Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth.

For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.

Some Christians argue that America's founders were overwhelmingly Christian in their faith and outlook.

Many were even evangelicals.

Many secularists, on the other hand, will claim that these men were basically Enlightenment deist or even free thinkers,

which is another way of saying that they were atheist or at least hard agnostics.

Now, clearly, there were deeply committed Christ's followers among the founders, like John Witherspoon

and Benjamin Rush, men who were quite significant but are often overlooked leaders that were

involved in the revolution

and the Constitutional Convention.

At the same time, some of our founders, though religious, were far from being evangelical,

some even heterodox.

But how many were deists, as is often claimed?

For example, Thomas Jefferson is quite often cited as being a deist. Deism teaches that God created the universe,

but does not in any way intervene in the world. By that definition, however, basically none of the

founders would qualify, including Thomas Jefferson. Consider these words that are recorded on the

walls of the Jefferson Memorial. Quote, God who gave us life gave us liberty.

Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these

liberties are a gift of God?

Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot

sleep forever.

Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written

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