One of the most common statements in the news today is that the US is a "Christian Nation." So let's take a look at what the founding fathers had to say in the Constitution about religion:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." (Article 6, section 3)

That gives equal citizenship to believers and non-believers alike. Our Founders wanted to make certain that no one single religion could ever be claimed to be the "national religion" such as had been done in England.

Now let us look at the Declaration of Independence; what does it have to say about religion? Thomas Jefferson made it clear that the power was held by the people, not a king. The 1796 treaty with Tripoli states:

"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

Some of the founding fathers were undeniably deists; they believed in a creator that did not communicate directly with humans, a nature god, and a Jesus that was a great spiritual leader, but not divine. The Constitution does not mention religion, unless it is to set its parameters above. The Bible, Christ, Christianity and God are not stated in the Declaration of Independence nor our Constitution.The attitude of the founding fathers was one of tolerance and free thought:

George Washington, the first President of the United States was a deist and a Freemason. He did not take communion and declined a priest at time of death.

Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, printer and philosopher and a deist. He is known to have said : "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches."

Thomas Paine rallied men to fight for their freedom .He said:

"Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst. I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

John Adams, the second President of the United States stated in his letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, Dec. 27, 1816:

"The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?"

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States in his letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT :

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, 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."

James Madison, the fourth President of the United States stated in an 1803 letter objecting use of government land for churches:

"The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."

In sum, the founding fathers conceived of a nation free of religious intolerance and codified laws would protect us from a theocracy. In our daily work, we must remember to give each other the FREEDOM to believe differently.