"Under God" and the Founding Fathers

[thebratqueen]

I thought this might be of interest to those fighting the "Under God" debate. It's taken directly from Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths of American History by Richard Shenkman:

Especially dear to the right-wing crowd is the belief that the Founding Fathers were devout churchgoers. Compared with modern-day politicians they perhaps were. But there's not much evidence they were regular worshipers. Through most of his precidency Washington did not go to church except on special occasions. Neither Jefferson nor Franklin regularly went to church either. John Adams did. Alexander Hamilton during most of his life did not.

Claims that the Founding Fathers were particularly religious are plainly false. While virtually all believed in the divinity of Christ, most remained somewhat skeptical of religion and usually referred ambiguously in correspondence to Providence rather than to Christ Himself or God. Debunker Rupert Hughes reports that in political matters Washington went out of his way to avoid invoking the authority of Christ. When the Continental Congress in 1776 decreed a day of fasting and prayer "to confess and bewail our manifold sins... through the merits and meditation of Jesus Christ," Washington omitted the reference to Christ when he repeated the admonition to his troops. In his dying hours Washington, a self-styled deist, never mentioned God or religion, and he left no money for religious causes in his will.