Religion in the New Nation

Religion in America

Deism of the Founders

Benjamin Franklin

George Washington

John Adams

Thomas Jefferson

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

“Nature’s God,” the Creator, “Supreme Judge,” “divine Providence”

Thomas Paine: The Age of Reason, 1794

Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Religion and the New Nation

Religion essential to morals of republic

Most states keep tax-supported churches

Some require religious tests for office

Pennsylvania and Rhode Island never had state churches

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1786

Jefferson, Madison, Baptists, and Presbyterians vs. Anglicans

Jefferson: religion a private opinion; state should not impose opinions

Baptists: America not a “Christian nation” and absolute separation of church and state

Disestablishment’s slow progress elsewhere

Vermont, 1807; Connecticut, 1818; New Hampshire, 1819

Massachusetts, 1833

The Constitution, 1787

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Religion omitted from text

No religious tests for office

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

World’s first written constitution, written by Puritans, 1639

For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we ... are now ... dwelling in ... Connectecotte ; ... and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God; ... do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth.

The Constitution and Religion

Antifederalists force Bill of Rights

First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Madison elected with Baptist support; wording shows their concerns

“The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.”

George Washington to Touro Synagogue, 1790

“To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”

Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Danbury Baptists, 1802

“A wall of separation between church and state”