The Founding Fathers And Morality

[gregrutz]

They MUST teach quote mining in bible school. 

[seekertrth]

James Madison,Father of the Constitution,Bill of Rights,,Founding Father;"The number, the industry and the morality of the priesthood& the devotion of the people have been manifesrtly increased by THE TOTAL SEPARTATION OF THE CHURCH FROM THE STATE."

Feb,1811,vetoed a bill to give Church funding for schools,etc b/c it violated the 1st amendment,Congress agreed. March,'11, vetoed giving a church governmt land,same reason. Congress debated,+ agreed.

[CoolParkourName]

America doesnt belong to the founders... they are dead.

[AceofDimonds0]

you want the morals of our founding fathers? that in itself is enough to destroy the freedoms of people.

in the "original" Declaration of Independence it gave no mention of ever freeing the slaves or of womens rights

you want the morals and values of men that lived 200 years ago to be upheld in todays socieety, how stagnant!

[Narwal88]

The moral bankruptcy by this video is easily identified by a simple fact:

the founding fathers were mostly slave-owners. Does that mean that slavery should be brought back?

We know more and understand more than people did 200-300 years ago. Hence, what matters is what we understand today, not what people wrote or thought centuries ago.

[Narwal88]

Truly idiotic video.

Appallingly ignorant.

[alexxmidnite]

I have nothing against Christianity, but to say that this video is disingenuous is an understatement. Many of these quotes have been edited to change the original meaning when taken as a whole. If you can't make a substantive argument for your viewpoints based on real evidence taken in the proper context, do not bother making one at all. The founding fathers would be spinning in their graves.

[PaineLover]

"Many of these quotes have been edited to change the original meaning when taken as a whole."

That IS the "christian nation" , and history revisionists whole modus operandi. when they can't convince us with a clear logical presentation of evidence, they try to bury us with a mountain of bullshit.

[editorialguy]

James Madison

Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise

Thomas Paine

All national institutions of churches whether jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

Susan B Anthony

I was born a heretic. I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their fellows.

Virtue does not = religion and it changes over time.

[editorialguy]

Jefferson once said:

The Christian God can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster: cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging three headed beast-like god one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites.

He was not a christian. Many of the founding fathers had broke with religion.

[pimpedpope]

He believed in God but not the trinity he made statements like " A conviction in the minds of the peole that these liberties are the gift of God." " Itremble for my country qhwn I reflect that Gos is just, That his justice cannot sleep forever...Amen. "He contradicts himself in different statements about his faith and position of God.

[JonWRowe]

BTW: Samuel Adams was NOT John Adams' BROTHER.

[tshoebat]

I know - they were cousins. But they are usually reffered to as the "Adams Brothers" ;)

[gotchasilly]

Founding Fathers were in majority Freemasons, or deitists with Freemason connections.

Example:

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."

-Thomas Jefferson

[JonWRowe]

Jefferson didn't say it. Not an accurate quotation.

[gotchasilly]

Actually, he did; among other writings, meet the Notes on Virginia from 1782.

Utterly secularist Jefferson firmly believed in a Creator, albeit a Christian he certainly was not.

[JonWRowe]

Nope. Jefferson actually considered himself a Christian. Though he rejected every single tenet of orthodox Christianity. So he was a "Christian" who rejected among other things, original sin, the trinity, incarnation, atonement, eternal damnation, and the infallibility of the Bible. That's why people call him a "Deist." Though, he didn't call himself one.

[gotchasilly]

Jefferson rejected the superstition of Christianity. He wrote his own Bible, withdrawing all supernatural aspects; centering on the figure of Jesus Christ (to which he did not render deity)instead, as a depiction of morality. I am an atheist and I believe Jesus makes an excellent example for integrity.

"I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know."

-Thomas Jefferson

[JonWRowe]

Here's what he actually said:

"...but a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, & perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in church & state"

- Thomas Jefferson to William Baldwin, 19 January 1810 (draft - never sent)[1]

[gotchasilly]

This quote does NOT establish the genuineness of Jefferson being a Christian. It only proves that he combated the threat of religious superiority.

In addition, Judaism is inherently more tolerant than Christianity.

[JonWRowe]

I am not trying to prove Jefferson was a "Christian."

[gotchasilly]

Nor he considered himself one!

[JonWRowe]

You are wrong on that one. Do you want me to reproduce his quotations where he calls himself a "Christian"? He wasn't a "Christian" as tshoebat et al. define "Christianity" but Jefferson considered himself a "Christian."

[gotchasilly]

Oh, go ahead.

[pimpedpope]

No Jefferson did that say that its just a group of people trying to re-write histor and make revisions.

[theeeees]

hmmm lets see what sort of material was our first flag made out of? hmmm and what were the ships made of that brought us to north america?

[heavydny86]

You can't tell me by "virtue", the founding fathers ment hating on people because of who they love.

Religion itself does not provide a stable sense of morality. The bible gives rules by which to treat a slave, commands "thou shalt not kill" but has many cases in which god slays people, those who repent and accept Jesus get into heaven no matter what they've done, etc.

Many, through out time, have been burned at the stake because they dared to question the church with science. Evolution?

[YOURGOD78]

Wacko!

[YOURGOD78]

That makes no difference. I'm just curious what you christians want to accomplish....

[tshoebat]

WORLD DOMINATION!! GASP

[LutinGris]

Your founding fathers were mostly deist Freemasons and rationalists NOT fundamentalist Christians. As for your jihad against gays and lesbians, I suggest you search on YouTube the video called "Middle Sexes - Experiment on homophobia" : it will explain to others and yourself your attitudes on homosexuality.

[luckyday24]

Jefferson, Madison, Locke, Paine, Adams, Franklin, and, of course, Washington himself were all considered deists. They denounced christianity as a farce. They believed in evolution, and they believed in God, but not in the bible.

Thomas Paine said, "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."

[garsgurl]

Yourgod78....why did you misquote washington?

the proper quote is;

"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated."

[YOURGOD78]

Feel free to delete all the comments you like..... I'm very aware that christians don't deal in open, or honest debate.

[explosives101]

The "far-left" in the 1700's were the Tory bastards who wanted England to rule this country.

[YOURGOD78]

"The government of the United States is in no way founded on the christian religion"- Treaty of Tripoli-article 11, Written by John Adams and signed by George Washington

I have never understood why you christians, and other people of religion hate your freedom so much, and why you would warp reality so readily. Just because you cannot see purpose in yourself doesn't mean we should all have to minimize our existence like you have.

[tshoebat]

The American consul in Algiers had to construct a treaty that would assure the ruler of Tripoli that troops would not be used to impose Christianity on a Muslim people.

The Constitution itself states that it was drafted, as noted above, "In the year of our Lord."

[YOURGOD78]

Again if the founders intended on simply not imposing christianity they would've worded it much different then they did. Why do you hate your freedom so much? Is it that important to limit others freedom for your faith? You talk of morality, but its christian who commit most the crimes, abortion, etc. I mean us atheists make up .02% of prison and 10% of the population. Christians make up 75% of the prison population and 80% of the country..... In the real world your faith is the problem...

[YOURGOD78]

"Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights."-Thomas Jefferson, 1808

[YOURGOD78]

"Of all the animosities which have existed amoung mankind,.... Religion appears to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated."-George Washington Sept. 20 1792

[PheonixRise173]

Amen.

God bless you. I'm so glad that someone is finally explaining the Founder Father's ideals.