Religious Beliefs Of America's Founders Book Report

The United States Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, are all important documents in our nation’s history and religion. These historical documents were the biggest influence in our country and they continue to shape our powerful nation. In comparing these documents, I will decipher the differences between what the signers of the Declaration of Independence and what the U.S. Constitution thought about the separation of the church and state.

David Barton’s Original Intent: The Courts, The Constitution, and Religion, breaks down the significance of how religion was intended in the First Amendment and its effect on the phrase, “Separation of Church and State.” Barton well illustrates how the founding fathers incorporated the position of religion into the First Amendment. Barton explains how the House Judiciary Committee believes, “The founders did respect other religions; however, they neither promoted pluralism nor intended that the First Amendment do so” (175). They continue to discuss how the founding fathers were all Christians and they expect it to remain that way in the lives of the citizens. In Barton’s views of the First Amendment, he believes it has changed dramastically

In this document, he states that religion has been, one of the many, yet most important basis for all American settlements. He claims men refer to religion in order to unify with one another and base their laws on religious beliefs. “Religion kept their little community together-religion assisted them in their revolutionary struggle; it was religion to which they appealed in defending their liberties” (Document 3). Grund also makes the point that the Declaration of Independence,which is based on religion, is annually read to the people for it announces and proclaims religious values put forth to unify and govern their people. “It is with the solemnities of religion that the declaration of independence is yet annually read to the people from the pulpit” (Document 3). This proves the fact that the basis of America was backed by religious beliefs and a belief in a one powerful God.  Finally, he states that based on what he had seen from his various visits to the US, that “religion which assists them in all their national undertakings”(Document 3).  He claims that religion is a power used daily by the American people to unify and bring together the society. This is significant to the motivation of reform by religion because it brings out the fact that during times of crisis and chaos, people return back to their faith in hopes of

In Issue Seven in the book Taking Sides, John P. Roche and Howard Zinn provide their views about whether or not the founding Fathers were democratic reformers. Between these two arguments, the no case that Howard Zinn represents is more convincing because it provides more evidence. John P. Roche contends that the founding Fathers were absolutely and fully democratic reformers and that they created a Constitution in order to benefit to the nation but at the same time was considered tolerable by the people. Howard Zinn gives more accompanying evidence as to why the founding Fathers were not democratic reformers but rather, a select

When discussing the intertwining of church and state; soul liberty and freedom from religious belief, we must recognize that freedom and faith were at one point complementary ideas. Faith was once the foundation for freedom and vice versa. The Declaration of Independence clearly states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights." With these words from the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set up their vision of what this country would come to be. Among those rights, which are deemed “inalienable”, is the right of religious liberty. (Neumann, 1990: p. 241)

I believe that the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution was thinking that if they separate God from the Government that they could keep some of the rules and guidelines set forth by God and then make their own. The thinking

This document will provide a brief comparison and synopsis of some of the most important writings of our time: The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, and the U.S. Constitution. Also, this will be an analysis of what I believe the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution thought about the separation of church and state, as well as God from government.

In comparing Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution, it is evident that the basis of all three documents is the idea that all human beings possess God-given fundamental rights and that government is created to protect those rights. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, is the first of the three documents penned. This is important because it defined the rights of liberty and equality of all American citizens as outlined in John Locke’s natural law thesis (Martin, page 113). In addition to providing an itemized account of the grievances colonist’s held against King George III of England, it served to justify the colonist’s quest for independence and separation from British rule. The Declaration of Independence conveyed to the crown that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Founders’ of the New World understood that their pursuit of liberties and autonomy specified in the Declaration of Independence could not come to fruition without instituting decrees. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution, was written to replace the Articles of Confederation with a better defined series of stringent laws that would legally uphold the freedoms and privileges established in the Declaration of Independence. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights in

Billions of people all over the nation and world have heard of the ideal American vision to be defined as a perfect set of rules and regulations that provide the ideal conditions for living life. Though many people to this day may still argue their understanding of these idealistic views, there is an ideniable truth that it was two most influential figures in history from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Benjamin Franklin and John Winthrop, who helped shape this vision through their strong and very different opinionated perspectives. God’ role and form of government, social classes gradation, nature and moral laws, individualism or collectivism and virtues of success are all important aspects that have helped shape the American vision, in which also the opinions of Franklin and Winthrop stand divided between the leaders. Franklin emphasized the importance of the science and reason, which explains the structure of the world its affect of life on every nation. Winthrop presented his “a City on a hill” model, where everything depends on God’s will.” (The Puritan Vision Altered, John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity”, 1630, pp. 6-7). Unlike Franklin’s democracy and liberty, he believed in state of brotherhood. However, Winthrop shares Franklins’ nature norms in relationship between people, but Winthrop also builds his vision

This paper is a book critique of The Godless Constitution. The first chapter of the book is titled “Is America a Christian Nation?” and it is an introduction for the rest of the book. In this chapter, the main idea is to open the reader’s mind about that the constitution was created with the idea that religious believes will not influence in the politics of the nation. The authors state that “The principal framers of the American political system wanted no religious parties in national politics” (Kramnick and Moore, 23). Actually, the creation of a constitution without influence of religion was not an act of irreverence. The authors believe that the creation of the constitution was a support to the idea that religion can preserve the civil morality necessary for democracy, without an influence on any political party. The end of the chapter is the description of the following chapters and with a disguise warning that both authors were raise in religious families and they wrote the book with high respect for America’s religious traditions (Kramnick and Moore, 25). The second chapter, called “The Godless Constitution” explains how the different terms to talk about God were taken out and a “no religious test” clause was adopted with little discussion. This clause was a “veritable firestorm” during the ratification debates in several states (Kramnick and Moore, 32). For many people the “no religious test” clause was considered as the gravest defect of the Constitution (Kramnick

In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.

the founding fathers religion but it does state that they do not want to impose their religious beliefs on their decisions in order to keep things unjust and fair. Many of our founding fathers, on the other hand, have made statements implying that they are deists on numerous occasions, which is where they believe in a creator who does not intervene in the universe and reject belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. For example Thomas Paine “saw the church as a human invention that monopolizes for power and profit and stated that his religion was “to do good””. John Adams rejected the doctrine of eternal damnation. George Washington had many implications of deism in this article by Jim Walker he describes what George has

Secondly, when supporters of the Christian nation idea point to the Declaration as proof they fail to realize something. The Declaration is not law. Nothing in the Declaration legally guides the way American government or its people function. Even though it set up the foundation for this new nation, it cannot be regarded as any type of legal document that would give evidence of a Christian based nation. However, even if someone were to look at the Declaration as proof, there are more misconceptions. The idea in the Declaration of a government that derives its power from the people is radically different from the theory of divine rights that is seen in the Christian kingdoms of the past. The founder’s idea of a government by and for the people completely rejects the idea of a government where man derives the right to maintain power from a divine being. Moreover, if the founders had wanted to remain in that type of society than they could have used much simpler terms, rather than using the confusing, vague terms such as “Creator.”

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson are two of the seven key founding fathers of the United States. The motive of the founders of the U.S. was to establish religious freedom in the colonies; therefore, religion was of importance to them. When the policy of the separation of church and state was enacted by the founding fathers through the Constitution, it meant that under a secular government, religious freedom would always be protected. Issues such as the freedom to practice one’s religion arose in the earlier colonies and the separation of church and states prevents these issues from occurring again. The separation of church and state protects the rights of all and ensures religious freedom. This policy has proven to be nothing but a

Kramnick and Moore write their book to establish an understanding of were God should be in society and government. They use interpretations of men from the history of the United States to gather knowledge on how to regard religion in our government. They give a timeless solution to an understanding of what our government is trying to establish. They propose