Christianity did influence some of the founding Fathers, said Richard Hughes, distinguished professor of religion at Messiah College and the author of 17 books — including the recently published “Christian America and the Kingdom of God” — but many had no use for Christianity.
“It's both ends. That's what needs to be communicated to students,” Hughes said. “It is absolutely right to suggest that Puritans who settled New England came here with a vision for a Christian commonwealth. It is absolutely wrong to suggest that America's founders had that same vision. They simply didn't.”
Many of the Founding Fathers were connected with churches and many were not, he said. Letters written by Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, indicated he held the Christian church in utter contempt, the religion professor said. Jefferson viewed Jesus as a moral teacher but believed that churches had corrupted those teachings, Hughes said.
