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In God We Trust

In God We Trust. Religion and the Founding Fathers. CSU-East Bay. Kevin P. Dincher www.kevindincher.com. In God We Trust. Colonial Experience History versus Mythology “Old” versus “New” Messy Founding Philosophies Calvinism God’s Sovereignty Total Depravity Restrain

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In God We Trust

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  1. In God We Trust Religion and the Founding Fathers CSU-East Bay Kevin P. Dincher www.kevindincher.com

  2. In God We Trust • Colonial Experience • History versus Mythology • “Old” versus “New” • Messy • Founding Philosophies • Calvinism • God’s Sovereignty • Total Depravity • Restrain • Enlightenment/Deism • Natural Equality • Rights of the Individual • Liberty • Thomas Jefferson • Enlightenment Philosophy • Personal Journey • Reason-based faith • Key religious values • Equality and Liberty

  3. Jefferson and Political Parties • "In every free and deliberating society, there must, from the nature of man, be opposite parties, and violent dissensions and discords; and one of these, for the most part, must prevail over the other for a longer or shorter time." -Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798

  4. Jefferson and Political Parties • "I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." -Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

  5. Jefferson and Political Parties • "Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties: • Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes. • Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depositary of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist, and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves." -Thomas Jefferson to Henry Lee, 1824

  6. Jefferson and Religion • Thomas Jefferson • Religion • Reason-based • Non-traditional Christian • Moral foundation for democratic government • Separation of Church and State • Madison: • Threat government posed to freedom of religion • Jefferson: • Threat religion posed to democratic government

  7. “Separation of Church and State” • I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercises thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. January 1, 1802: Danbury Baptist

  8. “Separation of Church and State” • Jefferson • 1802: Danbury Baptist • Madison: “total separation of the church from the state” • 1811: letter to a Baptist church • 1819: letter to American diplomat, Robert Walsh • US Supreme Court • “Separation of church and state”: 25 times

  9. Church and State • Church and State • No state religion • No financial support • No one compelled to join a particular church • No prohibition on the free exercise of religion

  10. Faith and Politics • Church and State need to be separate • Enmeshing government and a specific church has not place in American political system • Faith and Politics: • One’s personal beliefs/philosophies/morality are part of the political dialogue. • Beliefs about what it means to be human, about human relationships and about human behavior to dialogue • Not “impose” or “tolerate”

  11. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) “Public Religion” • Unity • First “American”

  12. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1717 – 1778) • Geneva • Calvinist • Catholic • Calvinist

  13. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1717 – 1778) • 1762: Of The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right (Du contrat social ouPrincipes du droitpolitique) • Civil Religion • Moral and spiritual foundation essential for any modern society. • “Social cement,” • Help to unify the state by providing it with sacred authority.

  14. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1717 – 1778) Characteristics of Civil Religion • Belief in a Deity • Afterlife • Reward/punishment • Religious tolerance

  15. Civil Religion: Sacred Authority • The invocation of God in political speeches and public monuments • The quotation of religious texts on public occasions by political leaders • The veneration of past political leaders • The use of the lives of these leaders to teach moral ideal • The veneration of veterans and casualties of a nation's wars • Religious gatherings called by political leaders • The use of religious symbols on public buildings • The use of public buildings for worship • Founding myths and other national myths

  16. Acts of “Public Religion” • Singing the national anthem at public gatherings • Parades or display of the national flag on certain patriotic holidays • Oaths of allegiance • Ceremonies for the inauguration of a president or the coronation of a king • Retelling exaggerated, one-sided, and simplified mythologized tales of Founding Fathers and other great leaders or great events from the past • Monuments commemorating great leaders of the past or historic events • Monuments to dead soldiers or annual ceremonies to remember them • Expressions of reverence for the country or the Constitution or the King • Public display of the coffin of a recently deceased political leader

  17. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) • Born in 1706 • Boston • Puritan theocracy • Bastion of conservatism • Unconventional family • Fairly conventional upbringing • Adolescent: atheist

  18. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) • 1723 • New York • Philadelphia • London • 1726 • Philadelphia

  19. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) • 1728 • Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion (1728) • I believe there is one Supreme most perfect Being • Supremely perfect • Human nature

  20. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) Creed: First Principles • I believe there is one Supreme most perfect Being • Supremely perfect • Human nature

  21. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) Creed: First Principles • I believe there is one Supreme most perfect Being • Supreme Being: Author and Father of the Gods themselves • Inferior to Supreme Being • Superior to humans • Possess some human passions

  22. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) • Personal Faith • Moral foundation • Encouraged moral behavior • Public Religion • Unity • Common experience • Encouraged “virtuous life”

  23. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) • Virtuous Life • Aristotle • Virtue/Vice = Habit • Moral excellence • Individual's ideas of pleasure and pain • Franklin • Survival of the republic required virtuous people who would avoid corruption

  24. Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) Poor Richard’s Almanack • 1732 – 1758 • Richard Saunders • 10,000 copies/year • Calendar • Weather • Poems • Astronomical/Astrological info • Mathematical Exercise • Demographics (1750) • Aphorism/Proverbs

  25. 13 Virtues • Temperance • Silence • Order • Resolution • Frugality • Industry • Sincerity • Justice • Moderation • Cleanliness • Tranquility • Chastity • Humility

  26. Religious Dogma Moral Foundation • I think opinions should be judge by their influence and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me. • If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it? Franklin and Religion

  27. Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983)

  28. Depiction of a fetish in South Africa by the London Missionary Society, circa 1900.

  29. Revolution • Rapproachment between Calvinist majority and Deistic founders • Biblical/Millennial language of the “Great Awakening”

  30. George Washington (1732 – 1799)

  31. George Washington (1732 – 1799) • Personal Beliefs? • Baptized Anglican but never confirmed • Vestryman • 1753: Freemason • 1758: House of Burgesses

  32. Nelly Custis-Lewis (adopted daughter)

  33. George Washington (1732 – 1799)

  34. Deism? • Surrounded by Deism/Deists • Freemasonry • God • “Blessings of Heaven” • “Providence” • “Great Architect of the Universe” • Jesus/Christianity • Avoided George Washington (1732 – 1799)

  35. Prayer? • Deists • Prayer is generally a waste of time • Some thought prayer had value as a conduit of divine inspiration • Washington: “Warm Deist? • Governing laws of nature • Architect did sometimes intervene • Books of Prayers by Washington • Youth: rejected by the Smithsonian • Adult: highly edited • National Thanksgiving Proclamation • October 3, 1789 George Washington (1732 – 1799)

  36. Religion Freedom/Tolerance • TouroSynagoge (1790), Newport, Rhode Island • “May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.” • “For happily the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” George Washington (1732 – 1799)

  37. Farewell Address (1796) • Necessity and importance of national union • Value of the Constitution and the rule of law • Warns about foreign influence in domestic affairs and against meddling in European affairs • Evils of political parties • Importance of religion • Civic duty and proper virtues of a republican people

  38. Farewell Address (1796) • Importance of Religion • Rejected: • no morality without religion (Hamilton) • Included: • Morality: “a necessary spring of popular government” • Nation could not be moral without “religious principle” • National morality is necessary for good government • Politicians should cherish religion’s support of national morality

  39. Farewell Address (1796) • Proper virtues of a republican people • Politics of Aristotle • Focused less on rights, more on political duties • Citizens: put private interests aside and serve state in accordance with duties defines by law

  40. Farewell Address (1796) • Proper virtues of a republican people • Renaissance (14th – 17th Centuries) • Reinstate ideals of civic duty • Civic Conversation • Civilized Behavior • Work • Enlightenment Frederick William MacMonnies statue "Civic Virtue" outside Manhattan's City Hall circa 1922

  41. Farewell Address (1796) • 1825 • Thomas Jefferson and James Madison • Recommended the use of Washington's Farewell Address at the University of Virginia • One of the best guides to the principles of American government. • February 22, 1862: • Abraham Lincoln • Proclamation calling on Americans to mark the birthday of "the Father of his Country," with public readings of "his immortal Farewell Address."

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