HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826)
RELIGIOUS LIBERALISM AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS
For more on the religious views of our founders see this link
Note: to execute cartoon go to www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/adams.htm. In 2008 HBO ran a mini-series that commentators say bring Adams out of partial obscurity compared to Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin.
October 23 is John Adams' birthday and I would like to honor our second president for his contributions to America's great tradition of religious liberalism. At first glance it appears as if John Adams did not share the same liberal views as Jefferson or Franklin. The Adams family had a strong Calvinistic background, and John Adams was a regular churchgoer and Bible reader. As a student at Harvard, Adams faithfully attended daily prayers at the campus chapel.
Adams was together with Franklin in Paris as they both worked on the Treaty of Paris of 1782. Adams spoke better French and he behaved himself better than Franklin, so it irked him that his compatriot was so popular. At that time Adams wrote that Franklin "has no religion ... [and] all the atheists, deists, and libertines as well as philosophers and ladies are in his train." Adams also reacted violently to Paine's Age of Reason and scolded him in person for stating such "ridiculous" things about the Old Testament. Although he would come to agree more and more with Jefferson in later years, the younger Adams simply could not understand Jefferson's objection to federally approved fast day that came before the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Why, wrote Adams to Benjamin Rush, was he making himself out to be "an enemy of Christianity"?
Adams held a firm belief in God and contended that such a belief was necessary for morality. He also recognized the role of human reason in morality, but in contrast to Jefferson and Franklin, he deemphasized human perfectibility through reason alone. He believed in God's providence and in miracles, and he thought that the Bible contained "the most perfect philosophy, the most perfect morality, and the most refined policy." Adams explicitly stated that the principles of the American Revolution were the same as the general principles of Christianity.
But this same man signed the Treaty of Tripoli with its notorious Article 11 that began: "As the Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. . . ." Washington accepted the treaty and it was passed by the Senate without any recorded debate. If we understand clearly what Adams meant by general Christian principles, we can understand why he could accept Article 11. Like the religious liberals of his time, Adams believed that the essential message of Jesus was ethical, not doctrinal. Truth, justice, liberty, and brotherhood are the principles of Christianity, and it is these which Adams felt coincided with the principles of the American Revolution. The American Revolution was not fought on the basis of Christ's divinity, the Trinity, or the Virgin Birth. Therefore, to return to the Treaty of Tripoli, it would have been perfectly legitimate to state that the U.S. government is founded on Christian principles of liberty and justice, but not on the dogmas of orthodox religion.
Adams became disillusioned with his strictly Calvinist upbringing early on; and, as this entry in his diary indicates, he began to loathe evangelical preachers: "Sundays are sacrificed to the frigid performances of disciples of frigid John Calvin." It is also apparent that some people around him sensed his dissatisfaction and knew of his liberal views. In a diary entry of 1756, Adams (then 21) recounts a discussion he had with a Major Greene about the divinity of Christ. Major Greene's argument left Adams completely unconvinced, as can be seen in his marginal note: "Thus mystery is made a convenient cover for absurdity." Here is another good example of Adams' liberal Christianity: "Where do we find a precept in the Gospel for ... Creeds, Confessions, Oaths ... and whole cartloads of other trumpery that we find religion encumbered with in these days?"
Adams was a solid intellectual and enjoyed exchanges with people such as Benjamin Rush and, later on, with Thomas Jefferson. He read the classics, philosophy, and theology voraciously and initiated studies in the areas of the sociology of religion and comparative religion. Adams concluded that anyone practicing Christian morality should be called a Christian, even though that person may not believe in Christ's deity or the Trinity. In a letter to Jefferson in 1813, he puts it very simply: "Yet I believe all the honest men among you are Christians, in my sense of the word."
Adams felt so strongly about the importance of morality that he held that virtue, not liberty, is the first principle of government. The responsible use of freedom cannot flourish without a foundation in morality. Adams argued that human kindness stems from being good and doing right, rather than simply doing what one pleases. Adams' priority of virtue would not set well with today's libertarians, who stress the right of people to do as they please as long as they do not kill, assault, rob, or defraud. None of our founding fathers would have agreed with this. This may be the reason why today's morally neutral liberalism is so vulnerable to conservative attack.
With the political wounds of the past healed, Jefferson and Adams exchanged many letters in their retirement. They both ridiculed John Calvin and expressed dismay at those who thought the Trinity or Jesus' divinity to be intelligible propositions. Neither, however, ever made any public statement about his unorthodox views. Amazingly enough, they both died on the same day: July 4, 1826.
At the age of eighty, Adams composed an elegant summary of his religious faith: "My religion is founded on the love of God and my neighbor; on the hope of pardon for my offenses; upon contrition; upon the duty as well as necessity of supporting with patience the inevitable evils of life; in the duty of doing no wrong, but all the good I can, to the creation of which I am but an infinitesimal part."