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I have an understanding that Washington prayed an hour before bedtime and an hour when he woke up.

It was our first and--in my mind--greatest president that issued and signed the proclamation of the "Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer," true to the earlier Reformed Protestant colonists. He included in that statement that we should, "...[acknowledge] with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." Washington was a man who did not take prayer or the Providence of God lightly, despite what some college PoliSci and History professors would like to believe--and then suggest to highly hormonal teenagers who don't know any better.

You'll enjoy this: Not too long--a few years--after Washington's prayer proclamation did John Adams make a far more urgent and religiously-themed statement, with references to humiliation, fasting and prayer. But they were predominantly secular Deists, you understand. ;)

I also think that the Founding Fathers knew that man is a sinner and to much power in the hands of the few was bad for the people. So, they created a division in powers and a checks and balance system.

Coming from a Protestant and thoroughly Calvinistic (or Reformed) background, it makes perfect sense. Contrast this with Communism, which is inherently atheistic.

I also believe that our forefathers wanted us to have inalienable rights (or God given rights) so that no man or Government could take away our God given rights. I believe that the commies in our Country today wish to remove that idea for their purpose. What is their purpose? Well, I am an American and I pray to my God and we solve my problems together. Remove God and I end up praying to the Government to take care of me from the cradle to the grave.

Even a cynic could understand the appeal of God-given rights. It takes a cynic and a strategist to devise a way to get around the concept, and here the real divide becomes clear: Absolute, God-given rights vs. atheistic, mutable, man-made systems.

Thanks for another great post. I guess I think it is great because I see it your way. Our Founding Fathers were not deist or atheist. And you would think that if you were atheist that you would still want God given rights and not man given rights.

I also have another thing to add: As I mentioned, I believe it to be true that Washington prayed an hour before and after bed time. IF a man is a deist (one who believes God created the universe but does not control or effect it), then why would a person pray? What would they pray for? I call myself a Christian and I don’t spend that much time praying. Well, why would a deist pray to a God who does not control the universe two hours every day? There is no way our Founding Fathers were deist or atheist.

And it just hit me, why would atheist or deist ensure that there was inalienable (God given) rights? Deist don't believe God does not control the universe and atheist don't believe in a God at all.