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Originally Posted by WendyCal
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Washington probably was a Christian, yes. He did have strong ties to the Anglican church. However, my point wasn't ever that he wasn't a Christian, just that he wasn't outspoken about it and he didn't want America to be a Christian nation. In fact, one of his biggest issues was religious tolerance including ALL RELIGIONS. Outside of that he didn't speak much of his personal faith in public because he didn't want it to be a public issue. So yes, while he was in fact a Christian, he was opposed to a Christian American.
As for Jefferson, those quotes are absurdly off. First off, Jefferson was definitely not a Christian. He believed in a god, certainly. However, he was against all the mysticism and supernatural events in the bible. He believed none of the "miracles" to be true, nor did he believe the bible to be an accurate account in any sense.
as is evident by his letters. The list given is pretty extensive, but if you wade through them you'll see that he clearly didn't believe in the Judeo-Christian character God, but more so a natural kind of "god".
In fact he even made his own altered version of the bible removing all of the mystical escapism horse ****.
Furthermore I'll requote the one Jefferson "quote" here worth discussing as it is the only one with any slight validity to it, and I can explain away the Christian slant with a bit of ease.
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“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (excerpts are inscribed on the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in the nations capital) [Source: Merrill . D. Peterson, ed., Jefferson Writings, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), Vol. IV, p. 289. From Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1781.]
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Upon understanding that Jefferson did not believe in the supernatural nature of God (as I already pointed out, and made clearly evident) you can replace all uses of the word God and with "natural arbitrary creation event" and get the proper meaning behind this (actually its 2 quotes, the first sentence marked in green was from a writing about the boston tea party. The name escapes my mind as I haven't studied this topic since 8th grade) quote. Essentially what he is saying is "Whatever natural event or being created us is pretty ****ing mighty and I tremble in its glory. May the glory of the natural creation never cease to exist" or something to that extent.