Views from the Founding Fathers on Religion

Frank Lambert in his book The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America mentions:

• “the Connecticut Puritans determined to plant a ‘Christian Commonwealth,’ what Governor John Winthrop hoped would become a ‘City upon a Hill’ that would inspire believers everywhere as a model Christian Nation.” [Governor Winthrop is not considered a Founding Father.)
• “William Williams, merchant and delegate to the Connecticut Ratifying Convention [not considered an official Founding Father] thought that the Preamble ought at least to express ‘a firm belief of the being and perfections of the one living and true God, the creator and supreme Governour of the world.'”
• To James Madison [a Founding Father], “‘the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States’ was the surest guarantee of ‘the sacred principle of religious liberty.'”
• Adam Smith [not a Founding Father] in Wealth of Nations said “The clergy of every established church constitute a great incorporation.” “He added that ‘where there is . . . but one sect tolerated in the society,’ religious teachers give full vent to their ‘interest and zeal,’ including the propagation of fear, prejudice, and superstition, and thus can become ‘dangerous and troublesome.'”
• “This book argues that in deciding the place of religion in the new republic, the Founding Fathers, rather than designing a church-state framework of their own, endorsed the emerging free marketplace of religion.”

To read more of Frank Lambert’s book, click on The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America.