Joseph Ellis: The U.S. Founding Fathers: Their Religious Beliefs
Joseph Ellis, professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, discusses the religious beliefs of the founding fathers in the official Encyclopedia Britannica blog.In recent decades Christian advocacy groups, prompted by motives that have been questioned by some, have felt a powerful urge to enlist the Founding Fathers in their respective congregations. But recovering the spiritual convictions of the Founders, in all their messy integrity, is not an easy task. Once again, diversity is the dominant pattern. Franklin and Jefferson were deists, Washington harbored a pantheistic sense of providential destiny, John Adams began a Congregationalist and ended a Unitarian, Hamilton was a lukewarm Anglican for most of his life but embraced a more actively Christian posture after his son died in a duel.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 9:35 AM
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