You're also factually mistaken about our founding fathers; many of them were Deists.
To our non-American readers, I apologize.
There were many more quotes that I had to cut out to make this post-able.
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John Adams and John Hancock:
We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but
Jesus! [April 18, 1775]
John Adams:
The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity
I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
--October 11, 1798
"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson
John Quincy Adams:
Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?" Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity"?
--1837, at the age of 69, when he delivered a Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts.
The Law given from Sinai [The Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.
John Quincy Adams.
Letters to his son. p. 61
Benjamin Franklin: |
Portrait of Ben Franklin
God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel
Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered
do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]
Alexander Hamilton:
Hamilton began work with the Rev. James Bayard to form the Christian Constitutional Society to help spread over the world the two things which Hamilton said made America great:
(1) Christianity
(2) a Constitution formed under Christianity.
The Christian Constitutional Society, its object is first: The support of the Christian religion. Second: The support of the United States.
On July 12, 1804 at his death, Hamilton said, I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.
"For my own part, I sincerely esteem it [the Constitution] a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests."
[1787 after the Constitutional Convention]
"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor. I can prove its truth as clearly as any proposition ever submitted to the mind of man."
John Hancock:
In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent measure should be taken to ward off the impending judgments,
at the same time all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness
Resolved;
Thursday the 11th of May
to humble themselves before God under the heavy judgments felt and feared, to confess the sins that have deserved them, to implore the Forgiveness of all our transgressions, and a spirit of repentance and reformation
and a Blessing on the
Union of the American Colonies in Defense of their Rights [for which hitherto we desire to thank Almighty God]
That the people of Great Britain and their rulers may have their eyes opened to discern the things that shall make for the peace of the nation
for the redress of Americas many grievances, the restoration of all her invaded liberties, and their security to the latest generations.
"A Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with a total abstinence from labor and recreation. Proclamation on April 15, 1775"
Patrick Henry:
The Last Will and Testament of Patrick Henry
It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
[May 1765 Speech to the House of Burgesses]
The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed.
Thomas Jefferson:
The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.
Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.
"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."
God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever. (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]
James Madison
Weve staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all of our heart.
We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. Weve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity
to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.
[1778 to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia]
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read
Isaiah 33:22;
For the
LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver,
the
LORD is our king;
He will save us.
]
George Washington:
Farewell Address: The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.
With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion" ...and later:
"...reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..."
It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.
What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ.
[speech to the Delaware Indian Chiefs May 12, 1779]
"To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian" [May 2, 1778, at Valley Forge]
During his inauguration, Washington took the oath as prescribed by the Constitution but added several religious components to that official ceremony. Before taking his oath of office, he summoned a Bible on which to take the oath, added the words So help me God! to the end of the oath, then leaned over and kissed the Bible.