Our founding fathers were not Christians.

[JDPriestly]

17. Did you actually read the writings of Madison and John Adams

that are quoted on the pages linked to by the OP?

I have read quite a bit about this and have my own copy of the Jefferson Bible. The leaders among the Founding Fathers were deists, not traditional Christians.

This was common among intellectuals of that day. They really were intellectuals, not true believers.

Yes. Many of those who signed the Constitution were traditional Christians at least officially. But the leaders, the intellectual stars mostly were not.

The spirit of the time was skeptical. The well educated people respected science and the scientific method.

Benjamin Franklin personally challenged the ideas of his time about lightening. The results of his experiments seem so uncontroversial to us, but he surprised if not shocked the world with his daring experiments and was welcomed by the scientific community in, for example, England when he went there.

With his experiments about lightening, Franklin challenged the religious belief of his day which was that lightening was sent by God to punish those whose homes were struck. Seems ridiculous today, but that was a common belief among Christians of the time.

It is no wonder that the wisest of educated men like Adams and Jefferson rejected the superstitious Christian faith of their time.

The interesting thing is how Fundamentalist Christians of our day point to the Biblical references and say, "See, so and so was a Christian. He quoted the Bible." They completely ignore the many quotes from and references to classical literature and history. And why? Because they don't support the wishful thinking of the "The Founding Fathers were Christians" crowd.

The Founding Fathers were not necessarily atheists. They just weren't Christians as Fundamentalists define the term today.