit,' but he has not defined
what a spirit is, nor said that it is not matter. And the ancient fathers
generally, if not universally, held it to be matter: light and thin indeed,
an etherial gas; but still matter." [letter to John Adams, August 15,
1820]
"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction
of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet
we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect
of coercion? To make one half of the world fools and the other half hypocrites."
[Notes on Virginia]
“History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining
a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of
which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves
for their own purpose.” [1813]
“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.” [Letter to
John Adams, April 11, 1823]
James Madison, American president and political theorist
(1751-1836).
"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."
"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties
of the people."
“Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for
every noble enterprise.” [April 1, 1774]
Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, scientist,
writer, printer (1706-1790).
"Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so;
It is not so. It is so; it is not so."
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
Although not a Founding Father, Lincoln was one of our most popular
presidents (unless you are from the South)
Abraham Lincoln, American president (1809-1865).
In 2000 Years of Disbelief by James A. Haught, Lincoln is mentioned
on pages 125 through 127. From the material presented it would seem that
Lincoln as a young man was an avid anti-christian and most likely an atheist.
In his later years, he came to believe in God, but still was anti-religious
in the sense that he rejected organized religion. Some selections from
Haught:
John T. Stuart, Lincoln's first law partner: "He was an avowed and open
infidel, and sometimes bordered on Atheism...He went further against Christian
beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I ever heard."
Joseph Lewis quoting Lincoln in a 1924 speech in New York: "The Bible
is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent
to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
Lincoln in a letter to Judge J.S. Wakefield, after the death of Willie
Lincoln: "My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme
of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer
and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I
shall ever change them."
As a young man Lincoln apparently wrote a manuscript that he planned to
publish, which vehemently argued against the divine origin of the Bible
and the Christian scheme of salvation. Samuel Hill, a friend and mentor,
convinced him to drop it, considering the disastrous consequences it would
have on his political career.
William H Herndon, a former law partner, wrote a biography on Lincoln
titled: "The true story of a great life". In it Herndon discusses Lincoln's
religious views extensively.
Gordon Leidner
has collected some quotations from Lincoln's later years in which
he invokes God, and he makes the argument that Lincoln became a sincere
believer. It seems to me he did come to believe in God, but he never accepted
organized Christianity. Perhaps this change was partly because he felt
a need to align his beliefs with the majority in the country he was leading.
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