Comments on: The United States as a Theistic Nation http://www.sixteensmallstones.org/the-united-sates-as-a-theistic-nation The Weblog of J. Max Wilson Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:49:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dave http://www.sixteensmallstones.org/the-united-sates-as-a-theistic-nation/comment-page-1#comment-218 Dave Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:34:15 +0000 A fine write-up, J. Max. Atheism as a worldview really didn't emerge until the middle of the 19th century, so if you force a choice on the Founding Fathers (either they were theistic or atheistic), obviously they'll look theistic. But they were founding a geographically extended republic, a novel undertaking that was a very iffy thing back then, and they were convinced that public virtue (what we might today call civic morality, if we had any left) in its citizens was an essential requirement. And religion is the primary nursery of such public virtue. So I think much of their official religiosity was instrumental, not religious or spiritual. They were just being pragmatic leaders. That doesn't make them atheistic, but neither does it make them theistic (in whatever sense we today take that term). I'm not really disagreeing with you, just looking at things from a different perspective. A fine write-up, J. Max. Atheism as a worldview really didn’t emerge until the middle of the 19th century, so if you force a choice on the Founding Fathers (either they were theistic or atheistic), obviously they’ll look theistic.

But they were founding a geographically extended republic, a novel undertaking that was a very iffy thing back then, and they were convinced that public virtue (what we might today call civic morality, if we had any left) in its citizens was an essential requirement. And religion is the primary nursery of such public virtue. So I think much of their official religiosity was instrumental, not religious or spiritual. They were just being pragmatic leaders. That doesn’t make them atheistic, but neither does it make them theistic (in whatever sense we today take that term). I’m not really disagreeing with you, just looking at things from a different perspective.

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