Dear Maga #7

Who Were The Founders, and Why Does It Matter?

Evangelical Christians are quick to tell you that the founders of the United States of America were Evangelical Christians who believed America should be a theocracy placing the rule of the Christian God above that of man and the rule of law. Ever since the Franklin Roosevelt administration, this has been bubbling around the edges as a reaction to liberalism. The “Christian American Thesis” emerged in 1977 with the publication of a book called The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel. They argue that not only did God choose America, but America is a new Israel, and all that implies. This book is wildly popular and is published around the same time Jerry Falwell, Tim LaHaye and several others formed the Moral Majority in opposition to policies of the Carter administration. In the 1980s, this gave rise to Originalism, first proposed by Robert Bork, which interprets the Constitution from the point of view that the Founders were more Christian and Conservative leaning and thus court rulings should follow. I won’t tell you there were no Founders who were Evangelicals, there were and most famously: “Patrick Henry (who distributed religious tracts while riding circuit as a lawyer) clearly believed in Evangelical Christianity.” - Encyclopedia Britannica - The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity.

However, the real question is: what was the primary ethos that drove the Founders? Is the “Christian American Thesis” true, or was it a fabrication to force a theocratic world view on a diverse society? Aside from the writings of the Founders themselves, there are two other pieces of evidence that suggest a more plausible reality: The Constitution itself, and religious and philosophical framework known as Deism.

The roots of Deism can be traced back to the philosophical tradition of Ancient Greece. However, Deism did not develop as a religio-philosophical movement until after the Scientific Revolution, which began in the mid-16th century in early modern Europe. As luck would have it, the peak of Deism’s influence fell right in the middle of the American Revolution, which itself fell in the middle of The Age of Enlightenment - a revolution in rational thinking.

Of course, the impact of Deism on the Founders is highly contested by Evangelicals, as you would expect, because it knocks away the arguments that underpin their assertion that America is, and ought to be a theocracy. Considerable study of this question has been done; “Deistic thought was immensely popular in colleges from the middle of the 18th into the 19th century. Thus, it influenced many educated (as well as uneducated) males of the Revolutionary generation.” In addition to the general influence in education of those in power (white males), four other factors were considered: how involved were they in the church, to what extent where they engaged in the sacraments of the church (George Washington’s refusal to take communion his whole life), what kind of language regarding god and religion did they use, and finally what did friends, family and the clergy say about them (Washington’s pastors in Philadelphia viewed him as influenced by Deism)?

In the end, while there were orthodox Christians involved in every part of the creation of our government, the driving and overarching influence was from those who were Deists. They set the foundations. Adherents of Deism believed in a single God who set the universe in motion, and stepped away either never, or infrequently, tinkering with creation. As a result, a core tenet of Deism is ‘free-thinking’; that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation. Most Deists saw the Bible as full of contradictory, vindictive, and cruel stories - a human text which must be judged by reason and not taken at face value. Thomas Jefferson even created his own version of the Bible by cutting out any portion where miracles occurred. These people were not orthodox Christians by any means. They were also aware of other religions outside of Christianity, and given the religious wars that had plagued Europe were dead set against creating a state sanctioned religion, and enshrined tolerance for many religions in the Constitution. This did not prevent states from forming their own state sanctioned religions with coercive laws of attendance and tithing - but these quickly died as the idea of separation of church and state permeated society and churches embraced their own freedom from the state. Therefore, a true ‘Originalist’ view of the Constitution should lean left and away from religious orthodoxy and state control.

Deism influenced the development of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, more so than any other philosophy. Like everyone should have learned in school, it first establishes the rule of law and the different branches of government, their powers, and their relationship to each other, correcting many of the failures of the Articles of Confederation. It then establishes the relationship of the government to that of the states, establishing a Federal form of government through the supremacy clause. The Bill of Rights established the first ten amendments to the Constitution during the first session of Congress under the new framework, defining: separation of church and state through the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses, Free Speech, Press, Peaceful Assembly, and Petitioning the Government; the Right to Bear Arms (previous rulings rightfully under scrutiny today considering the amount of children subjected to attack by firearms in schools, a place which should be safe); prohibition of Quartering Soldiers in civilian homes; prohibition against Illegal Searches and Seizures and Warrant requirements; protection against abuse of Prosecutorial Powers; Rights in Criminal Prosecutions; Civil Trial Rights; Cruel and Unusual Punishment; Unenumerated Rights - to protect against anything not defined in the Amendments as being illegal by default; and that powers not defined in the Constitution or Amendments are reserved for the states or the people.

This framework for government established a border between church and state that is being abused by a minority to control the government, and undone the actions of 248 years of progress. Further laws and Supreme Court rulings addressed civil rights and voting rights violations, women’s control of their health and bodies, and LGBTQ rights, and not yet included as amendments. As we have seen with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and rulings against provisions of the voting rights act, laws and rulings can be overturned by an active minority who sees themselves at war with everyone not white, male, or Evangelical Christian enough. One in 8 people in the United States are Evangelical Christians, yet they have had an outsize impact through such long-term efforts as the Heritage Foundation (home of Project 2025), the Federalist Society, and the Teneo Network which was fundamental at identifying judges for nomination into the federal judiciary in order to ‘crush liberal dominance’. As much as they have denied it in the past, they have been at war with most Americans for over 50 years, and have taken advantage of people through lies and obfuscation of the truth. Now that they control all the branches of government, the masks are off, and they are saying out loud what they tried to keep hidden from the average citizen over the years: they want to turn America into a white dominated, Evangelical Christian, theocracy, and continue their version of ‘Manifest Destiny’ to dominate everything and everyone here. Dominion is not freedom.

It’s clear to me, and I hope to you now, that the “Christian American Thesis” is a fallacy that calls back to the worse instincts of United States imperialism, that subjugated, killed, and drove off their lands the native people who welcomed the first European colonizers, who established slavery as the predominate form of production and economics of the South, who lost the civil war over slavery and against reconstruction of the South rebuilt racist social structures in the form of Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise freed men, who then resisted civil rights and voting rights laws, and now after 50 years of slow plotting, have turned back progress and taken away rights. As a Christian, is this something Jesus would do? Is this something you want done in your name? To me, this has evil written all over it, not only in terms of morality, but in terms of the finality of putting people in physical danger and death unnecessarily, given the technology and resources we have today. Once you go there and people die, you can’t make them whole again. Ironically, many of the people in the crosshairs will be their own supporters.

We have reached the end of tolerance. What is being done by MAGA is insurrection. What is being done is treason. We can not tolerate fascism, authoritarianism, theocracy, racism, imperialism, and threats to our safety and well-being in America. MAGA co-opted the Republican Party. This is the end of the Democratic Party as well. The people in charge have failed us. We have to build new foundations that will stand the test of time, and now is the time to get started. I had hopes that America, and the world in general, would start acting more mature and responsible during the twenty-first century. But, years of degradation of education, glorification of ignorance, and ministers preaching intolerance and evil to their congregations has only made things worse. This isn’t just a problem in America. Brexit, and the rise of authoritarianism in Europe, and crackdowns in China are all reactions to perceived threats to the status quo. Russia is in full-blown societal collapse. All of this is driven by fear of change.

I believe there is a silver lining here for us to think about as the dark clouds move in, and the storm begins to blow: Progressives and their policies have been increasing in popularity over time, primarily in the Democratic camp. I think we have two choices. In both cases, they involve returning to traditional progressive liberalism that focuses on the middle class, and working class, and unions, and leaves corporate neoliberalism behind. In the first case, we stay with the Democratic party, and gain control of it - in fact insist on taking control of it. The current leaders of the party who called the shots, and have been suppressing progressives for years are responsible for political malpractice which is going to cost thousands of people their lives and livelihoods. In the second case, if the neoliberals do not want to play ball, leave the Democratic Party and form a separate party. Either way, as the reality of the second Trump Administration kicks in, we can build a safe harbor for the future.