Several prominent Founding Fathers embraced Deism, a philosophical belief in a rational creator (often called “Nature’s God” or “Providence”) who does not intervene in human affairs, valuing reason over religious dogma.
Key figures often cited as deists include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, James Monroe and Ethan Allen.
Let’s begin by focusing on Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, a spokesman for Democracy, and the principle author of the Declaration of Independence.
And was responsible for the Establishment Clause (forbids government from establishing or favoring a religion) and the Free Exercise Clause (protects the right to practice religion).
In years following he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia.
Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson created his own version of the Bible known as “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth” (or the Jefferson Bible). Completed around 1820, Jefferson used a razor to cut and paste preferred verses from the Gospels, specifically removing accounts of miracles, the resurrection, and divinity, to focus solely on the moral teachings of Jesus.
Jefferson was a Deist who admired Jesus’s ethics but skeptical of His Divinity.
He created the book for his own personal study to distill what he believed were the most rational and profound teachings of Jesus.
He physically cut passages from six different New Testaments (in English, French, Greek, and Latin) and pasted them into a scrapbook.
The book omits the Trinity, angels, miracles (such as walking on water), and the Resurrection, ending instead with Jesus being laid in the tomb.
The 86-page book was kept private during his life. It was later published by Congress in 1904, with copies often presented to new senators.
It’s important to note that many of these founders were, at times, described as “Christian Deists” or were relatively private about their personal beliefs, leading to ongoing debate among historians about the exact nature of their faith
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