Who believes that our founding fathers built a christian nation?

Yeah well, as long as the word "marriage" is in my tax code, I will always contend that some religious freak made the whole thing up.

Why is it that we still pay taxes? Why do single people pay more taxes than those married ********?

I think that you have misunderstood all of the quotes, they are exactly right yet they do not denounce that this country is built on biblical principles.

Churches even in the bible had alot of problems as they do today, but they are only for those who believe. A church is a body of people. He wa right, lighthouses are more useful because the church will always be corrupted and outside the governmental structure.

Christianity has very little "religion" in it. Only a few verses and they only suggest how a christian should conduct themselves.

Christianity is perverted, with all the false teachers and all the evangelist who milk the people and tell them life is about prosperity and living high on the hog..its all corrupted by the wicked hearts of men.

So this does not discount america as not being built on a biblical foundation, because the old testament tells you that even if GOD when sitting right outside people would still sin!

So you think people who don't believe in God (and I'd like to know who gets to make the American definition of "God" for the whole country), should do what? Accept second class status with limited rights? Leave? No matter what their beliefs, the founding fathers went to great lengths not to force them on anyone else, and that is how it must be for this to be a truly free country. Edit: You're talking about "forcing" God out of government, where God has no place to begin with, because it is the also the govenment of those who don't have or want a God. You start down the slippery slope to theocracy when you ignore the rights of these people not to have God sponsored by their tax dollars. Re-edit: I would also like to point out that these quotes are about personal beliefs and were not included in official government documents specifically to provide a separation of church and state; which was also Thomas Jefferson's idea.

The Puritans and early settlers here were predominantly Christians. But as is usually the case, a lot of the next generation fell away. By the time the Constitution was written, a lot of people were marginal or nominal (in name only) type "Christians". Calling yourself a Christian was the socially acceptable thing to do. Occasionally a revival would come along and a lot of people would get right with God again. But the Bible does say that the path that leads to life is narrow and few there be that find it. I would say we are a "post-Christian" nation.

After Europeans came here and stole land from the Indians, they preached, "Thou shalt not steal."

While the Puritans were settling America, celebrating Christmas was against the law. Why? It's not a Christian holiday - it's pagan.

Not a Christian nation. They founded a nation without an official religion, because they had come from nations with official religions, and saw the harm done when religion and government mix.

Here, people are supposed to be free to practice whatever faith they choose, or none at all if they choose, without censure or interference from the government.

This country started out extremely Christian. Thankfully over time that all weened away. We have to be accepting of others, and not enforcing religion. This country was created with the intent to govern according to the will of the majority, but protecting the minority. But our original settlers were all Christian. And many of our Universities started off training people to be clergymen. The U.S. was colonized by a bunch of jerks, to tell you the truth. In some colonies they took away the right to vote for people who weren't in their Christian denomination.

I for one do not believe it. Jefferson was the most adamant of them all. He also said:

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. "

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. "

More quotes here:

The founding fathers didnt build our nation.

There was hundreds of years of foundation laying before they were even born and a lot of work done after they died.

The founding fathers wrote a Constitution (that wasnt even the first US gvt) that was secular in nature.

But if you dont think Christianity had a major influence on the development of the US then you need to go back and study US history.

John Adams:

“ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”

• “[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”

–John Adams in a letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." --October 11, 1798

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson

"Without Religion this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite Company, I mean Hell." [John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817] |

Benjamin Franklin:

“ God governs in the affairs of man. 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 in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel” –Constitutional Convention of 1787 | original manuscript of this speech

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” [Constitutional Convention, Thursday June 28, 1787]

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for public schools in Pennsylvania, he insisted that schools teach "the excellency of the Christian religion above all others, ancient or modern."

In 1787 when Franklin helped found Benjamin Franklin University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."

Thomas Jefferson:

“ The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern which have come under my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of Jesus.”

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus."

“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.]