Many of the founding fathers kept the Jewish Torah and the Islamic Quran and studied them well. Those books are of historical significance and influenced the founders.
I guess that means we will see them taught in Oklahoma schools as well.
The idea taught in Christian churches/schools today that this nation was founded as a Christian nation, or was basically a nation full of Christians, are just flat out not true.
The reality is far more complex. Are there many references to God in early American documents, of course, but that doesn't make them Christian as many religions and beliefs refer to a "god." Most leaders of the time were baptized Anglicans but, rarely attended services as they grew into adulthood. George Washington was the only founding father who regularly attended Sunday services but would sometimes leave before communion. Many intellectual men of the time did not believe in the miracle of the Holy Communion.
In fact, even though baptized as children, most intellectual men of the time held Diest views.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the more vocal Diest, who famously cut out all the parts of the Bible he didn't believe. Alexander Hamilton held Diest views as well until late into his life when he started to become more Anglican but, he never regularly attended services.
In fact, Hamilton was denied communion on his death bed by both an Episcopal Bishop and a Presbyterian priest because he did not attend church enough and was shot in a duel. The bishop relented and performed communion after thinking about it some and knowing how religious Hamilton's wife was.
Benjamin Franklin was so far theological left that he constantly argued against including religious tones in the Declaration of Independence. One of those instances was Jefferson originally wrote "We hold these truths to be sacred" and Franklin convinced him to change it to "We hold these truths to be self evident."
I just get tired of people acting like our modern version of Christianity is what these men believed back then because it was not. They were coming from a position that was scared of religious rule, it is one of the reasons they were breaking away from England. These men feared a government that would rule from a pulpit.
I have only read one of the founding father's biographies;
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. It was amazing and very eye opening. It completely changed my perspective of our founding fathers and how our nation was created. They are not these mythical figures that many hold them up to be these days. They were normal people like us with all the same faults and warts. They had more in common with modern politicians then some will ever admit; the backstabbing, lying and using misinformation to hurt an opponent was common back then as well. They had many different opinions on government, God and religion; just like we do today.
:focal(0x0:5181x3451)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/3fe9b28556c1d2115474869059d79a99/0624%20Capitol-Austin%20File%20OA%2027.jpg)
