No.

1186
Delivered May 13, 2011 June 7, 2011

Did America Have a Christian Founding?

Mark David Hall, Ph.D.

Abstract: Did America have a Christian Founding? This

disputed question, far from being only of historical inter-
est, has important implications for how we conceive of the Talking Points
role of religion in the American republic. Mark David Hall • While America did not have a Christian
begins by considering two popular answers to the query— Founding in the sense of creating a theocra-
“Of course not!” and “Absolutely!”—both of which distort cy, it was deeply shaped by Christian moral
the Founders’ views. After showing that Christian ideas truths, and the Founders created a regime
were one of the important intellectual influences on the that was hospitable to Christians as well as
Founders, he discusses three major areas of agreement with to practitioners of other religions.
respect to religious liberty and church–state relations at the • To a person, the Founders were committed
time of the Founding: Religious liberty is a right and must to protecting religious liberty.
be protected; the national government should not create • Moreover, almost without exception, they
an established church, and states should have them only if agreed that civic authorities could promote
they encourage and assist Christianity; and religion belongs and encourage Christianity and that it was
in the public square. In short, while America did not have appropriate for elected officials to make reli-
a Christian Founding in the sense of creating a theocracy, gious arguments in the public square.
its Founding was deeply shaped by Christian moral truths. • There was no support among the Founders
More important, it created a regime that was hospitable to for contemporary visions of a strict separa-
Christians, but also to practitioners of other religions. tion of church and state that would have po-
litical leaders avoid religious language and
require public spaces to be stripped of reli-
The role of religion in the American republic has gious symbols.
been a source of controversy since the nation’s incep-
tion. Debates are particularly fierce when they concern
religious liberty and the proper relationship between
church and state. Arguments on these questions are
often framed in the light of the Founders’ intentions,
but unfortunately, their views are often distorted. This paper, in its entirety, can be found at:
http://report.heritage.org/hl1186
Did America have a Christian Founding? Two popu-
Produced by the B. Kenneth Simon
lar answers to this query—“Of course not!” and “Abso- Center for Principles and Politics
lutely!”—both distort the Founders’ views. There is in Published by The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002–4999
(202) 546-4400 • heritage.org
Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting
the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to
aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.
No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

fact a great deal of evidence that America’s Found- conviction that there should be a high wall of sepa-
ers were influenced by Christian ideas, and there ration between church and state was written into
are many ways in which the Founders’ views might the Constitution and reinforced by the First Amend-
inform contemporary political and legal controversies. ment. As we shall see, there are significant problems
with this story.
Two Common but Mistaken Answers
According to those who answer “Of course not!”
America’s Founders were guided by secular ideas and Did America have a Christian Founding? Two
self, class, or state interests. These scholars do not popular answers to this query—“Of course not!”
deny that the Founders were religious, but they con- and “Absolutely!”—both distort the Founders’
tend that they were mostly deists—i.e., persons who views.
reject many Christian doctrines and who think God
does not interfere in the affairs of men and nations.
The second answer to this question is offered by
For instance, historian Frank Lambert writes that popular Christian writers such as Peter Marshall,
“[the] significance of the Enlightenment and Deism for David Manuel, John Eidsmoe, Tim LaHaye, William
the birth of the American republic, and especially the J. Federer, David Barton, and Gary DeMar. They
relationship between church and state within it, can contend that not only did America have a Christian
hardly be overstated.” Similarly, University of Chicago Founding, but virtually all of the Founders were
law professor Geoffrey Stone avers that “deistic beliefs devout, orthodox Christians who consciously drew
played a central role in the framing of the American from their religious convictions to answer most
republic” and that the “Founding generation viewed political questions.
religion, and particularly religion’s relation to govern-
To support their case, these writers are fond of
ment, through an Enlightenment lens that was deeply
finding religious quotations from the Founders.
skeptical of orthodox Christianity.” Virtually identical
The rule seems to be that if a Founder utters any-
claims are made by Edwin Gaustad, Steven Wald-
thing religious, at any time in his life, he counts as
man, Richard Hughes, Steven Keillor, David Holmes,
an orthodox or even evangelical Christian Founder.
Brooke Allen, and many others.1
Using this methodology, Tim LaHaye concludes, for
In addition to asserting that the Founders were instance, that John Adams was “deeply committed
deists, these authors regularly contend that they to Jesus Christ and the use of Biblical principles in
abandoned their ancestors’ intolerant approach to governing the nation,” and George Washington, if
church–state relations and embraced religious liber- he was alive today, “would freely associate with the
ty. They often concede that some Founders thought Bible-believing branch of evangelical Christianity
civic authorities should support religion but argue that is having such a positive influence upon our
that this is irrelevant as Jefferson’s and Madison’s nation.”2 This approach leads to similarly bad history.

1. Frank Lambert, The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
2003), p. 161; Geoffrey R. Stone, “The World of the Framers: A Christian Nation?” University of California Law Review,
Vol. 56 (October 2008), pp. 7–8; Steven Waldman, Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom
in America (New York: Random House, 2008), p. 193; Richard T. Hughes, Myths America Lives By (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 2003), pp. 50–57; Steven J. Keillor, This Rebellious House: American History and the Truth of Christianity
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), p. 85; David L. Holmes, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2006), pp. 163–164; Brooke Allen, Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee,
2006), p. xiii.
2. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Fleming H. Revell, 1977); John Eidsmoe,
Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1987);
Tim LaHaye, Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Brentwood, Tenn.: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1987), pp. 90, 113; William J.
Federer, America’s God and Country (Coppell, Tex.: FAME Publishing, 1994); David Barton, Original Intent: The Courts,
the Constitution, & Religion, 4th ed. (Aledo, Tex.: Wallbuilder Press, 2005); and Gary DeMar, America’s Christian Heritage
(Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003).

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

What Exactly Would a Christian noted that there is virtually no evidence that more
Founding Look Like? than a handful of civic leaders in the Founding era—
In order to answer the question “Did America notably Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, Thomas
have a Christian Founding?” properly, we must first Jefferson, John Adams, and (if we count him as an
understand it. Let us begin by considering what, American) Tom Paine—embraced anything approx-
exactly, would constitute a Christian Founding? imating this view. Moreover, a good argument can
be made that even these Founders were influenced
One possibility is simply that the Founders iden- by Christianity in significant ways—and it certainly
tified themselves as Christians. Clearly, they did. In does not follow that they desired the strict separa-
1776, every European American, with the exception tion of church and state.4
of about 2,500 Jews, identified himself or herself as
a Christian. Moreover, approximately 98 percent of A fourth possibility is that the Founders acted as
the colonists were Protestants, with the remaining Christians in their private and/or public lives. Some
1.9 percent being Roman Catholics.3 historians have argued that the Founding cannot
be called Christian because some Founders did not
But this reality is not particularly interesting. join churches, take communion, or remain faithful
These men and women might have been bad Chris- to their spouses. Moreover, in their public capac-
tians, they may have been Christians significantly ity, they did not act in a Christian manner because
influenced by non-Christian ideas, or they may they did things such as fight an unjust war against
even have been Christians self-consciously attempt- England and did not immediately abolish slavery.5
ing to create a secular political order.
Second, we might mean that the Founders were
all sincere Christians. Yet sincerity is very difficult In light of the many and powerful claims that
for the scholars, or anyone else, to judge. In most the Founders were deists, it should be noted
cases, the historical record gives us little with which that there is virtually no evidence that more
to work. And even if we can determine, say, that a than a handful of civic leaders in the Founding
era embraced anything approximating this view.
particular Founder was a member, regular attendee,
and even officer in a church, it does not necessarily
mean he was a sincere Christian. Perhaps he did these In some cases, these critiques do not take into
things simply because society expected it of him. account historical context, such as the difficulty of
Third, we might mean that the Founders were joining Calvinist churches in 18th century Amer-
orthodox Christians. In some cases—for example, ica. In others, they neglect the traditional Chris-
Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Jay, Roger tian teaching that even saints sin. If the standard of
Sherman, and John Witherspoon—there is abun- being a Christian is moral perfection, no one has
dant evidence that these Founders embraced and ever been a Christian. Most egregious, it is pro-
articulated orthodox Christian ideas. But the lack of foundly unhistorical to judge the Founders by spe-
records often makes it difficult to speak with confi- cific policy outcomes that seem perfectly clear to
dence on this issue. 21st century Christians.
Nevertheless, in light of the many and powerful This is not to say that biblical principles are rela-
claims that the Founders were deists, it should be tivistic, but their applications to specific issues in

3. Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman, One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society (New York:
Harmony Books, 1993), pp. 28–29.
4. For further discussion, see Mark David Hall, “Faith and the Founders of the American Republic: Distortion and
Consensus,” in Faith and Politics: Religion in the Public Square, Proceedings of the Maryville Symposium, Vol. 3, 2010
(Maryville, Tenn.: Maryville College, 2011), pp. 55–79.
5. See, for instance, Mark A. Noll, Nathan O. Hatch, and George M. Marsden, The Search for Christian America (Westchester,
Ill.: Crossway Books, 1983), pp. 19, 53–54, 95–100.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

particular times and places may vary or be unclear. experience, and like all humans, they were motivat-
To take a contemporary example, one should be ed to varying degrees by self, class, or state interests.
very careful in saying, for instance, that someone is My contention is merely that orthodox Christianity
a good Christian politician only if she votes for (or had a very significant influence on America’s Found-
against) tax cuts or national health care. ers and that this influence is often overlooked by
A final possibility is that the Founders were influ- students of the American Founding.
enced by Christian ideas. Scholars have spent a great What Constitutes America’s Founding?
amount of time attempting to discern influence. Book
after book has been written about whether the Found- I have assumed here that America was founded in
ers were most influenced by Lockean liberalism, clas- the late 18th century, but some authors have argued,
sical republicanism, the Scottish Enlightenment, etc. in the words of Gary DeMar, that our “nation begins
not in 1776, but more than one hundred fifty years
I believe that this is the most reasonable way to earlier.”8 Let us consider three major possibilities
approach the question “Did America have a Christian that might count as the country’s founding: (1) the
Founding?” In doing so, it is important to note that establishment of colonial governments in the 17th
nominal Christians might be influenced by Christian century, (2) America’s break with Great Britain in
ideas, just as it is possible for an orthodox Christian the 1770s, and (3) the creation of a new constitu-
to be influenced by non-Christian ideas. I believe tional order in the 1780s and 1790s.
that an excellent case can be made that Christianity
had a profound influence on the Founders.6 1. America’s Colonial Origins
Few doubt that Puritans were serious Christians
attempting to create, in the words of Massachusetts
Among the different, but often overlapping, Governor John Winthrop, “a shining city upon a
intellectual influences of the era, Orthodox
hill” (a reference to Matthew 5:14). Puritans sepa-
Christianity had a very significant influence on
rated church and state, but they clearly thought the
America’s Founders, and this influence is often
overlooked by students of the American Founding.
two institutions should work in tandem to support,
protect, and promote true Christianity.
Other colonies, however, are often described
Before proceeding, I should emphasize that I as being significantly different from those in New
am not arguing that Christianity was the only sig- England. Historian John Fea, for instance, contends
nificant influence on America’s Founders or that it that “the real appeal of Jamestown was economic
influenced each Founder in the exact same manner. opportunity and the very real possibility of striking
Clearly there were a variety of different, but often it rich.”9 It is certainly the case that colonists were
overlapping, intellectual influences in the era.7 The attracted to the New World by economic opportu-
Founders were also informed by the Anglo–Ameri- nity (in New England as well as in the South), and
can political–legal tradition and their own political yet even in the southern colonies the protection and

6. Alan Gibson provides an overview of scholarly attempts to understand the intellectual influences on America’s Founders
in Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates Over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006). Like many other scholars, he almost completely neglects the possibility that
Christian ideas may have had an important influence in the era.
7. I discuss ways Christian influence may have interacted with other intellectual traditions, especially Lockean liberalism, in
“Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: The Influence of the Reformed Tradition on the American Founding,” a paper presented at
the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., September 2010. A revised version
of the paper will be published as a book chapter with the same title in Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall, ed.,
Faith and the Founders of the American Republic (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).
8. DeMar, America’s Christian Heritage, p. 13.
9. John Fea, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), p. 82.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

promotion of Christianity was more important than dice, May-games, gamesters, masques, revels,
many authors assume. For instance, Virginia’s 1610 bull-baiting, cock-fighting, bear-baiting, and
legal code begins: the like, which excite the people to rudeness,
Whereas his Majesty, like himself a most zeal- cruelty, looseness, and irreligion….11
ous prince, has in his own realms a principal An extensive survey of early colonial constitu-
care of true religion and reverence to God tions and laws reveals many similar provisions. As
and has always strictly commanded his gen- well, at least nine of the 13 colonies had established
erals and governors, with all his forces where- churches, and all required officeholders to be Chris-
soever, to let their ways be, like his ends, for tians—or, in some cases, Protestants. Quaker Penn-
the glory of God…. sylvania, for instance, expected officeholders to be
The first three articles of this text go on to state “such as possess faith in Jesus Christ.”12
that the colonists have embarked on a “sacred cause,” If one is to understand the story of the United
to mandate regular church attendance, and to pro- States of America, it is important to have a prop-
claim that anyone who speaks impiously against the er appreciation for its Christian colonial roots. By
Trinity or who blasphemes God’s name will be put almost any measure, colonists of European descent
to death.10 who settled in the New World were serious Chris-
tians whose constitutions, laws, and practices
reflected the influence of Christianity. Although
By almost any measure, colonists of European some authors refer to this “planting” as a “found-
descent who settled in the New World were serious ing,” such a designation is rare among scholars.
Christians whose constitutions, laws, and Instead, most scholars consider America to have
practices reflected the influence of Christianity. been founded in the late 18th century around one
of, or some combination of, two major events: the
Early colonial laws and constitutions such as the War for Independence and the creation of America’s
Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders of constitutional order.
Connecticut, and Massachusetts Body of Liberties 2. The War for Independence
are filled with such language—and in some cases, On the surface, the War for American Indepen-
they incorporate biblical texts wholesale. Perhaps dence appears to be an inherently un-Christian
more surprisingly, tolerant, Quaker Pennsylvania event. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 13, seems to
was more similar to Puritan New England than many leave little room for revolution: “Let every soul be
realize. The Charter of Liberties and Frame of Govern- subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
ment of the Province of Pennsylvania (1681) begins by power but of God: the powers that be are ordained
making it clear that God has ordained government, by God. Whosoever therefore resists the power,
and it even quotes Romans 13 to this effect. Article resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist
38 of the document lists “offenses against God” that shall receive to themselves damnation.”
may be punished by the magistrate, including:
Historically, Christian thinkers have taken this
swearing, cursing, lying, profane talking, and similar biblical passages to prohibit rebellion
drunkenness, drinking of healths, obscene against civic authorities. However, in the 12th cen-
words, incest, sodomy…stage-plays, cards,

10. Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall, The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and
Church–State Relations in the American Founding (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund Press, 2009), p. 84. I have modernized
spelling and punctuation in all quotations.
11. Ibid., pp. 86–119.
12. Ibid., p. 118. Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey did not have established churches. New York had
establishments in select counties. Most colonies had religious tests for office, and all had laws encouraging and protecting
Christianity and Christian morality.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

tury, some Christian scholars began to allow for the “[i]t is your G-d Damned Religion of this Country
possibility that inferior magistrates might overthrow that ruins the Country; Damn your religion.”14
evil kings. These ideas were developed and signifi- The Declaration of Independence, the most
cantly expanded by the Protestant Reformers. John famous document produced by the Continental
Calvin, the most politically conservative of these men, Congress during the War for Independence, pro-
contended that, in some cases, inferior magistrates claims: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that
might resist an ungodly ruler. However, Reformed all men are created equal; that they are endowed
leaders such as John Knox, George Buchanan, and by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;
Samuel Rutherford of Scotland, Stephanus Junius that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
Brutus and Theodore Beza of France, and Christo- happiness.” As well, this text references “the laws of
pher Goodman and John Ponet of England argued nature and of nature’s God” and closes by “appeal-
that inferior magistrates must resist unjust rulers and ing to the Supreme Judge of the world” and not-
even permitted or required citizens to do so. ing the signers’ “reliance on the protection of divine
It is worth noting that all of these men wrote Providence.” The Founders’ use of Christian rheto-
before Locke published his Two Treatises of Govern- ric and arguments becomes even more evident if
ment and that this tradition was profoundly influen- one looks at other statements of colonial rights and
tial in America. Indeed, between 55 percent and 75 concerns such as the Suffolk Resolves, the Declara-
percent of white citizens in this era associated them- tion of Rights, and the Declaration of the Causes
selves with Calvinist churches, and members of the and Necessity of Taking up Arms—to say nothing
tradition were significantly overrepresented among of the dozen explicitly Christian calls for prayer,
American intellectual elites.13 fasting, and thanksgiving issued by the Continental
The influence of the Reformed political tradition and Confederation Congresses.15
in the Founding era is manifested in a variety of ways,
but particularly noteworthy is the almost unanimous
The influence of the Reformed political tradition
support Calvinist clergy offered to American patri- in the Founding era is manifested in a variety of
ots. This was noticed by the other side, as suggested ways, but particularly noteworthy is the almost
by the Loyalist Peter Oliver, who railed against the unanimous support Calvinist clergy offered to
“black Regiment, the dissenting Clergy, who took so American patriots.
active a part in the Rebellion.” King George himself
reportedly referred to the War for Independence
as “a Presbyterian Rebellion.” From the English Some scholars have argued that the use of “dis-
perspective, British Major Harry Rooke was largely tant” words for God or “vague and generic God-
correct when he confiscated a presumably Calvinist language” like “Nature’s God,” Creator,” and
book from an American prisoner and remarked that “Providence” in the Declaration and other texts is

13. Some scholars argue that Locke’s political philosophy is sharply at odds with earlier Protestant resistance literature, but I
believe it is best understood as a logical extension of it. In any case, the American Founders clearly thought Locke’s ideas
were compatible with orthodox Christianity. For further discussion, see Hall, “Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos: The Influence
of the Reformed Tradition on the American Founding.” An excellent example of Protestant resistance literature is
Stephanus Junius Brutus, Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos, ed. George Garnett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1975), Vol. 1, p. 426.
14. Douglass Adair and John A. Schutz, eds., Peter Oliver’s Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1961), p. 41; Paul Johnson, A History of the American People (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), p. 173;
John Leach, “A Journal Kept by John Leach, During His Confinement by the British, In Boston Gaol, in 1775,” The New
England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 19 (1865), p. 256.
15. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, p. 220. For a discussion of these and other statements of colonial concerns, see Mark
David Hall, The Old Puritan and a New Nation: Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic (book mss. under
review), chapter 3.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

evidence that the Founders were deists.16 However, Jacob: a God who is active in the affairs of men and
indisputably orthodox Christians regularly used nations.
such appellations.
3. The Creation of America’s Constitutional Order
For instance, the Westminster Standards (a clas-
In light of the above discussion, it is perhaps sur-
sic Reformed confession of faith), both in the origi-
prising that the Constitution says little about God or
nal 1647 version and in the 1788 American revision,
religion. Of course, there are hints that America is a
refer to the deity as “the Supreme Judge,” “the great
Christian nation (e.g., a pocket veto occurs 10 days
Creator of all things,” “the first cause,” “righteous
after a bill is passed by Congress, Sundays excepted),
judge,” “God the Creator,” and “the supreme Law
but these seem to be more than balanced by Article
and King of all the world.” The Standards also regu-
VI’s prohibition of religious tests for federal offices.
larly reference God’s providence and even proclaim
The only specific mention of God is found in the
that “[t]he light of nature showeth that there is a
date the Constitution was written: “in the Year of
God….” Similarly, Isaac Watts, the “father of Eng-
our Lord 1787.”
lish Hymnody,” referred to the deity as “nature’s
God” in a poem about Psalm 148: 10. Jeffry H. Mor-
rison has argued persuasively that the Declaration’s The hundreds of men who attended the Federal
references to “‘divine Providence’ and ‘the Supreme Convention of 1787, participated in the state
Judge of the World’ would have been quite accept- ratification conventions, and were elected to
able to Reformed Americans in 1776, and conjured the first federal Congress called themselves
up images of the ‘distinctly biblical God’ when they Christians, and many were influenced by
heard or read the Declaration.”17 orthodox Christian ideas in important ways.
It may be objected that Jefferson, the man who
drafted the Declaration, was hardly an orthodox
What is going on? Some have argued that Ameri-
Christian, and that is certainly the case. But this is
ca began as a Christian country but that the authors
beside the point. As Jefferson himself pointed out in
of the Constitution recognized that this was not a
an 1825 letter, the object of the document was not to
good thing, and so they created, in the words of
“find out new principles, or new arguments…. [I]t
Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, a “Godless
was intended to be an expression of the American
Constitution.” To reinforce this point, the Found-
mind, and to give that expression the proper tone
ers added the First Amendment to the Constitution,
and spirit called for by the occasion. All its author-
which begins “Congress shall make no law respect-
ity rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the
ing an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
day.…”18 Even though Jefferson believed in a vague,
free exercise thereof….”19
distant deity, when his fellow delegates revised
and approved the Declaration, virtually all of them On the surface, this is a plausible hypothesis, and
understood “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” and “Provi- a few Founding-era documents such as James Madi-
dence” to refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and son’s “Memorial and Remonstrance” (1785) and

16. See, for instance, Holmes, Faiths of the Founding Fathers, pp. 47, 65; Fea, Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?, pp.
131–33, 136.
17. Westminster Standards, 1: 10; 5: 1, 2, 6; 19: 5; 23: 1; 1: 1, 7; 5; and 21: 5. See also The Works of the Late Reverend and
Learned Isaac Watts (London, 1753), Vol. 4, p. 356, and The Windham Herald, April 15, 1797, p. 4. Such examples could
be multiplied almost indefinitely. Jeffry H. Morrison, “Political Theology in the Declaration of Independence,” paper
delivered at a conference on the Declaration of Independence, Princeton University, April 5–6, 2002. I am grateful to
Daniel L. Dreisbach for pointing me to the language of the Standards.
18. Jefferson to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825, in Adrienne Koch and William Peden, eds., The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas
Jefferson (New York: Random House, 1993), pp. 656–657.
19. Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1996); Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, p. 433.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists book, article, or pamphlet. In fact, the Founders
(1802) seem to offer some support for this view. As referenced the Bible more than all Enlightenment
we shall see, this interpretation of the Founding is authors combined.20
inaccurate even with respect to Jefferson and Madi- If Shain and Lutz make the argument for Chris-
son, and if one looks beyond them to the hundreds of tian influence in broad strokes, others have made
men who attended the Federal Convention of 1787, it in finer strokes through studies of individual
participated in the state ratification conventions, and Founders. For instance, I have co-edited four books
were elected to the first federal Congress, it becomes that collectively shine light on 26 different Found-
completely implausible. These individuals, without ers and several major traditions. These books, along
exception, called themselves Christians, and a good with a number of other articles and books on less
case can be made that many were influenced by famous Founders, demonstrate that there is little
orthodox Christian ideas in important ways. evidence that the Founders as a group were deists
who desired the separation of church and state.21
There was almost universal agreement that if Before discussing the positive influence of Chris-
there was to be legislation on religious or moral tian ideas on the American Founders, let me briefly
matters, it should be done by state and local suggest the central reason why the Constitution
governments. appears to be “Godless.” Simply put, the Found-
ers were creating a national government for a very
few limited purposes—notably those enumerated
This argument is made well in broad strokes in Article I, Section 8. There was almost universal
by Barry Alan Shain in The Myth of American Indi- agreement that if there was to be legislation on reli-
vidualism: The Protestant Origins of American Politi- gious or moral matters, it should be done by state
cal Thought. It also receives interesting empirical and local governments.22
support from Donald Lutz, who examined 15,000
In fact, states remained active in this business
pamphlets, articles, and books on political subjects
well into the 20th century. It is true that the last
published in the late 18th century. His study found
state church was disestablished in 1832, but many
that the Bible was cited far more often than any other

20. Barry Alan Shain, The Myth of American Individualism: The Protestant Origins of American Political Thought (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1994); Donald S. Lutz, “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late Eighteenth-
Century American Political Thought,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 78 (March 1984), pp. 189–197.
21. Daniel L. Dreisbach, Mark D. Hall, and Jeffry H. Morrison, The Founders on God and Government (Lanham, Md.: Rowman
and Littlefield, 2004) (containing essays about George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,
John Witherspoon, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, George Mason, and Daniel and Charles Carroll); Dreisbach, Hall,
and Morrison, The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press,
2009) (containing essays about Abigail Adams, Samuel Adams, Oliver Ellsworth, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry,
John Jay, Thomas Paine, Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Rush, Roger Sherman, and Mercy Otis Warren); Dreisbach and
Hall, Faith and the Founders of the American Republic (containing eight thematic essays and profiles of John Dickinson,
Isaac Backus, John Leland, Elias Boudinot, Gouverneur Morris, and John Hancock); Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights
(a massive collection of primary source documents on religious liberty and church–state relations in the Founding era).
See also John E. O’Connor, William Paterson: Lawyer and Statesman, 1745–1806 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press, 1986), and Marc M. Arkin, “Regionalism and the Religion Clauses: The Contribution on Fisher Ames,” Buffalo Law
Review, Vol. 47 (Spring 1999), pp. 763–828.
22. Even Thomas Jefferson observed: “Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in
religious disciple, has been delegated to the General [i.e., federal] Government. It must then rest with the States, as
far as it can be in any human authority.” Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, January 23, 1808, in Dreisbach and Hall,
Sacred Rights, p. 531. The Founders did think legislators should take religion and morality into account when the
national government is acting within its enumerated powers. See, for instance, the debates in the first Congress over the
assumption of state debts and excise taxes in Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 14 vols. (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1972–2004), Vol. 10, pp. 568, 581; Vol. 13, pp. 1419–1424; Vol. 14, p. 247.

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states retained religious tests for public office, had and practical decisions (e.g., all but one Supreme
laws aimed at restricting vice, required prayer in Court Justice prior to John Marshall argued pub-
schools, and so forth. Because the federal govern- licly that the Court could strike down an act of
ment was not to be concerned with these issues, Congress if it violated natural law).25
they were not addressed in the Constitution. The 3. Similarly, Christianity informed the Founders’
First Amendment merely reinforced this under- understanding of substantive concepts such as
standing with respect to the faith—i.e., Congress has “liberty.” Barry Shain has identified eight differ-
no power to establish a national church or restrict ent ways in which the word was used in the
the free exercise of religion.23 18th century. Only one of these is related to the
Even though Christianity is not mentioned in excessively individualistic way the term is often
the Constitution or Bill or Rights, the Founders of used today. Instead, the Founders were far more
the American republic were influenced by Christian likely to see liberty as the freedom to do what is
ideas in significant ways. For example: morally correct, as illustrated by United States
1. Their faith taught them that humans were sin- Supreme Court Justice James Wilson’s marvel-
ful. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. ous dictum: “Without liberty, law loses its nature
51, “If men were angels, no government would and its name, and becomes oppression. Without
be necessary. If angels were to govern men, nei- law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and
ther external or internal controls on government becomes licentiousness.”26
would be necessary.” This conviction led them 4. America’s Founders believed that humans were
to avoid utopian experiments such as those later created in the imago dei—the image of God. Part
pursued during the French Revolution and to of what this means is that humans are reason-
adopt a constitutional system characterized by able beings. This led them to conclude that we
separated powers, checks and balances, and fed- the people (as opposed to the elite) can order
eralism. Many Enlightenment thinkers in this our public lives together through politics rather
era, by way of contrast, tended to favor a strong, than force. It also helped inform early (and later)
centralized government run by experts.24 American opposition to slavery.27
2. They firmly believed that God ordained moral 5. Faith led many Founders to conclude that reli-
standards, that legislation should be made in gious liberty should be extensively protected. Yet
accordance with these standards, and that moral many also thought that civic authorities should
laws took precedence over human laws. This con- encourage Christianity and that it is appropriate
viction manifests itself in their abstract reflections to use religious language in the public square.
(e.g., James Wilson’s law lectures, parts of which By the late 18th century, some Founders were
read like St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica) beginning to question the wisdom of religious

23. The U.S. Supreme Court has used the Fourteenth Amendment to apply the First Amendment to state and local
governments. For a good discussion of this process and different ways the Court has interpreted the religion clauses,
see Henry J. Abraham and Barbara A. Perry, Freedom and the Court: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the United States,
7th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 29–91, 221–325.
24. Barry Alan Shain, “Afterword: Revolutionary-Era Americans: Were They Enlightened or Protestant? Does it Matter?”
in Dreisbach, Hall, and Morrison, The Founders on God and Government, pp. 274–277. This characterization of
Enlightenment thinkers is truer for members of the Continental or Radical Enlightenment than for those associated
with the British and/or Scottish Enlightenment.
25. Kermit L. Hall and Mark David Hall, eds., Collected Works of James Wilson, 2 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund Press,
2007), pp. 498–499; Scott Douglas Gerber, ed., In Seriatim: The Early Supreme Court (New York: New York University
Press, 1998).
26. Shain, Myth of American Individualism, pp. 155–319; Hall and Hall, Collected Works of James Wilson, p. 435.
27. For a good discussion of this issue, see Thomas S. Kidd, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution
(New York: Basic Books, 2010), pp. 131–146.

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establishments, primarily because they thought by Force or Violence; and therefore that all
that such establishments hurt true religion. The Men shou’d enjoy the fullest Toleration in the
Founders’ views on these questions have the most Exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates
immediate and obvious policy and legal implica- of Conscience, unpunished and unrestrained
tions, so I will address them in some detail. by the Magistrate….
The Founders on Church and State James Madison, in his first significant public
act, objected to the use of “toleration” in the article,
In the 1947 Supreme Court decision of Everson believing that it implied that religious liberty was a
v. Board of Education, Justice Wiley Rutledge pro- grant from the state that could be revoked at will.
claimed that “no provision of the Constitution is The Virginia Convention agreed, and Article XVI
more closely tied to or given content by its gener- was amended to make it clear that “the free exer-
ating history than the religious clause of the First cise of religion” is a right, not a privilege granted by
Amendment. It is at once the refined product and the state.29
the terse summation of that history.” Like many
jurists and academics since, he proceeded to argue
that the Founders intended the First Amendment To a person, the Founders were committed to
to create a strict separation of church and state. As protecting religious liberty.
evidence, he relied almost solely on statements by
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, most taken
out of context and made before or well after the Mason’s draft of Article XVI was reprinted
Religion Clauses were drafted.28 throughout the states and had an important impact
Yet consideration of a wide range of Founders and on subsequent state constitutions and the national
their public actions shows that few if any embraced Bill of Rights. By the end of the Revolutionary era,
anything approximating modern conceptions of the every state offered significant protection of religious
separation of church and state. Of course, they dif- liberty. The federal Constitution of 1787 did not,
fered among themselves, but it is possible to iden- but only because its supporters believed the nation-
tify three major areas of agreement with respect to al government did not have the delegated power to
religious liberty and church–state relations. pass laws interfering with religious belief or practice.
In the face of popular outcry, the first Congress pro-
Consensus #1: Religious Liberty Is a Right and posed and the states ratified a constitutional amend-
Must be Protected. ment prohibiting Congress from restricting the free
To a person, the Founders were committed to exercise of religion.
protecting religious liberty. This conviction was Scholars and jurists debate the exact scope of
usually based upon the theological principle that religious liberty protected by the First Amendment.
humans have a duty to worship God as their con- For instance, it is unclear whether the amendment
sciences dictate. A good illustration of this is George requires religious minorities to be exempted from
Mason’s 1776 draft of Article XVI of Virginia’s Decla- neutral laws. (For example, does the Free Exercise
ration of Rights. It reads: Clause require Congress to exempt religious paci-
That as Religion, or the Duty which we owe fists from conscription into the military?) But at a
to our divine and omnipotent Creator, and minimum, it prohibits Congress from, in the words
the Manner of discharging it, can be gov- of James Madison, compelling “men to worship
erned only by Reason and Conviction, not God in any manner contrary to their conscience.”30

28. Associate Justice Wiley B. Rutledge, in Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 33 (1947); Mark David Hall, “Jeffersonian
Walls and Madisonian Lines: The Supreme Court’s Use of History in Religion Clause Cases,” Oregon Law Review, Vol. 85
(2006), pp. 563–614.
29. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, p. 241.
30. Ibid., p. 427.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

Consensus #2: States Should Have Established Opponents of Henry’s plan disagreed, respond-
Churches Only If They Encourage and Assist ing that assessments were against “the spirit of the
Christianity. Gospel,” that “the Holy Author of our Religion” did
In 1775, at least nine of the 13 colonies had not require state support, and that Christianity was
established churches. Although establishments far purer before “Constantine first established Chris-
took a variety of forms, they generally entailed the tianity by human Laws.” Rejecting their fellow peti-
state providing favorable treatment for one denomi- tioners’ arguments that government support was
nation—treatment which often included financial necessary to attract good candidates to the ministry,
support. Members of religious denominations other they argued that clergy should manifest:
than the official established church were usually tol- that they are inwardly moved by the Holy
erated, but they were occasionally taxed to support Ghost to take upon them that Office, that they
the state church, and some were not permitted to seek the good of Mankind and not worldly
hold civic office. Interest. Let their doctrines be scriptural and
After independence, most states either disestab- their Lives upright. Then shall Religion (if
lished their churches (particularly states where the departed) speedily return, and Deism be put
Church of England was previously established) or to open shame, and its dreaded Consequenc-
moved to a system of “plural” or “multiple” estab- es removed.31
lishments. Under the latter model, citizens were This petition was significantly more popular
taxed to support their own churches. Although a than James Madison’s now-famous “Memorial and
few Founders challenged establishments of any sort Remonstrance,” another petition written to oppose
in the name of religious liberty, most arguments Henry’s plan. Madison’s memorial has often been
were framed in terms of which arrangement would referenced to shine light on the First Amendment,
be best for Christianity. and it is regularly treated as a rationalist, secular
argument for religious liberty. But, as in the Virginia
Declaration, Madison argues that the right to reli-
At a minimum, the First Amendment prohibits gious liberty is unalienable “because what is here a
Congress from, in the words of James Madison,
right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator.”
compelling “men to worship God in any manner
contrary to their conscience.”
As well, he noted that “ecclesiastical establishments,
instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of
Religion, have had a contrary operation” and that
A good illustration of the last point may be found “the bill is adverse to the diffusion of the light of
in two petitions from Westmoreland County that Christianity.”32
arrived at the Virginia General Assembly on the America’s Founders were committed to the idea
same day regarding Patrick Henry’s 1784 propos- that religion (by which virtually all of them meant
al to provide state funds to a variety of churches. Christianity) was necessary for public happiness
The first supported Henry’s bill, arguing, much like and political prosperity. This view was so wide-
public-sector unions today, that state subsidies are spread that James Hutson has called it “the Found-
necessary to keep salaries high enough to attract the ers’ syllogism.”33 The key question with respect
best candidates into the ministry. to particular establishments at the state level was
whether they helped or hurt the faith.

31. Ibid., pp. 307–308.

32. Ibid., pp. 309–313.
33. Specifically, the syllogism refers to the connection between virtue and morality, republican institutions, and religion—
and by religion the Founders meant some version of Christianity. See James H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the
American Republic (Washington: Library of Congress, 1998), p. 81.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

Consensus #3: Religion Belongs in the Public letter to the Danbury Baptists, he attended church
Square. services in the U.S. Capitol, where he heard John
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the Leland, the great Baptist minister and opponent of
Danbury Baptist Association in which he famous- religious establishments, preach.35
ly suggested that the First Amendment created a The point is not that Jefferson was a pious man
“wall of separation between Church & State.” This who wanted a union between church and state.
metaphor lay dormant with respect to the Supreme His private letters make it clear that he was not an
Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence until orthodox Christian, and his public arguments and
1947, when Justice Hugo Black seized upon it as actions demonstrate that he favored a stricter sepa-
the definitive statement of the Founders’ views on ration between church and state than virtually any
church–state relations.34 other Founder. Yet even Jefferson, at least in his
actions, did not attempt to completely remove reli-
gion from the public square, and what Jefferson did
America’s Founders were committed to the idea not completely exclude, most Founders embraced.
that religion (by which virtually all of them
meant Christianity) was necessary for public This point may be illustrated in a variety of ways,
happiness and political prosperity. but a particularly useful exercise is to look at the first
Congress, the body that crafted the First Amend-
ment. One of Congress’s first acts was to agree to
As appealing as the wall metaphor is to contem- appoint and pay congressional chaplains. Shortly
porary advocates of the strict separation of church after doing so, it reauthorized the Northwest Ordi-
and state, it obscures far more than it illuminates. nance, which held that “Religion, morality, and
Leaving aside the fact that Jefferson was in Europe knowledge being necessary to good government
when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were writ- and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
ten, that the letter was a profoundly political docu- means of education shall forever be encouraged.”36
ment, and that Jefferson used the metaphor only More significantly for understanding the First
once in his life, it is not even clear that it sheds use- Amendment, on the day after the House approved
ful light upon Jefferson’s views, much less those of the final wording of the Bill of Rights, Elias Boudi-
his far more traditional colleagues. not, later president of the American Bible Society,
Jefferson issued calls for prayer and fasting as proposed that the President recommend a day of
governor of Virginia, and in his revision of Virginia’s public thanksgiving and prayer. In response to
statutes, he drafted bills stipulating when the gover- objections that such a practice mimicked Europe-
nor could appoint “days of public fasting and humil- an customs or should be done by the states, Roger
iation, or thanksgiving” and to punish “Disturbers Sherman, according to a contemporary newspaper
of Religious Worship and Sabbath Breakers.” As a account:
member of the Continental Congress, he proposed justified the practice of thanksgiving, on any
that the nation adopt a seal containing the image of signal event, not only as a laudable one in
Moses “extending his hand over the sea, caus[ing] itself, but as warranted by a number of prec-
it to overwhelm Pharaoh,” and the motto “Rebel- edents in holy writ: for instance, the solemn
lion to tyrants is obedience to God.” He closed his thanksgivings and rejoicings which took
second inaugural address by encouraging all Ameri- place in the time of Solomon, after the build-
cans to join him in seeking “the favor of that Being ing of the temple, was a case in point. This
in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as example, he thought, worthy of Christian
Israel of old….” And two days after completing his imitation on the present occasion; and he

34. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, pp. 528, 533–534.

35. Ibid., pp. 251, 229, 530; Daniel L. Dreisbach, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State
(New York: New York University Press, 2002), pp. 21–22.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

would agree with the gentleman who moved

the resolution.37 As evidenced by George Washington’s 1790 letter
The House agreed, as did the Senate, as did the to a “Hebrew Congregation” in Newport, Rhode
Island, the new nation was to be open to a wide
President. The result was George Washington’s famous
array of individuals who were willing to assume
1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. The text of
the responsibilities of citizenship.
his proclamation is worth quoting at some length:
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to
acknowledge the providence of Almighty civic authorities could promote and encourage
God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his Christianity and that it was appropriate for elected
benefits, and humbly to implore His protec- officials to make religious arguments in the public
tion and favor… square. There was virtually no support for contem-
I do recommend…the People of these States porary visions of a separation of church and state
to the service of that great and glorious Being, that would have political leaders avoid religious lan-
who is the beneficent Author of all the good guage and require public spaces to be stripped of
that was, that is, or that will be…. religious symbols.
And also that we may then unite in most Conclusions
humbly offering our prayers and supplica- So did America have a Christian Founding? His-
tions to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations tory is complicated, and we should always be suspi-
and beseech Him to pardon our national and
cious of simple answers to difficult questions. As
other transgressions, to enable us all, whether
we have seen, there is precious little evidence that
in public or private stations, to perform our
the Founders were deists, wanted religion excluded
several and relative duties properly and punc-
from the public square, or desired the strict separa-
tually; to render our national government a
tion of church and state. On the other hand, they
blessing to all the People….38
identified themselves as Christians, were influenced
Similar proclamations were routinely issued by in important ways by Christian ideas, and gener-
Presidents Washington, Adams, and Madison. Jef- ally thought it appropriate for civic authorities to
ferson, it is true, refused to formally issue such encourage Christianity.
proclamations, yet as Daniel L. Dreisbach has point-
What do these facts mean for Americans who
ed out, he “employed rhetoric in official utterances
embrace non-Christian faiths or no faith at all?
that, in terms of religious content, was virtually
Although the Founders were profoundly influenced
indistinguishable from the traditional thanksgiving
by Christianity, they did not design a constitutional
day proclamations.”39
order only for fellow believers. They explicitly pro-
America’s Founders did not want Congress to hibited religious tests for federal offices, and they
establish a national church, and many opposed were committed to the proposition that all men and
establishments at the state level as well. Yet they women should be free to worship God (or not) as
believed, as George Washington declared in his their consciences dictate.
Farewell Address, that of “all the dispositions and
As evidenced by George Washington’s 1790 let-
habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion
ter to a “Hebrew Congregation” in Newport, Rhode
and morality are indispensable supports.”40 More-
Island, the new nation was to be open to a wide
over, almost without exception, they agreed that

36. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, pp. 236–238, 441–475.

37. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, Vol. 11, pp. 1500–1501.
38. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, pp. 453–454.
39. Ibid., pp. 215–237, 446–472, 530; Dreisbach, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation, p. 57.
40. Dreisbach and Hall, Sacred Rights, p. 468.

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

array of individuals who were willing to assume the that humans are sinful, they attempted to avoid
responsibilities of citizenship: the concentration of power by framing a national
All [citizens] possess alike liberty and con- government with carefully enumerated powers.
science and immunities of citizenship. It is As well, the Founders were committed to liberty,
now no more that toleration is spoken of, as but they never imagined that provisions of the Bill
if it was by the indulgence of one class of peo- of Rights would be used to protect licentiousness.
ple, that another enjoyed the exercise of their And they clearly thought moral considerations
inherent natural rights. For happily the Gov- should inform legislation.
ernment of the United States, which gives to America has drifted from these first principles.
bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assis- We would do well to reconsider the wisdom of these
tance requires only that they who live under changes.
its protection should demean themselves as
good citizens, in giving it on all occasions
their effectual support. What do these facts mean for Americans who
embrace non-Christian faiths or no faith at
…May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, all? Although the Founders were profoundly
who dwell in this land, continue to merit influenced by Christianity, they did not design a
and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabit- constitutional order only for fellow believers.
ants; while every one shall sit in safety under
his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be
none to make him afraid. May the father of all The Founders believed it permissible for the
mercies scatter light and not darkness in our national and state governments to encourage
paths, and make us all in our several voca- Christianity, but this may no longer be pruden-
tions useful here, and in his own due time tial in our increasingly pluralistic country. Yet
and way everlastingly happy.41 the Constitution does not mandate a secular pol-
Yet it does not follow from this openness that ity, and we should be wary of jurists, politicians,
Americans should simply forget about their coun- and academics who would strip religion from the
try’s Christian roots. Anyone interested in an accu- public square. We should certainly reject argu-
rate account of the nation’s past cannot afford to ments that America’s Founders intended the First
ignore the important influence of faith on many Amendment to prohibit neutral programs that
Americans, from the Puritans to the present day. support faith-based social service agencies, reli-
gious schools, and the like.42
Christian ideas underlie some key tenets of
America’s constitutional order. For instance, the Finally, we ignore at our peril the Founders’
Founders believed that humans are created in the insight that democracy requires a moral people
image of God, which led them to design insti- and that faith is an important, if not indispens-
tutions and laws meant to protect and promote able, support for morality. Such faith may well
human dignity. Because they were convinced flourish best without government support, but it

41. Ibid., p. 464. Peter Lillback and Jerry Newcombe identify nine scriptural references in this letter, including one to Micah
4:4 (“while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid”),
which was Washington’s favorite biblical passage. See Peter Lillback and Jerry Newcombe, George Washington’s Sacred Fire
(Bryn Mawr, Pa.: Providence Forum Press, 2006), pp. 321–322. See also George Washington to the Society of Quakers,
October 1789, Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, Vol. 4: September 1789–January 1790, ed. W. W. Abbot
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1993), p. 266, and George Washington to the Roman Catholics of the
United States of America, March 15, 1790, in Bruce Frohnen, ed., The American Republic (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund
Press, 2002), pp. 70–71.
42. Such claims were made by dissenting justices in Bowen v. Kendrick, 487 U.S. 589 (1988), and Zelman v. Simmons-Harris,
536 U.S. 639 (2002).

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No. 1186 Delivered May 13, 2011

should not have to flourish in the face of govern- the American Founding (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund
ment hostility. Press, 2009) and The Forgotten Founders on Reli-
—Mark David Hall, Ph.D., is Herbert Hoover Dis- gion and Public Life (Notre Dame: University of Notre
tinguished Professor of Politics at George Fox University. Dame Press, 2009). Among his numerous essays is First
He is the author or co-editor of eight books, including Principles Essay No. 26, “Justice, Law, and the Creation
The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings of the American Republic: The Forgotten Legacy of
on Religious Liberty and Church–State Relations in James Wilson” (The Heritage Foundation, June 1, 2009).

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