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Alienated as he was from church
rituals , John Adams did belteve tn
the existence of a personal God
based on such things as " the
amazing harmony of ou r solar
system" and "the stupendous plan
of operation " (op. ci t. , 1,
27-30).
Even the miracles of Jesus did
not bother him. His diary recorded:
"The great and Almtghly aulhor of
nalure, who al firsl established
those rules which regulate the
world can as easily suspend those
laws whenever Hts providence sees
su fft cient reason for such
suspension. This can be no
objection , then , to the miracles of
Jesus Christ" (op. cit., 1,
11 ).
This Puritan revoluttonary also
knew somethtng of God 's purpose
for human lite. He wrote tn his diary:
"Oh!, that 1could wear out of my
mind every mean and base
affection, conquer my natural pride
and self conceit . .. acquire the
meekness and humility which are
the sure mark and characters of a
great and generous soul , and
subdue
every
unworthy
passion ..." (op . cit. , 1, 8). He
further observed in a letter to
Richard Cranch : " He [God] has
given me the reason , to find out the
truth and the real destgn of my
existence here [ on the earth]"
(In
God We Trust, p.
92).
John Adams' beltef in a literal,
pe rsonal God survived the attacks
of Thomas Paine, Duputs and
Vol taire . In
1816
he wrote: " Dupuis
has made no alteration in my
opinion of the Christ ian religion, in
its
primitive purity and simplicity,
which 1have entertatned for more
than sixty years. lt is the religion of
reason, equity and love: it is the
religion of the head and of the
heart ... " (op. cit., p.
104).
Not many years before his death,
Adams wrote to an old friend: "1 am
not lormented with the fear of
death .... A kind Providence has
preserved and supported me for
eighty-ftve years and seven months,
through many dangers and
difficulties ... 1am not afraid lo
tru st its goodness
to al/
eternity . .. "
(op. ci t. , p.
11 3).
Adams died at 90 on the same
day Thomas Jefferson did, the
fiftieth anniversary of the
Declaration of lndependence.
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976
Founding Fathers
rCvntinued (i·o111 page
17)
th c natiOIÚ rounding J ocumcnl. In
h is
l'a mo u ~ G e tty~b u rg
addrcss.
Prcs idcn t Li ncoln s tated : "Four–
sco rc a nd se \ en vca r!>
ago ou r
!'athers brought fon"h on
lh i~
con ti–
ne nt. a nt\\,_ nati on. conce ived in
liben;. and dedicaled to the propo-
it ion tha t a ll men are crea ted
eq ual .... th al lhis
IUJ tion. wrder
God,
~ha ll
have a ncw birth of free–
do m ... ."
lt
was Linco ln who
add ed the prcviou ly "ofllcially un–
writtcn'' conccpt thal we a re a na–
tion undc r God.
So President Ford. in exercising
hi !>
rcligious freedom guaranteed
und er th c first ame ndment lo the
Cons titu tion. extrapolaled pan of
hi s now
f ~t m ous
pres idcnli a l pa rdon
mcssagc from some ve ry rich and
deep ly rooled hi torica l prcccdcnb.
He did nol invcnl thc God con–
~c i ou ~ n c~s
lhal has becn wil h our
na tion incc its incep ti on.
Even Si r Winston Chun.:hill
con~id
cred thl: opc ning sent ences of the
Decla ralion o f Jndependence lo be
both "famili ar a nd immorta l. ' ' He
furt hc r considered thc America n
Con::.ti tution as ··a reaffi rrnat ion of
faith in the pri ncipi es pai nfully
cvolvcd o>cr thc ccnt uries b) the
Engli!ilH peaking peoples." Sir Win-
ton commented tha t thc Constitu–
t io n "e ns hrin ed lo ng-s ta ndin g
English id eas ofju !i ti ce a nd liberty."
These fund ament al historie docu–
ment revealed somc thi ng or th e re–
ligious bcliefs of their fo rrnula tors.
" Ri ghts were 'God-given' ; man was
·cndowed by his Creator'; the re
we re ·na tura l laws ' and 'natura l
right. '; frccdom was related lO the
·sac redn ess· o f' ma n" (No rma n
Co usim.
f 11
God We Trus1.
p. 10).
l t
i ~
ce rtai nly true that
no/
every–
o nc of o ur ro und ing fa th e rs
professed a formal
fai th~
Howcver.
m o~t
of them '·ma in tained respect
lo r the Bible as thc !>ource of th e
Jud aco-Ch r is t ia n re l igious be–
li cf' . .
:·
and they "mos t certa inly
d id not turn against God or lose
th cir respect lo r rcligiou · be li efs' '
(
ibid. .
pp. 8-9).
1
l is ax ioma tic lhat we owe these
men a grca t debt fo r the vas t reli–
gious frcedoms we now possess in
thc Unitcd Sta tcs. Each one contrib–
utcd
LO
our frecdoms somcth ing· a
lill le dill'ercnt rrom the other.
What lt All
Means
T he foundi ng fat he rs co uld no t
guara nt ee
~pi r i t ual
har pincss
LO
any
ind ividua l
vnzr
the pu rsui t of it.
T hey could not guara ntee anyone
an ad\'enturous. abundant and full
life. What thcy could do was
to ere–
ate a climate .for tire Jltrtlrer deve/–
opnrent of rlre lru111an potent ial.
And
th is thcy di d!
"... Thc founders had a deep re–
spcc t for th e spi ritual urge in man.
T hey believed tha t rcligious cxperi–
cncc
wa~
a n intensely
pc r~ona l
one.
and thcy werc historica lly mindfu l
of
!he ease u·itlr 1rhich religions
tended to he arrayed aguinst each
otlrer.
often a t the
expen~e
of rcli–
gion itse lf'. Therefore. if man·s na tu–
ra l ri ght to his religious
bc l ic l ~
was
lo be uphcld. he had to be protected
not onl; against the authoritarian
ant ireligious state but aga in ·t rc li–
gious monopoly.
'·For confirma tion. the fo unders
had on ly
lO
consult his tory. Many
d e nomin at i o n ~,
in a clear pos ition of
aut hority. wcrc unable lo re ist the
tempta tio n of moving toward a mo–
nopoly. Hcncc the need
to guaranree
tire religious ji-eedo111 of
al/
as tire
best
IW_I'
ofserving the spiritua/needs
o.f tire indil'iduu/''
(op. cit.. pp. 9- 1
0).
So the fou nding fa thers separa ted
Church from Sta te. In a theocracy
d irectly ruled by the Crealor God.
chu rch and sta te would go hand-in–
hand . Bu t in a secula r world often
ho tile
to
God. sepa ration is an ab–
solute necessi ty. Jesus Chris t enun–
ciated this pri nci pi e in th e gospels.
·' Rende r the refore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesa r's: and un to
God th e things tha t are God's"
(Ma tt. 22:2 1).
Our nat iona l and persona l debt to
th e foundi ng f'a thers i!:> a heavy
on e~
Tir e P/ain Trutlr
f~un i ly
(its editors
and
reader~
alike) owes a great dea l
to the f'o und ing principies of this
free nat ion. Without freedom of re–
ligio n
The Plain Trutlr
would be in
je'ópa n..l y of publica ti on. Gc tti ng
God's Announcement to th e na tions
would be di ffic ult indecd.
But thanks be to our Creator for
hi!> creat ion of America. ·'God mend
th ine every flaw...
o
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