— Real Vincent Bruno (@RealVinBruno) March 19, 2025
3:00 Changes to the categories of Jews and Christians on the Register of Religions
16:00 [Reading begins.]
23:00 Thomas Jefferson was a Heretical Christian.
How many of the Founding Fathers were deists?
It’s tricky to pin down an exact number of Founding Fathers who were deists because religious beliefs in the 18th century weren’t always neatly labeled, and historians debate the nuances. Deism, which emphasizes reason and a belief in a creator who doesn’t intervene in the world, was influential during the Enlightenment and appealed to some prominent figures of the American Revolution.
Among the most commonly cited Founding Fathers—think George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine—several leaned toward deist ideas, though their beliefs varied and often blended with other influences like Christianity. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are frequently pegged as deists. Jefferson famously edited the Bible to remove miracles, aligning with deist skepticism about divine intervention, while Franklin wrote about a creator who set the world in motion and then stepped back. Thomas Paine, in works like The Age of Reason, explicitly championed deism and criticized organized religion.
Others, like Washington and Adams, are murkier. Washington was private about his faith, rarely mentioning Jesus Christ in personal writings and favoring vague terms like “Providence,” which some interpret as deist-leaning, though he attended church regularly. Adams was a Unitarian, rejecting the Trinity, but he still valued religion’s moral role, making him less of a pure deist. Madison’s views suggest a rational approach to faith, possibly deist-influenced, but he kept it subtle. Hamilton’s beliefs shifted over time—he was more religious later in life—and don’t neatly fit the deist mold.
If we narrow it to these seven key figures, Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine are the strongest deist candidates, giving us about three. But the “Founding Fathers” isn’t a fixed list—some count dozens or hundreds, including lesser-known signers of the Declaration or Constitution. Among the 56 Declaration signers, scholars estimate maybe 10-15% were deists based on broader Enlightenment trends, though hard data is scarce since personal beliefs weren’t always documented.
So, a rough answer: of the big names, likely 3 or so were deists. Expand the pool, and you might get 5-10, but it’s more art than science—18th-century faith was fluid, and these guys didn’t exactly fill out a “deist or not” checkbox.
31:00 Untangling the minds of most people
32:00 [Reading of the story begins.]
44:00 PETER BERGER joins to be Islamophobic.
45:00 Muslims are victims of Western imperialsm.
46:00 Armenian genocide
47:00 Syria
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