{"id":25281,"date":"2012-01-11T11:36:15","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T18:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-skeptical-founders.html"},"modified":"2012-01-12T18:02:35","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T01:02:35","slug":"the-skeptical-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-skeptical-founders.html","title":{"rendered":"The Skeptical Founders"},"content":{"rendered":"

A broad survey about the beliefs of some of the original Founders of the US and how they'd have a difficult time getting elected today.<\/p>\n

To add a bit of nuance, it's not always clear what some individuals believed. Washington, in particular, was notably close-lipped about his faith. In some cases, that was specifically for political cover: Jefferson was frequently attacked as an atheist, for example (and thus his attempts to keep his abridged New Testament out of the public eye). <\/p>\n

It's also worth noting that religious opinions held by the Founders changed over the years — from young adulthood to their old age. Some became more outwardly religious. Others became (we know through their writings) more skeptical.<\/p>\n

And, of course, there were some Founders who wore their religion on their sleeves and were boosters for Christianity and, often, their particular denomination within it.<\/p>\n

The bottom line of the article, though, is correct: in an era where presidential candidates (and presidents as well) are expected to be cheerleaders for their religious beliefs (especially Christians), these gents would have a hard time being elected. #ddtb<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 Founding Fathers Whose Skepticism About Christianity Would Make Them Unelectable Today | | AlterNet<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThomas Jefferson believed that a coolly rational form of religion would take root in America. Was he ever wrong.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A broad survey about the beliefs of some of the original Founders of the US and how they'd have a difficult time getting elected today. To add a bit of nuance, it's not always clear what some individuals believed. Washington, in particular, was notably close-lipped about his faith. In some cases, that was specifically for … Continue reading “The Skeptical Founders”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,109,108],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-25281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-church-state","category-history","tag-ddtb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13275,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/02\/01\/book_review_founding_fait.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":0},"title":"Book Review: Founding Faith by Steven Waldman","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 1-Feb-09 12:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman (2008) Overall Writing Info Re-Readability Audio Waldman studies the issues around...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45084,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/10\/bryan-fischer-is-a-dolt-no-atheists-allowed-in-my-foxholes-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":1},"title":"Bryan Fischer is a Dolt (No Atheists Allowed in My Foxholes Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Sep-14 6:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Brian, you old reprobate, what are you up to these days? Ah, of course, asserting your claim that \"No atheist should be permitted to serve in the U.S. military.\" What fun. The United States Air Force has refused to allow a sergeant to re-enlist because he will not say \"so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Patrick-Tillman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":127493,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/10\/david-barton-is-a-dolt-declaration-of-christianity-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":2},"title":"David Barton is a Dolt (Declaration of Christianity Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Aug-15 3:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Did you know that the purpose of the resolution of the united colonies of July 1776 was to unanimously declare that God exists, and all rights come from Him?Yeah, neither did I. I kind of thought the point was, oh, Independence or something catchy like that.Not that the Declaration of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28630,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/17\/because-its-okay-to-lie-for-jesus-right.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":3},"title":"Because it's okay to lie for Jesus, right?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Jul-12 9:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"They're not actually rewriting the Biblical text ... yet ... but they are pretty blatantly asserting stuff in the Biblical commentary that isn't there.But that's okay, because it's in a holy\u00a0cause ... Embedded Link Founders\u2019 Bible Rewrites Exodus 18 to Fit Christian Nation Narrative Yesterday, I wrote about the disturbing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20539,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/23\/bryan-fischer-is-a-dolt-constitution-for-me-but-not-for-thee-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":4},"title":"Bryan Fischer is a Dolt (Constitution for Me but Not for Thee Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Mar-11 10:22pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dagnabbit, Bryan -- it would have been nice to have been able to retire the whole BFiaD category, but in your unhinged hatred for the things you hate (for which I at least applaud your unwavering dedication), you keep providing targets that simply cannot be ignored. To wit, your latest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dolts"","block_context":{"text":"Dolts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/dolts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/bryanfischer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132426,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/23\/religious-freedom-for-atheists-too.html","url_meta":{"origin":25281,"position":5},"title":"Religious Freedom for Atheists, Too","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 23-Dec-16 11:10am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm glad to see this 1998 US religious freedom law noted to include atheists and agnostics as well. '\"The freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is understood to protect theistic and non-theistic beliefs and the right not to profess or practice any religion.\"'Some folk like to play semantics and suggest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}