[Kevin Curry]

We'll soon have the atheist brigade here telling us that at most the founding fathers--especially Jefferson and Franklin--were "deists" who eschewed traditional religion as folk superstition.

However, the Jefferson and Franklin quotes both speak of divine intervention in the affairs of men. Divine intervention is not a fixture of Deism, but of Theism.

[f.Christian]

Originally the word liberal meant social conservatives who advocated growth and progress---mostly technological/SCIENCE(knowledge being absolute/unchanging)based on law--reality... UNDER GOD---the nature of GOD/man/govt. does not change. These were the Classical liberals...founding fathers-PRINCIPLES---stable/SANE scientific reality/society---industrial progress...moral/social character-values GROWTH!

[Lurking Libertarian]

However, the Jefferson and Franklin quotes both speak of divine intervention in the affairs of men. Divine intervention is not a fixture of Deism, but of Theism.

This is an area in which it's easy to play the game of "dueling quotes." You can mine the writings of many of the Founders-- especially Jefferson, Madison and Franklin-- for both Deist and Christian quotations. Generally, they sounded like devout Christians in public, especially when they were running for office, and like skeptics or Deists when writing in their private diaries or in letters to their friends.

[BuckeyeForever]

Whether a deist or theist, Jefferson was responsible for the phrase "separation between Church and State." In 1802, President Jefferson wrote a letter to a group of Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, in which he declared that it was the purpose of the First Amendment to build ''a wall of separation between Church and State.''

[moteineye]

You are absolutely right. Both men did speak of divine intervention so they were not Diests.