constitutional-convention-founding-fathers-prayer
One of the more persistent myths about America's founding is that the men who built this nation were Deists — individuals who believed in a distant, hands-off God who wound up the universe like a clock and then just walked away. That is certainly a convenient story for those who want to scrub Christian faith from our nation’s founding, but the glaring historical problem is that claim simply isn’t true.
Deism, properly defined, holds that God created the world but does not intervene in it. By that definition, almost none of the Founders would qualify — including the two most often cited as examples.
Thomas Jefferson is one of those examples, but consider the words of his 1785 work Notes on the State of Virginia carved into the walls of his own memorial: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." That’s no Deist speaking. That is a man afraid of divine judgment on a nation that permitted slavery. A true Deist would have no such fear because a Deist's God doesn't judge any man.
Then there is Benjamin Franklin, widely considered the least religious of the Founders. At a moment of crisis during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, when deadlock threatened to collapse the entire proceedings, Franklin rose and asked his fellow delegates a pointed question: how is it that they had not once thought of humbly applying to the “Father of lights” to illuminate their understanding? He reminded them during the Revolution they had prayed daily in that very room, and their prayers were heard and graciously answered. He moved then that every session of the Convention begin with prayer. A Deist would never appeal to answered prayer, because a Deist's God doesn't answer.
The faith of the Founders was not always orthodox, and in some cases it changed over time. But it was never mere Deism. It was a faith that trembled before a God who governs in the affairs of men — and who notices when a sparrow falls, as Franklin said in 1787.
The true history of the faith of our Founding Fathers is a very different national foundation than the one secularists would prefer. As we celebrate 250 years of America, don’t fall victim to historical revisionism!
Celebrate the real story and our nation’s independence and stay grounded and informed with us at PhyllisSchlafly.com, and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
