

Founding Fathers were men of faith


In his May 20 column John Bristow stated: “First, we need to scrap the notion that all the founding fathers were men of deep Christian faith. A good number were Deists...”

I have to disagree with Mr. Bristow. I have studied American History, especially the religious aspect and how Christianity has impacted our government and our leaders.

According to, at the time of the signing of the Declaration John Witherspoon was serving as a minister; Robert Treat Paine served as a military chaplain during the Revolution; and Lyman Hall had served as a minister before the Revolution. Many others should also be noted for their ministry work: Francis Hopkinson (church music director and choir leader); Roger Sherman; Benjamin Rush (founded the country’s first Bible Society); James Wilson (taught students the Biblical basis of civil law). In fact, at least 29 of the signers had been trained in schools whose primary purpose was the preparation of ministers. They attended universities and seminaries of learning such as Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, Princeton, Cambridge, and Westminster.

Another site that does such research,, reports the following for religious affiliation of the signers of the Declaration of Independence: 

32 were Episcopalian/Anglican; 13 were Congregationalist; 12 were Presbyterian; two were Quaker; two were Unitarian or Universalist and one was Catholic. 

Only two were Deists: Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

As a minister, Mr. Bristow should investigate and research credible sources before he makes a statement that is clearly not true.

Mathew Niblack, Port Orchard