Over 200 years ago the Founding Fathers clearly established the United States of America as a Christian nation—a land where faith played a vital role in our government and in the preservation of “liberty and justice for all.” Unfortunately, despite the abundance of documented evidence of the Founders’ personal beliefs and religious intentions, including the Declaration of Independence and, in turn, the Constitution, many modern American leaders and even ordinary citizens have erroneously denied, distorted, or forgotten our country’s Christian heritage. Consequently, plenty of conflict has ensued, pitting traditionalists against revisionists, conservatives against liberals, Christians against unbelievers, and so on. Carol V. Hamilton, a graduate of the University of California, Berkley, with a Ph.D. in English, and David Barton, the Founder and President of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization that preserves our moral, religious, and constitutional heritage by presenting America’s oft-forgotten history, have enthusiastically joined the fray, hoping to provide some much-needed clarity to opposing sides of the issue. Hamilton and Barton have written starkly divergent articles that clearly articulate their opposing views on the subject of our nation’s Christian heritage, but Barton has presented the most accurate description of the Founding Fathers’ intentions in establishing this magnificent country.

In her article, “A Christian Nation?,” Hamilton primarily refers to the lives and writings of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison to support her belief that the Founding Fathers did not establish the United States upon the principles of Christianity, but she fails to make any effective arguments. Citing Franklin’s rejection of Calvinism and church services as evidence of his supposed anti-religion views, Hamilton nevertheless admits that Franklin “believed in a God and in an afterlife in which evil would be punished and good rewarded” and “was agnostic on the subject” of Jesus Christ’s divinity.  Similarly, Hamilton affirms that the “skeptical” and “unorthodox” Jefferson “was not an atheist either,” and although she resorts to Jefferson’s personal lack of spiritual beliefs as perhaps her most convincing argument, Hamilton only includes findings from two of his letters, neglecting to provide any evidence of secular sentiment from any of Jefferson’s official writings or dealings. Even when she finally references the seemingly non-Christian views of James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,” Hamilton fails to deliver any crippling blows. Referring to, among other things, Madison’s praise for a 1786 Virginia statute of religious liberty and his warning of “the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & civil Government,” Hamilton makes some seemingly good points, but she fails to mention that Madison’s “Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments,” from which she draws most of her quotes, comes from his “Detached Memoranda,” a work he wrote late in life that often contradicts the beliefs he held during the establishment of the United States. Though her attempts are admirable, Hamilton simply fails to prove that Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, let alone the rest of the Founding Fathers, intended to establish the United States as a secular country.

On the other hand, in his article, “James Madison and Religion in Public,” Barton gives sound examples of the Christian heritage of our nation, drawing from the lives of James Madison, George Washington, and the other Founding Fathers. Barton begins his article by astutely pointing out that Madison “was publicly outspoken about his personal Christian beliefs and convictions” and revealing that only later in life did the “Father of the Constitution” “[retreat] from many of these positions” and “[declare] in his ‘Detached Memoranda’ his belief that having paid chaplains and issuing presidential prayer proclamations were [sic] unconstitutional.” In addition, Barton recognizes the folly of attributing too much influence and power to Madison, who was only one of “one hundred and twenty-six individual participants in the framing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” and makes sure to examine the views of the other Founders, many of which “unequivocally contradict the image portrayed by the one-sided picture of Madison given by those who cite his ‘Detached Memoranda.’” One of the most outspokenly religious of the Founding Fathers, George Washington “provides a succinct illustration” of a Founder deeply motivated by his personal faith. During his inauguration Washington even “added several religious components” to the oath of office, including the use of a Bible upon which to take the oath and the now-iconic concluding phrase “So help me God!” Similarly, Washington reminded his countrymen of the nation’s Christian heritage in his “Farewell Address,” declaring:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness…The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.

After detailing Washington’s profound faith, Barton goes on to “cite the actions of the entire body of Founding Fathers,” which included the approval of the “use of the Capitol building as a church building for Christian worship services.” As Barton points out, the Founding Fathers’ words and actions clearly reveal an inherent religious intent and purpose.

Despite her best efforts, Hamilton fails where Barton succeeds: accurately interpreting and describing the Founding Fathers ideology and intentions in establishing the United States. Unfortunately, Hamilton writes with a rather limited view of James Madison and apparently believes his “Detached Memoranda” to be the absolute authority on the Constitution and the formation of this country, claiming that his words alone reveal the anti-religious sentiment of all the Founders. Hamilton’s other flimsy and half-hearted examples simply do not prove any conclusive points. Conversely, Barton supports his position with solid, well-articulated examples of the Founding Fathers’ beliefs, writings, and public actions, refusing to accept Madison’s one-sided, narrow, and often contradictory “Detached Memoranda” as all-encompassing. Ultimately Barton makes the stronger arguments in his detailed article, which puts Hamilton’s editorial to bed.