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In my reading and studying of the man, I have come to the conclusion that he was either agnostic or a Deist. I would lean more toward being a Deist, since he did worship a "god," though not the Christian God.
The founding fathers of our country were, for the most part, Unitarian. They believed in freedom of religion and were not Christians. The separation of church and state is critical -- we, as Americans (speaking to the topic of the founding fathers), are not all Christian and tolerance of non-Christian beliefs must not only be expected, it should be demanded.
I must also state that I am in no way a historian of any kind. I have, however, studied world religions purely for self-education for many years.
One last word about Franklin, he is definitely someone I would have hung out with. He was sociable, the life of the party, intelligent, and had a wry (and dry) sense of humor. I would expect that in his midlife to later years, he was quite the dirty old man. Just an observation.
He was one of the most influential thinkers of the american revolution. He was also wise enough to stay out of politics as a player, he was an instrument of the colonial government, not an elected official.
Yeah - he wasn't an elected official but he was a huge player.
He was an instigator of sorts. Definitely a radical who played a big part in bringing the Revolution.
In my reading and studying of the man, I have come to the conclusion that he was either agnostic or a Deist. I would lean more toward being a Deist, since he did worship a "god," though not the Christian God.
The founding fathers of our country were, for the most part, Unitarian. They believed in freedom of religion and were not Christians. The separation of church and state is critical -- we, as Americans (speaking to the topic of the founding fathers), are not all Christian and tolerance of non-Christian beliefs must not only be expected, it should be demanded.
I must also state that I am in no way a historian of any kind. I have, however, studied world religions purely for self-education for many years.
One last word about Franklin, he is definitely someone I would have hung out with. He was sociable, the life of the party, intelligent, and had a wry (and dry) sense of humor. I would expect that in his midlife to later years, he was quite the dirty old man. Just an observation.
.......what was the god that Franklin worshiped? and We do agree both of us would have liked to have been there and asked these questions.............
.......what was the god that Franklin worshiped? and We do agree both of us would have liked to have been there and asked these questions.............
It is often difficult to tell the difference between the 18th century Deists and 18th century atheists. They did not have the advantage of a 150 years of scientific exploration and thinking to form their world view as we do in the modern world. But they formulated the Age of Reason by taking what they knew and observed, what had happened in their past, and using logic to come to some conclusions.
There were quite a few whose writings seem to point to a complete lack of belief in any sort of god, others who said that there was some sort of deity but it was hands off, had no interference in human or earthly affairs, and is most likely just Nature, herself.
It also is not clear how much of their writing was carefully worded so as not to be too blasphemous as many of them were seriously afraid of the negative power of the churches and fought against that. So it is hard to tell whether they we being circumspect and really had no belief at all or if they had a different sort of god-belief.
Ben Franklin falls into that category. He was a very political creature so at this juncture, it is hard to tell what he really thought about the deity question.
actually this is not entirely true. He did, however, prove that lighting was, in fact, an electrical event, resultant upon his kite flying experiment w/bell jar. He was one of the most influential thinkers of the american revolution. He was also wise enough to stay out of politics as a player, he was an instrument of the colonial government, not an elected official.
I JUST READ THAT BEN FRANKLIN was the first Governor of PENNSYLVANIA ......
I JUST READ THAT BEN FRANKLIN was the first Governor of PENNSYLVANIA ......
I certainly would not doubt your assertion, it is, however, not one I had heard of before..... But, then again, there are holes in my understanding, those that I know about I try to change. Have you a link on that info?
Dang, I just looked it up, and you are absolutely correct. He was the sixth governor of Pennsylvania and the first Postmaster General of the U.S. I doesn't surprise me that he became postmaster General, he was, after all, primarily a man of letters.
It is often difficult to tell the difference between the 18th century Deists and 18th century atheists. They did not have the advantage of a 150 years of scientific exploration and thinking to form their world view as we do in the modern world. But they formulated the Age of Reason by taking what they knew and observed, what had happened in their past, and using logic to come to some conclusions.
There were quite a few whose writings seem to point to a complete lack of belief in any sort of god, others who said that there was some sort of deity but it was hands off, had no interference in human or earthly affairs, and is most likely just Nature, herself.
It also is not clear how much of their writing was carefully worded so as not to be too blasphemous as many of them were seriously afraid of the negative power of the churches and fought against that. So it is hard to tell whether they we being circumspect and really had no belief at all or if they had a different sort of god-belief. If his words to the 1st congress were true ,by definition, he was no deist, if he was just trying to motivate he could have been a deist.
Ben Franklin falls into that category. He was a very political creature so at this juncture, it is hard to tell what he really thought about the deity question.
No it is not hard to know what he said .There is a congressional record. But was he speaking what he believed, or came to believe...or was he lying.....tying to motivate the congress who were mostly christian..I suspect but do not know.
It can be said Ben Franklin was the furthest thing from a church goer but that he once made a five pound contribution to George Whitfield, who aroused the "great awakening". Franklin did not share his belief but made good friends with George.
For the most part many of our founding fathers were indeed Deist. A Deist in those days meant that they believe there was a God although who or what God is, we may never know. Thus a Deist could also be a Christian, Jefferson may fall into this category (that there is a God, we may never know but chose to also profess in Christ but only as a choice or affiliation) but from Franklins interpretations he was certainly not Christian.
Franklin also stated that if Men were so corrupt with religion, what would they be without it? As in a negative conotation. And well the thing unfortunately is that Ben as we know it was a genius, one who always sought out for himself what knowledge he would acquire and even in such a enlightened day today compared to the 1700s, many of us still prefer to be spoon fed. Ben certainly understood this as well and knew that people in general need that positive peer pressure, while he himself prefered his isolation and independant thinking.
I JUST READ THAT BEN FRANKLIN was the Governor of PENNSYLVANIA ......
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Governor of PENNSYLVANIA ......
