Is there such a thing as the separation of church and state?

people point to washington as being a deist because of titles he gave god...

but he talked over and over again about how god intervened in circumstances in his life....hardly deist philosophy.

 

i think we've filled our post count with the same discussion over and over and over and over and over again.

 

Franklin said similar things, but I don't think anybody would dispute his deist credentials. Either way, do you have a reference for this claim (not disputing it, just interested)?

Also, why do you not think the names he used for god do not evidence his deist leanings? If he called god, "Allah," wouldn't you take that as evidence that he was a Muslim?

 

Christians who speak Arabic call God "Allah" as well.

 

Cool! I didn't know that.

I think the point still stands, though. Why would you use distinctively deist phraseology if you didn't at least have deist leanings?

 

I'd rather read deeper...and see how he actually assessed God in his life...what he really thought aobut it. Those points are truly crystal clear.

I have no problem really with Washington being a deist if he were...and I don't care much for building an argument for more church in my government because the Founding Fathers where holy-rollers. None of that concerns me. In fact, you'd find me an ally in that argument.

I just hear people call the founding fathers deists almost universally as sort of a knee-jerk to the idea they were all puritan christians...and to me that looks equally shallow. The worst example is any that would tell you John Adams was a deist...because after all, they all were deists...and since they all were John Adams must have been. Even the slightest reading of his words shows this...and yet, there he is...grouped with Franklin and Jefferson.