http://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Morals-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/1557091846/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243193751&sr=1-1
That all being said, most of the founding fathers did attend churches of one Christian denomination or another at some points in their lives. Others, like Jefferson, also revered the moral teachings of Jesus, but most would not have been considered orthodox Christians. Jefferson, in fact, considered what has been done to the teachings of Jesus by orthodox Christianity to be rather vile as illustrated through some of the following quotes:
"It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
"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. " — Thomas Jefferson to Baron von Humboldt, 1813
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites" –Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782.
"Rogueries, absurdities and untruths were perpetrated upon the teachings of Jesus by a large band of dupes and importers led by Paul, the first great corrupter of the teaching of Jesus."
"The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves...these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ."
"And 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. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors." –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823
"Religions are all alike – founded upon fables and mythologies."
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
> “Religions are all alike – founded upon fables and
> mythologies.”
I agree with this, because true Christianity is based on a Relationship, not on Religion or priests or rites or hierarchies.
It is not difficult to reconcile Jefferson saying in his own handwriting, “I am a Christian,” with his disdain for orthodoxy and hierarchy.
Jefferson never says he is anti-Christ.
Neither do I see in any of the writings of Jefferson, who, after all, was ambassador to France and living in Paris when the Constitution was compiled, or any of the Constitutional framers any acceptance, let alone endorsement, of atheism.
As an aside, Jefferson was able to see with his own eyes what the rule of Godless, anti-Christian people would look like, as he oberved the French Revolution and wondered each morning if he would awaken with his head still attached. Perhaps that is why, as president, he promoted even the Catholic faith, asking Congress for money to fund Catholic missionaries to the Indians.
Where does he give voice to allowing atheists, who cannot take public oaths or affirmations before a power higher than man, to rule over us? Atheists are their own gods, determining for themselves what is good and what is evil.
The point remains, without an external, objective, transcendent, eternal Truth, good and evil are determined by either each person individually, or by some consensus. The former is anarchy, and the latter democracy.
A government that uses external, objective, transcendent eternal Truth, Natural Law, (”nature’s God”) as a foundation for its Laws, is a Republic.
See Blackstone, upon whom the Constitutional Framers relied for much of their understanding of Republican government.