TL;DR:Founding Fathers vs. Christian Nation Myth

The Founding Fathers—especially Jefferson, Paine, Madison, Franklin, and even Washington—believed religion should never control government and were deeply skeptical, even critical, of organized religion itself. They saw it as a tool of manipulation, mythology, and oppression that corrupts reason and divides people.

Key Points:

• The Treaty of Tripoli (1797) explicitly states the U.S. government is not founded on Christianity.
• Jefferson and Paine viewed Christianity as distorted, absurd, and harmful when mixed with power.
• Franklin mocked blind faith and preferred practical solutions (like building lighthouses).
• Madison warned that religion shackles the mind and insisted on strict separation of church and state.
• Washington observed that religious conflict creates the deepest hatreds.

In their own words, they made it clear: religion is personal; power should be secular.

The Treaty of Tripoli: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion..."

Our founding fathers in their own words.

1. "...those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man..."- Thomas Jefferson

SIMPLIFIED: Fake religious leaders don’t want you to make Christianity clear and simple—because then people wouldn’t need them. The teachings of Jesus are good and kind, but they’ve been twisted more than any other belief system.

2. "The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs... In fact, the Athanasian paradox that one is three, and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the human mind, that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself. He proves, also, that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck." Thomas Jefferson

SIMPLIFIED: The idea of a three-in-one God (like a mythical three-headed monster) was forced on people through violence and suffering. The Trinity—claiming one God is three, yet three are one—makes no sense. No honest person truly understands it; they just pretend to. Once people stop thinking for themselves, they’ll believe anything, no matter how crazy. They call this blind faith, but it’s really just gullibility. It overrides common sense, leaving their minds lost and easily controlled."

3. "I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." Thomas Jefferson

SIMPLIFIED: I’ve studied all the major religions, and Christianity is no better than the rest. They’re all based on myths and fairy tales—none of them have any real truth to them.

4. "What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." Thomas Jefferson

SIMPLIFIED: Forcing religion on people does two things: It turns half the world into blind followers, and the other half into fakers. All it really does is spread lies and corruption everywhere.

5. "Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint, but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light-house." Ben Franklin. Franklin wrote to his wife on July 17, 1757, after narrowly escaping a shipwreck.

SIMPLIFIED: If I were Catholic, I might promise to build a church to thank a saint for saving me from this shipwreck. But since I’m not, if I’m going to thank anyone, I’d rather build something useful—like a lighthouse, so others don’t crash too.

6. "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle"- Ben Franklin

SIMPLIFIED:Believing without proof means turning off your brain. It's like making daylight seem brighter by putting out a lamp. Faith is like deleting the weather app so you can believe it won't rain today

7. "The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation.' Thomas Paine

SIMPLIFIED: If the New Testament is built on Old Testament prophecies, then when the Old Testament is proven wrong, Christianity collapses too.

8. "Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst; every other species of tyranny is limited to the world we live in; but this attempts to stride beyond the grave, and seeks to pursue us into eternity." Thomas Paine

SIMPLIFIED: Religious oppression is the cruelest form of control. Other tyrannies only affect our lives here on earth—but religious tyranny tries to control what happens to us even after we die, claiming power over eternity itself.

9. "Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them all "Thomas Paine

SIMPLIFIED: Every religion claims their holy book is divine—Torah given to Moses, Bible ‘inspired by God,’ Quran delivered by an angel. They all point at the others and say, ‘You’re wrong.’ And you know what? For once, they’re all correct—about each other.

10. "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." Thomas Paine

SIMPLIFIED: "Every church - Jewish, Christian, or Muslim - is just a man-made control system. They dress it up as holy, but peel back the scripture and you'll find the same old machinery: fear to keep people obedient, and lies to keep power profitable. The perfect scam: sell tickets to a heaven you can't prove exists, for a price you demand in cash and compliance."

11. "It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons that I trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is blasphemously obscene. It gives an account of a young woman engaged to be married, and while under this engagement, she is, to speak plain language, debauched by a ghost.” Thomas Paine

SIMPLIFIED: "I’m not debating whether Jesus existed or not. I’m attacking the absurd, offensive myth the New Testament peddles: a teenaged girl is supposedly impregnated by a ‘ghost’ (call it what it is—a supernatural rape story), and this grotesque fable gets spun into a whole theology. That’s not divine—it’s obscene."

12. "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated"- George Washington

SIMPLIFIED: Nothing sparks hatred like religious debates. Wars fade, political rivalries cool—but arguments over God? Those wounds never heal. And the tragic irony? Every faith preaches peace while sharpening knives for the 'heretics' they're certain God hates too.

13. "It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to usurpation on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from inference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others."-James Madison

SIMPLIFIED: It’s impossible to perfectly separate religion and government—there will always be gray areas and power grabs. The only solution? Keep them completely apart. Government must never meddle in faith, except to maintain public safety, and stop any religious group from violating another’s rights. Anything more is an open door to tyranny.

14. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect."-James Madison.

SIMPLIFIED: Religion doesn’t just control you—it cripples you. It chains your mind, shrinks your ambition, and makes you allergic to truth. Want proof? The most ‘devout’ societies are always the most terrified of progress, books, and questions.

15. On“Separation of Church and State” - Letter to Danbury Baptists:

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” Thomas Jefferson

SIMPLIFIED: The First Amendment isn’t just a policy—it’s a sacred barrier. When Americans declared that government must never create state religions or interfere with private faith, they didn’t build a polite fence. They raised an impregnable wall: no crossing, no bribes, no backdoor deals between pulpits and power.