PART 2
let us begin where i began. an invocation to the deity was inserted as a sop to religionists of the time. in fact, they fought over it. Jefferson (a deist) was given the job, by the members of the Continental Congress, of writing the document, Frankin (a deist) and Admas (a Unitarian) we given the job of editing it. Not a christian in the lot. THIS was no accident. And... what did they produce?
We hold these Truths to be self evident; that all Men are created equal and independent; that from that equal Creation they derive Rights inherent and unalienable; among which are the Preservation of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
No creator... except implicitly. This is how the document was submitted to the CC. THIS, btw, is classical Enlightenment writing. You might note a similarity between this and my responses elsewhere (the human rights thread). our rights are inherent in our being. The document went through at least two revisions. Here is the first.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent & inalienable rights
please note the lower case "C". it was NOT accidental. STILL the religionists in the CC were not happy. Jefferson et al were WERE NOT going to invoke any one's god. It was a pluralist, secular, humanist nation they were attempting to found, not a religious state. "Creator" (capital "c") was a compromise.
the Declaration refers to “Nature’s God,”, NOT christianity's or judaism's or hinduism's or ANYbody's God. it refers to the “Creator,” and “Divine Providence.”
all of these terms were humanist/Deist terms. Deists believe in a force, not an entity. Jefferson insisted that reason, not revelation, inform his world view; "I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in it's parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of it's composition. . . it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is . . . a fabricator of all things." - Thomas Jefferson).
Bernard Shaw (a contemporary) wrote of the Life Force, Spinoza of the "God Idea".It is easy to insert YOUR beliefs into their writings, but that does not actually change THEIR beliefs. Like Shaw and Spinoza and Einstein, Jefferson accepted the idea of God as a force, NOT an entity "Of the nature of this being [God] we know nothing.".
yeah, you are fee to take Jefferson's Creator and name Him Jesus or YHWH, but that is NOT what Jefferson thought. Jefferson in particular, revered Jesus Of Nazareth and honored his teachings ("the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man") but thought religion and christianity in particular, a perversion; ""They [the teachings of Jesus] have been still more disfigured by the corruptions of schismatizing followers, who have found an interest in sophisticating and perverting the simple doctrines he taught."
the United States is not, by design, a "christian nation".
geo.