In God of Liberty, Thomas Kidd details the individual lives of America's founding fathers, but more importantly to his work, he illustrates their religious and political ideologies. Kidd summarizes the similarities of their beliefs in his Epilogue as he describes those of Alexis de Tocqueville. Kidd says, "in [his] combination of personal doubt but public support for religion, Tocqueville manifested a view of religion unlike that of several prominent founding fathers, including Jefferson. Jefferson and Tocqueville personally abandoned traditional orthodoxy, while maintaining that it was essential for the masses to keep believing in Christianity..."[1].
Many American political leaders of the late 1700s held relatively deistic beliefs, however found it "essential" to the success of the American Republic for the "masses" to subscribe to a more Christian faith--the more spirited and convicted the better. However, it appears that Washington, Jefferson, and others only tolerated and Christianity. Did they consider minimal belief in God and religious rhetoric enough to keep themselves from the clutches of corruption, but expect more from the masses?
Certainly America was a republic that belonged to the people, however the founding fathers clearly had considerable influence over the nation. How do they reconcile their minimal beliefs with their clear commitment to religion in the lives of Americas in the avoidance of American tyranny?
I find it interesting that many of them believe so strongly that people need Christianity in order to remain moral and maintain the republic, but do not subscribe to the same religion for their own morality and republicanism.
[1] Kidd, Thomas S. God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
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