Religious foundation of the United States

From PhiloWiki

Was the United States based on Judeo-Christian principles? Or on Deist principles? Or something else?

Christian views

Resources are needed. Feel free to find and add resources.

Secular views

thesis writing Here are quotes from the founding fathers and their influences:

• Charles Dickens, author of "A Christmas Carol" - "Missionaries are perfect nuisances and leave every place worse than they found it."

• Thomas Jefferson - "The gospel history of Jesus consists of fabrications, superstitions and fanaticism... The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a Virgin, will be classified with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter... I consider the book of Revelation, the ravings of a maniac."

• James Madison - "Christianity causes Superstition, bigotry and persecution."

• Thomas Paine - "The Bible is the word of the Demon, not the word of God."

• George Bernard Shaw - "The bible is a false book, that must be burned and buried... The bible is full of fairy tales and anyone who believes in the bible is unfit to be a parent or vote."

• Leo Tolstoy - "What can be more absurd than that the mother of God was both a virgin and a mother."

• Voltaire - "Christianity is the most absurd and bloodthirsty religion."

• H.G. Wells - "You can trust a devout catholic less than a Nazi spy."