While this statement is true, I would guess those very same men would look abhorrently at any atheist and declare they don’t belong in the country. Up until the 1960s it was widely held that the 1st Amendment gave you freedom OF religion, you still had to pick one.
He didn’t rewrite it. He got two copies of the Bible and a straight razor, and cut out all the parts he couldn’t believe (things like Jesus’ miracles).
It is more important to look at the context in which the Founding Fathers dealt with religion compared to today.
There were several very bloody wars in recent European memory that centered on religion, including the Thirty Years War. These weren’t wars between Christianity and other religions, but within Christianity.
Also, at this time, several American states maintained official state churches; the First Amendment only applied to the Federal Government. Even if you were religious at the time, a secular federal government was seen as necessary to secure the republic; it would not be politically feasible to push all state churches into one church just like it would not be politically feasible to merge different states together as one unitary political unit.
Politically, an atheist would be less of a political danger to a Quaker than a Catholic would be, and everyone understood that.
While this statement is true, I would guess those very same men would look abhorrently at any atheist and declare they don’t belong in the country. Up until the 1960s it was widely held that the 1st Amendment gave you freedom OF religion, you still had to pick one.
I’m pretty sure Jefferson, Madison, and Adams would not fit this bill. They often praised atheists.
Jefferson tried to rewrite the Bible to make it make sense. I don’t think he was a big believer.
He didn’t rewrite it. He got two copies of the Bible and a straight razor, and cut out all the parts he couldn’t believe (things like Jesus’ miracles).
It is more important to look at the context in which the Founding Fathers dealt with religion compared to today.
There were several very bloody wars in recent European memory that centered on religion, including the Thirty Years War. These weren’t wars between Christianity and other religions, but within Christianity.
Also, at this time, several American states maintained official state churches; the First Amendment only applied to the Federal Government. Even if you were religious at the time, a secular federal government was seen as necessary to secure the republic; it would not be politically feasible to push all state churches into one church just like it would not be politically feasible to merge different states together as one unitary political unit.
Politically, an atheist would be less of a political danger to a Quaker than a Catholic would be, and everyone understood that.