Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Non-Fiction

vlyons

(10,252 posts)

1. The intellectual founding fathers were not Christians

Reply to Timeflyer (Original post)

Sun Oct 23, 2022, 10:18 AM

Oct 2022

They were Deists and freemasons. More importantly they were steeped in the ideas and philosophy of the Enlightenment, the Age of Reason. Thomas Paine famously wrote "The Age of Reason," that argued for the philosophy of Deism. These men had read Voltaire, Decartes, Montesquieu, Locke, Rousseau. Probably today's RW extremists would ban all these writers in high school libraries. I read English translations of Candide and Voltaire, when I was in high school.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American, by Seidel, 2019. [View all] Timeflyer Oct 2022 OP

The intellectual founding fathers were not Christians vlyons Oct 2022 #1

here is a link to yellerpup's timeless post. rampartc Oct 2022 #2

Thanks for linking to yellerpup's wonderful post n/t teach1st Oct 2022 #6

What a fantastic deep DU dive! intheflow Oct 2022 #7

It would be nice if TV people stressed this! young_at_heart Oct 2022 #3

needs to be said. repeatedly. -(nt)- stopdiggin Oct 2022 #4

I finished "The Founding Myth..." a few weeks ago teach1st Oct 2022 #5