America--Not a Christian Nation

From the Freedom From Religion Foundation, courtesy of J. Orlin Grabbe:

What can we conclude about the religious views of these 10 American founders? First, eight were Deists and two were Unitarians. Second, all were advocates of religious tolerance and freedom of conscience. Third, ironically, most were themselves targets of religious bigots. Fourth, none was an orthodox Christian. And fifth, none was even remotely close to the modern day fundamentalists who attempt to expropriate these men for partisan political purposes.

Deism was a religious philosophy popular among educated people living in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was referred to as a natural religion, meaning that it was based entirely on reason, explicitly rejecting all forms of revelation.

Deists believed in God as a celestial explanatory mechanism or first cause, but disaffirmed all claims of divine authority, including the deity of Christ. Yet, Deists endorsed the ethical teachings of Jesus, as well as those of other religious prophets. Deists also denounced all religious dogma and creeds and were strong supporters of religious liberty. Concerning belief in God, it should be remembered that this was before the advent of Darwinian evolution and modern cosmological theories.

The modern equivalent of Deism is Unitarianism, a secular religion committed to the principles of freedom, reason, tolerance, science, and democracy.

Unitarianism is a noncreedal religion aligned with the philosophy of naturalistic humanism that welcomes all people of good will, nonbelievers, as well as believers. If the ten prominent founders were alive today, they would most certainly embrace the philosophy of naturalistic Humanism and they would properly be called Unitarians or Humanists.

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Seeing as how Unitarianism and Humanism are much more American as far as religion goes, it seems only natural for Real Art to provide links to their websites:

Unitarian Universalist Association

American Humanist Association

By the way, the fundamentalists really hate both of these groups, especially the Humanists. Why don't you give those sadistic Bible-pounders the equivalent of a cyber-finger by checking these Godless organizations out? I mean, if they're good enough for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, they're good enough for you. Right?

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