Eric Utne: A founding father on faith
Ben Franklin and his colleagues were committed to building “a wall of separation between church and state.” That principle is worth remembering today.
Last update: October 27, 2005 at 5:33 PM
What would Ben Franklin and his fellow founding fathers say about George W. Bush’s recent statement to Republicans that Harriet Miers deserved their support in her bid to become a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court because of her religion? What would Ben say about the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, officially sanctioned Christian proselytizing at the Air Force Academy, the promotion of celibacy as birth control by church groups in public schools, the display of biblical scripture on government property, and on and on?
I’ve been reading about Ben in anticipation of the 300th anniversary of his birth on Jan. 17. He believed “in one God, Creator of the Universe. That he governs it by his Providence. That he [God] ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we can render to him is the doing Good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is Immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this.” Franklin also believed (like Jefferson) that Jesus’ moral and religious teachings were “the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.” He had his doubts about Jesus’ divinity, but did not want to argue the matter because “people’s believing in Christ’s divinity makes them more likely to respect and observe his doctrines.”
Franklin also believed in reincarnation. His epitaph, which he wrote himself, reads, “The body of B. Franklin, Printer; like the cover of an old book, its contents worn out … lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost, for it will appear once more, in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.”
Franklin and his fellow founding fathers were not partisan Christians, though some, including Ben, did attend a variety of religious services from time to time. Ben was an equal-opportunity philanthropist, contributing to every church and synagogue in Philadelphia. At his funeral procession all the clergy in Philadelphia marched together, arms linked, behind his casket.
Like most of the founding fathers, Ben managed to be spiritual without being religious. All but a few of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of a secret society, the Freemasons. They were rational mystics who believed in God yet thought that organized religion was for the most part the bane of civilization. Franklin wrote, “Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality. [It] serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another.”
Three of our nation’s earliest presidents emphatically agreed. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving mankind … to filch wealth and power to themselves … these clergy, in fact, constitute the real AntiChrist.” John Adams said, “The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.” And James Madison wrote, “During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.”
The founders were united in their commitment to build “a wall of separation between church and state.” This is the principle that makes democracy possible in a multiethnic, multicultural society. This is the message that must someday be brought to those peoples around the world who suffer today under the tyranny of state-sanctioned religion and religiously based states. This is the principle that the Bush administration must understand and begin to live by now.
Eric Utne, Minneapolis, is the founder of Utne magazine. He currently publishes Cosmo Doogood’s Urban Almanac, which he describes as a “21st-century, urban version of Poor Richard’s Almanack.”
