Our Republic was Founded on the Religion of America

It is a great misunderstanding by Americans in the 21^st century how greatly important religion was to the Founding generation. Far too often, the purpose and intent of the separation of church and state is taken to mean that religion should be completely removed from public buildings and public life. This is so far from the truth and this practice is leading our constitutional republic down a continual road of destruction.

Our republic was created and expected to only be maintained by a moral and religious citizenry as evident in the words of our founders. Self-government, in the minds of the founding generation, was referred to “republicanism,” and they understood that it could only be maintained by a people free from corruption and selfishness. Benjamin Franklin wrote:

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” [1]

Can it be any clearer in the following words from the General who led our Continental Army and our first elected President, George Washington?

“Of all the disposition and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tributes of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” [2]

Even John Adams warned that the future of our great republic depended upon the level of virtue and morality retained by the people. He said:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” [3]

How then were these great States unified in 1783 expected to maintain a virtuous and moral people without religion? What was the intent and desire behind the phrase “separation of church and state” as conveyed by Thomas Jefferson? 

Our founders clearly intended to create laws that would restrict any interference by a federal government in any religious matters. They set out to ensure that the American people’s right to worship as they pleased was maintained. They did not want the President or any leader to give any preferential treatment to any one church or create a national religion. Such doings in Europe had fostered several problems for years that they had hoped to avoid in America.

It is clear that the founders did not intend to remove religion from the foundations of our republic when Congress wrote and approved in 1787, the very year the Constitution was created, the famous Northwest Ordinance. So important was religion and morality to maintaining our liberty and freedom that these inspired men encouraged that it would be taught in houses of learning. Here is the way they said it:

“Article 3: Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” [4]

Let’s look as some definitions of those three components religion, morality, and knowledge as defined by W. Cleon Skousen [5]:

1.       Religion, which might be defined as a “fundamental system of beliefs concerning man’s origin and relationship with his fellowmen.”

2.       Morality, which may be described as “a standard of behavior distinguishing right from wrong.”

3.       Knowledge, which is “an intellectual awareness and understanding of established facts relating to any field of human experience or inquiry (i.e. history, geography, science, etc.)”

It is true that the founders thought is wise to separate the specific religious differences that were being taught by all the various sects, but they highly encouraged that the basic beliefs shared by them all be instructed to our students. This is evident when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Bill for Establishing Elementary Schools in Virginia, when he said:

“No Religious reading, instruction, or exercise shall be prescribed or practiced inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination.” [6]

It is obvious that then if religion was to be taught in schools, the principles instructed must be accepted by all faiths. So then what did the founders believe those basic principles were among all faiths? Benjamin Franklin summarized what he thought were the “fundamental points in all sound religion” in a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, when he said:

“Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.” [7]

There are five fundamental points that Franklin makes, that is consistent with the writings of the other founders, that should be taught in our schools to raise a people with virtue and morals that will support and maintain a republican form of government. The founders sometimes referred to these beliefs as the “religion of America.” They thought that these five fundamentals should be taught with morality and knowledge to maintain a “good government and the happiness of mankind.” They are as Skousen points out [8]:

1.       There exists a Creator who made all things and mankind should recognize and worship him.

2.       The Creator has revealed a moral code of behavior for happy living which distinguishes right from wrong.

3.       The Creator holds mankind responsible for the way they treat each other.

4.       All mankind live beyond this life.

5.       In the next life mankind are judged for their conduct in this one.

This republic was founded by virtuous, moral, religious men. The republic that they designed and left in our care can only be maintained by a virtuous, moral, and religious people. Is it no wonder then, as we have continued to strip the fundamental religion out of our public buildings and schools that our republic has deteriorated? Is it no wonder then that our land has raised up corrupt and immoral leaders?

If we are to restore our republic and the liberty that our founding generation bled and died for, then we need to once again become a religious and moral people. It is time that we demand that the “religion of America” be brought back to our schools and public houses.

Works Cited

[1] Smyth, Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 9:569.

[2] Padover, The Washington Papers, p. 318-319.

[3] Quoted in John R. Howe, Jr., The Changing Political Thought of John Adams, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1966, p. 189.

[4] George B. de Huszer, Henry W. Littlefield, and Arthur W. Littlefield, editors, Basic American Documents, Littlefield, Adams & Co., Ames, Iowa, 1953, p. 66.

[5] W. Cleon Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap: 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World, American Documents Publishing, L.L.C., Franklin, Tennessee, 1981, p. 60.

[6] J. Randolph, ed., Early History of the University of Virginia, 1856, p. 96-97.

[7] Smyth, Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 10:84.

[8] W. Cleon Skousen, The Five Thousand Year Leap: 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World, American Documents Publishing, L.L.C., Franklin, Tennessee, 1981, p. 61.