A Quick Response to "America isn't a Christian nation because the Founders were all deists!"

the examples were intentionally prior to the War for Independence for three reasons: 1. those who know God will see His plan over time, and 2. those who don't need to see the US didn't happen randomly, and 3. there's so much evidence of the Christian world view of out Founding Fathers between 1770 and the ratification of the Constitution that I cannot cram it into an FB reply. Jefferson and Paine have similar biographies in this regard: They held a predominately Christian worldview in their youth. Jefferson was young and still espousing Christian principles when he penned the Declaration of Independence. It was while serving as ambassador to France that he began turning more ecumenical. Most of the "proof" that is used to tell you he was deist is "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth," which he completed in 1820 by cutting and pasting, with a razor and glue, numerous sections from the New Testament. Yes, that "redacted" the miracles but not all the other claims of Christ. That was 44 years after he influenced the Declaration. Among his personal notes, the early indications that he was beginning to lose faith in the supernatural miracles of the Bible are dated in the early 1800s, three decades after America's founding. As for Thomas Paine, his Christian faith fell after the war when life was still tough and did not live up to the glory he imagined as a youth. There are many indications that Washington was a Christian from youth and for the remainder of his life, however, he often chose to take a softer approach publicly for political reasons; he had fought and suffered for the Republic and did not want to alienate citizens who believed in Natural Law, which is very compatible with basic Christian principles, although it does not acknowledge a Savior. Any study of Washington's recorded prayers backs this up: publicly he used words like "Providence" while his private journals "implored God." Benjamin Franklin was one of those "Natural Law" believers for much of his life, although even there, his writings show he was very impressed with the Anglican/Methodist evangelist George Whitefield (sometimes spelled Whitfield), whom he heard preach in Philadelphia; seeds were planted then that seem to have grown over time. In a reversal of the spiritual flow in Paine's life, Franklin's writings became more spiritual as he aged.

I could go on with examples of how God needs only a few to accomplish much, and He often uses nonbelievers to accomplish His end. God does not rule by democracy. The premise that God needed a majority of Christian Founders in order to form a Christian nation is deeply flawed. God planned for America to be a Republic that took/takes His living word to the world. He had enough people covenant in agreement to establish America as a nation founded on the teaching of Christ.