No one's arguing against your point that the founding fathers were spiritual, Jilsyt. The fact that they wrote of unalienable Rights being endowed by a Creator points to the fact quite clearly. However, many were Deists, people who believed in God but refused the idea that God revealed himself to humanity through scriptural writings. According to the tenets of the Christian church of their time, most were, in fact, not Christians.

Thomas Jefferson was a Deist who redacted two of his copies of the gospels to exclude all miracles.

Thomas Paine was a Deist who beleived the New Testament was false.

John Adams rejected the Trinity and became a Unitarian and during his presidency the Senate ratified a treaty that stated "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion..."

Benjamin Franklin was a Deist and although he stated that the system of morals and religion as left to us by Jesus was "the best the world ever saw or is likely to see", he persisted in his doubt of Jesus' divinity.

James Madison, also a Deist, didn't want Christianity or any other religious doctrine anywhere near the goverment. He was against exempting churches from taxes and objected to state-supported chaplains in congress. He also said that "Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together."

Other founding fathers who were Deists: George Washington and James Monroe.

These founding fathers were a reflection of the American population. Having escaped from the state-established religions of Europe, only 7% of the people in the 13 colonies belonged to a church when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

While most of our founding fathers "were diplomatic in their public expressions concerning religion, in their private conversations, voluminous writings and correspondences they expressed contrary beliefs." From "The Faith of our Founding Fathers", by Dean Worbois.

Also,

The American Revolution, at its Foundation, was Unscriptural

At its foundation, our American revolution was unscriptural. Therefore I have a hard time seeing how our government could have been founded on Christian principles, when its very founding violated one:

No matter how you cut it, the founding fathers were revolting against the King of England. It should be remembered that Peter wrote these words while Israel was suffering under the domination of government far more oppressive than England ever was. In fact, compared to current taxes, our forefathers had nothing to complain about.

From "Notes on the Founding Fathers and the Separation of Church and State" by R.P. Nettelhorst.

I myself attend Church and teach Sunday School. But I emphatically refute the "Christian nation" idea that is used to try to legislate or litigate Christainity into our government. I also do not accept that the religious intentions of the founding fathers have any bearing on the interpretation of the Constitution.

The Constitution was meant to establish a secular government. They'd just thrown off the yoke of a government with no seperation of church and state and had no intention of establishing another one, just the opposite, in fact.

And your last thought...I'm not sure what you're referring to specifically.

And while we celebrate the founding of this country every Fourth of July, let us have a few minutes of silence for those native Americans slain or removed from their ancestral lands by our fore fathers and another few minutes of silence for all those who suffered under slavery for the first 87 years of this "free" country.

Hope your packing and moving goes as smoothly as possible and that you enjoy your new digs.

Anhata
www.familynaturally.com
Your Family's General Store, Naturally