Part I
A Critical Response to Bernard Katz On Our Founding Fathers
by Robert Nordlander
As published in the January-February 1985 issue of The American Rationalist: The Alternative to Superstition.

From Cover.

Because of the recent promotion of religion by political means 

{Editor's Introduction}.

The present issue is largely devoted to a subject which has occupied our pages off and on for the past six months. The present article takes the opposite position from the previous ones by Bernard Katz. THIS article marks the end of our treatment of this subject for the forseeable future. Some may think we have devoted far too much space to it already. Perhaps we have, but we feel that the issue is both important and far from settled. While none of our articles will end the controversy, we think that they will show that a case can be made for both sides, perhaps, only by selective quoting from the voluminous writings of the founding fathers.. [sic, and double periods throughout - kc]

A Critical Response to Bernard Katz On Our Founding Fathers by Robert Nordlander

Bernard Katz deserves credit for the scholarship he displayed in presenting the readers of the March/ April 1984 issue of The American Rationalist the first part of his essay "Was Ours to be a Christian Nation." Although the essay was replete with quotations from most of the Founding Fathers indicating various degrees of religious belief ranging from orthodox Protestant Christianity of a somewhat Calvinist persuasion to the frankly anti-Christian views of Deism with various shades of "rational" Christianity standing between these polarities, the conclusion that Bernard Katz arrived at did not follow logically from the data he served up to us in his presentation, i.e., that this country was to be in the expectations of the Founding Fathers, "a Christian nation."

It should be noted that the phrase, "a Christian nation," is quite a nebulous expression and means absolutely nothing until it is defined precisely. 

Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard, in Volume I of The Rise of American Civilization, chose to eschew the term "Christian" as the word to use when describing the religious beliefs of the leading Founding Fathers of this country.

This is how they put it:

"When the crisis came, Jefferson, Paine, John Adams, Washington, Franklin, Madison, and many lesser lights were to be reckoned among either the Unitarians or the Deists. It was not Cotton Mather's God to whom the authors of the Declaration of Independence appealed,' it was to Nature's God.' From whatever source derived, the effect of both Unitarianism and Deism was to hasten the retirement of historic theology from its empire over the intellect of American leaders and to clear the atmosphere for secular interests." (p. 449). (My emphasis).

"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,--as it has itself no character of enmity against the law, religion or tranquility of Musselmen "(The Great Quotations edited by George Seldes, p. 45).

President Adams certainly had every opportunity to press for the removal of the first clause quoted above found in the treaty with Tripoli as we have a deposition to this effect from the same source cited above which reads as follows:

"Now be it known, That I, John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said treaty do, by and within the consent of the Senate, accept, ratify and confirm the same and every clause and article thereof" (Ibid.} (My emphasis).

"In our annual report to the legislature, after stating the constitutional reasons against a public establishment of any religious instruction, we suggest the expediency of encouraging the different religious sects to establish, each for itself, a professorship of its own tenets on the confines of the University, so near as that its students may attend lectures there, and have the free use of the library, and every other accomodation [sic - kc] we can give them: preserving, however, their independence of us and each other.

"This fills a chasm objected to in ours as a defect in an institution professing to give instruction in all useful sciences. I think the invitation will be accepted by some sects from candid intentions and by others out of jealousy and rivalship. And by bringing the sects together, we shall soften their asperities, liberalize and neutralize their prejudices, and make the general religion a religion of peace, reason and morality." (Church and State in the United States by Anson Phelps Stokes, Volume I, p. 338). (Last emphasis was mine).

The impression that Bernard Katz gave of Jefferson favoring the promiscuous use of taxpayer-supported educational institutions by religionists of all stripes was absolutely unwarranted as the two quotations from the pen of Jefferson given above clearly show. Thomas Jefferson did not turn the "wall of separation" into a mere "curbstone."

Perhaps it might be worthwhile to take a look at the clause in the treaty signed at Vincennes On August 13, 1803 which provided for the financial support of religion that Katz cited.

"And whereas the greater part of the said tribe have been baptized and received into the Catholic church, to which they are much attached, the United States will give, annually, for seven years, one hundred dollars towards the support of a priest of that religion, who will engage to perform for said tribe the duties of his office, and also to instruct as many of their children as possible, in the rudiments of literature. And the United States will further give the sum of three hundred dollars, to assist the said tribe in the erection of a church." (/b/o[, Stokes, Volume I, p. 704).

Anson Phelps Stokes points out in the source just cited that Congress, in 1802, had created a fund to be used to maintain peaceful relations between the United States and the various Indian tribes and that Jefferson did not hesitate to financially aid an occasional missionary with public funds as these persons "were frequently used in making treaties with the Indians and in quieting disturbances." Jefferson was merely using any means at his disposal to deal with the Indian nations of his day operating under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution which says in part, "The Congress shall have power... To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes." Religion was one tool which could be used, among others, to maintain amicable relations with the Indians as it is not specifically forbidden by the provision in the Constitution just cited. Before Katz criticized Jefferson's financial support of missionaries with public funds, he should have taken a look at the social context in which this was done and the constitutional provision which sanctioned it.

"It is perhaps symbolic of the difference in the relationship of state and religion between the Continental Congress and the new government established by the Constitutional Convention of 1787, that whereas the Continental Congress instituted the practice of daily prayers immediately on first convening, the Convention met for four months without any recitation of prayers. After the Convention had been in session for a month, the octogenarian Franklin, who in earlier years had been pretty much of a Deist, moved 'that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.' The motion was received politely though not without embarrassment. According to the records of the Convention, 'After several unsuccessful attempts for silently postponing the matter by adjourning, the adjournment was at length carried, without any vote on the motion!" (pp. 121-122).

One wonders what the source of Bernard Katz's assertion that Franklin indeed did get to subject the delegates to the Convention to at least one prayer was? This reader was still wondering when Katz raised this issue in Part III of his essay.

As Bernard Katz virtually closed Part I of his essay with Thomas Jefferson's remark to Thomas Pickerlng [sic - kc] made in a letter dated February 27, 1821, it seems only fitting that the quotation ought to be repeated with the thought that follows, a thought that Katz chose to omit:

"No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its advances toward rational Christianity. When we shall have done away (with) the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one and one is three..." (Seldes, p. 374).

The American Rationalist January-February 1985
A Critical Response to Bernard Katz On Our Founding Fathers by Robert E. Nordlander
Part II

In Part II of Bernard Katz's "Was Ours to be a Christian Nation?" one can find very little to criticize as a great part of the colonial period of American history was dominated by a dogmatic form of Protestantism. Of course, the virulence of this dogmatic control over the minds of our colonial ancestors varied from one part of the colonies to another as did the degree of state control over the religious conscious of the individual. What was deplorable about the Katz effort was his neglect of those forces in colonial society itself that were pushing towards secularization, e.g., no mention was made of Roger Williams and his fight for a government that would leave the religious conscience of the individual alone.

  It was amusing to note that Benjamin Franklin appeared to be called upon by Katz in order to prove his questionable thesis that the Founding Fathers wanted this country to be a Christian nation when Franklin himself was a principal force in the struggle on the part of enlightened minds to end the suffocating influence that theology had on the mind of colonial humanity. If anyone typified secularism, Benjamin Franklin would have been that person.

Let's take a look at what the Baptist preacher cited above had to say on the subject of religious liberty as given in his The Bloody Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience:

"It is the will and command of God that, since the coming of His Son, the Lord Jesus, a permission of the most Paganish, Jewish, Turkish or anti-Christian consciences be granted to all men...God requireth not an uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state...An enforced uniformity of religion throughout a nation or civil state confounds the civil and religious, denies the priniples [sic - kc] of Christianity and civility, and that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh."

Again affirming that the conscience of the individual was sacred and inviolable in religious matters, Williams responded to the charge that he favored allowing the individual to behave licentiously without any social restraints whatsoever in an epistle with the title: "To the Town of Providence."

"It hath fallen out sometimes that both papists and protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked on one ship; upon which supposal I affirm, that all the liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges - that none of the papists, protestants, Jews or Turks, be forced to come to ship's prayers or worship, not compelled from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any. I further add, that I never denied, that notwithstanding this liberty, the commander of this ship ought to command the ship's course, yea, and also command that justice, peace and sobriety, be kept and practiced, both among the seamen and the passengers."

The significance of the creation of the College of Philadelphia along with a brief description of its curriculum can be found in The Rise of American Civilization by Charles A. and Mary R. Beard. We have first a description of the curriculum.

"So firmly fixed was the grip of tradition upon learning that Franklin, with all his twisting and turning, could not work a complete revolution in the course of study planned for the College of Philadelphia. In the interest of peace and endowment, a compromise was made. Latin, Greek and the scholastic subjects of the age, were provided for boys who wished to prepare for law, medicine, or divinity. Unto these things were added, for the benefit of those intending to follow other paths, such practical studies as mathematics, surveying, navigation, and accounting; scientific branches - mechanics, physics, chemistry, agriculture, and natural history; instruction in history, civics, ethics, government, trade, commerce, and international law; and finally, for the worldly wise and curious, training in modern languages." (Volume I, pp. 172-173).

The significance of all this is discussed in the following terms by the Beards:

"Such was the plan worked out by Franklin in cooperation with the first provost, William Smith, for the college launched in 1755. To suggest that it anticipated the most enlightened program evolved by the liberal university of the late nineteenth century is to speak with caution; in fact, it stands out like a beacon light in the long history of human intelligence. Nor is it without significance that the first liberal institution of higher learning in the western world appeared on the frontier of civilization - in colonial America where an energetic people were wrestling with the realities of an abundant nature and the problems of self-government. Though a Scotch clergyman gave academic form to the course of instruction at Philadelphia, the spirit and concept came from Benjamin Franklin, a self-educated, provincial workman whose mind had never been conquered by the scholastics." (p.173, my emphasis).

Undoubtedly, the Newtonian revolution in science played a role in creating the kind of intellectual atmosphere in which the College of Philadelphia was possible if not inevitable. 

While the American colonial mind in the eighteenth century may have believed that "the most elevated system of morals the world has ever known" was produced by Jesus Christ, a sentiment shared by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, it was not the incarnation of "God" in the person known as Jesus of Nazareth that produced this phenomenon. This latter belief was being abandoned by the American intelligentsia of the eighteenth century. Bernard Katz gives us the impression that Newtonian science had little or no effect on this belief whatsoever. Perhaps it might be helpful to view Thomas Jefferson's admiration for Jesus in this light and then to take a look at his objections to the theological nonsense that has surrounded the name of Jesus. We find Jefferson's admiration for Jesus espressed [sic - kc] in a letter to W. Short dated October 31, 1819.

"But the greatest of all reformers of the depraved religion of his own country, was Jesus of Nazareth. Abstracting what is really his own from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distinguished by its lustre from the dross of his biographers, and as separable from that as the diamond from the dunghill, we have the outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man."

In a footnote appended to this letter, Jefferson identified that to which he referred to as rubbish thus:

"The immaculate conception of Jesus, his deification, the creation of the world by him, his miraculous powers, his resurrection and visible ascension, his corporeal presence in the Eucharist, the Trinity, original sin, atonement, regeneration, election, orders of the Hierarchy, etc."

Although Jefferson admired the character of Jesus, as he defined him, he did not hesitate to express his disagreement with Jesus whenever it appeared to him there was a need to do so. In a letter to W. Short, written in 1820, Jefferson put it this way:

"It is not to be understood that I am with him in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance toward forgiveness of sin; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it."

Turning to Benjamin Franklin, as perhaps the most representative American intellect of the eighteenth century, 

let us take a look at his religious beliefs as expressed in a letter to Ezra Stiles dated March 9, 1790. First we have his opinion on the question of a god.

"You desire to know something of my Religion. It is the first time I have been questioned upon it. But I cannot take your curiosity amiss, and shall endeavor in a few Words to gratify it. Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universie [sic - kc]. That he governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him is doing good to his other Children. That the soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental Principles of all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever Sect I meet with them."

Now we come to Franklin's thoughts about Jesus.

"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire. I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England some Doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that Belief has the good Consequence, as probably it has, of making his Doctrines respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the Unbelievers in his Government of the World with any peculiar marks of displeasure."

Franklin's Deism is certainly well-stated in the first passage quoted from his letter to Stiles while his tolerance, common sense and Yankee pragmatism come through loud and clear in the second passage quoted. There is no union of Newtonian science and Calvinism here. Franklin's god is not offended by the fact that there are people who do not believe in his existence. There is no room for the Christian god in the mind of Franklin, particularly the Christian god as defined by John Calvin.

Perhaps the premise from which flows the conclusion that our Founding Fathers wanted our country to be a Christian nation advanced by Bernard Katz ought to be examined. He stated that premise quite succinctly in Part III of his effort to Christianize the Founding Fathers. According to Katz, "They all accepted the new synthesis of Newtonian science, Lockean psychology and politics, and Calvinistic theology as it worked out in practice in the New Israel." (My emphasis).

No one can deny the importance of Newtonian and Lockean thought to the leading intellects of the colonial and the revolutionary period of our history. But to suggest that the Founding Fathers of this country also accepted "Calvinistic theology as it worked out in practice in the New Israel" is to suggest that which is simply not true. 

That Katz was enunciating nonsense in his discussion of The Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty will be obvious when we review a comment of Jefferson on the preamble to this statute which Katz quoted in an effort to prove that it was "flooded with Christianity, including a veiled reference to Jesus Christ." This is what Thomas Jefferson, the author of the statute, had to say about this subject:

"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting the words `Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion.' The insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."

Apparently those who wished to insert the words "Jesus Christ" into the statute did not think the preamble contained "a veiled reference to Jesus Christ" nor that it was "flooded with Christianity." The generic god, the god of brand "x" - if you will - or the god of Deism was the god mentioned in The Virginia Statute of Relgious [sic - kc] Liberty. The Christian God had no place in it whatsoever.

"The small progress we have made after four or five weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other - our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes as ayes, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding.

  We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government, and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all around Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? 

In the beginning of the struggle with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. - Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of men. [emphasis in Elliot's edition - kc] And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that 'except the Lord build the House they labour in vain those that build it.' I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to cahnce, [sic - kc] war and conquest.

"I therefore beg leave to move - that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that Service.". [sic - kc]

"These were the exact words of Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention as recorded by James Madison. No prayer at all was uttered or read by Franklin. Now let us take a look at the final scene of this comedy as recorded for posterity by James Madison.. [quotation marks and indentation in original - kc]

"Mr. Sherman seconded the motion.. 

"Mr. Hamilton and several others expressed their apprehensions that however proper such a resolution might have been at the beginning of this convention, it might as this late day, 1. bring on it some disagreeable animadversions, and 2. lead the public to believe that the embarrassments and dissensions within the Convention had suggested this measure. It was answered by Dr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman and others, that the past omission of a duty could not justify a further omission - that the rejection of such a proposition would expose the Convention to more unpleasant animadversions than the adoption of it: and that the alarm out of doors that might be excited for the state of affairs within, would at least be as likely to do good as ill.

"Mr. Williamson observed that the true cause of the omission could not be mistaken. The Convention had no funds..

"Mr. Randolph proposed in order to give a favorable aspect to ye measure, that a sermon be preached at the request of the convention on [the] fourth of July, the anniversary of Independence, and thenceforward prayers be used in ye Convention every morning. Doctor Franklin seconded this motion. After several unsuccessful attempts for silently postponing this matter by adjournment, the adjournment was at length carried, without any vote on the motion."

It should be obvious that the delegates had been put in an embarrassing position by Franklin. They obviously didn't want prayers 

In light of the plea Franklin made at the Constitutional Convention for daily prayer, it might be helpful to our understanding of this complex personality to note his attitude towards governmental financial support of religion as expressed in a letter to Dr. Richard Price on October 9, 1780.

"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support it, so that its professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

Turning to Bernard Katz's discussion of the religious clauses of the First Amendment, we again find him deficient in his research. To gain a proper understanding of those clauses, we have to understand the historical circumstances of the people involved in the authorship of the First Amendment. It is not an accident that the religious clauses of the First Amendment read as follows:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

James Madison had been recently victorious in preventing the State of Virginia from taxing the people of that state for the support of all Christian denominations. This would have had the practical effect of making a legal establishment of the Christian religion had not Madison and Jefferson, along with the support of Christians who did not wish to be forced to pay for churches they did not attend and the dissemination of religious doctrines with which they disagreed, been successful. The distinction between Christianity in general and Christian sects in particular was made very explicit by James Madison in his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religous [sic - kc] Assessments.

We have already commented previously on Bernard Katz's contention that Thomas Jefferson had reduced the wall of separation between church and state to a "curbstone." It might be instructive to view the language of James Madison as applied to this subject as it reflects his broad view of the issue of governmental involvement in religion.

"Strongly-guarded as is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history." (Detached Memoranda).

It is only fair to point out that Madison did not have a naive faith in constitutional or legal guarantees. He was always conscious of the realities of political power and the threat that the misuse of political power posed to our civil and religious liberties. Speaking of religious liberties in a letter addressed to Thomas Jefferson on October 17, 1788, Madison made the following observation:

"I am sure that the rights of conscience in particular, if submitted to public definition, would be narrowed much more than they are likely ever to be by an assumed power. One of the objections in New England was that the Constitution by prohibiting religious tests, opened a door for Jews, Turks and infidels....In Virginia, I have seen the bill of rights violated in every instance where it has been opposed to a popular current. Notwithstanding the explicit provisions contained in that instrument for the rights of Conscience, it is well known that a religious establishment would have taken place in that State, if the Legislative majority had found, as they expected, a majority of the people in favor of the measure; and I am persuaded that if a majority of the people were now of one sect, the measure would still take place, and on narrower grounds than it was then proposed notwithstanding the additional obstacle which the law has since created. Wherever the real power in a government lies, there is the danger of oppression."

To what then can we truly attribute religious freedom? Madison answered this question in an earlier letter to Patrick Henry dated June 12, 1788.

"This freedom arises from that multiplicity of sects, which pervades America, and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society. For where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest."

As for the explicitly Christian statement made by John Adams during his inaugural address, we are obliged to remember that it was made shortly after the reign of Robespierre and Madame Guillotine in France for which Dame Reason and her critique of religious orthodoxy were given the blame. It was a period in history comparable to the 1950's when "God" became America's ally in the Cold War. We have to remember that the Christianity of John Adams was Unitarianism. When he was not on public display, he expressed himself quite explicitly on the subject of orthodox Christianity in a letter addressed to Thomas Jefferson dated April 19, 1817.