I have been watching the HBO miniseries of the same name and one of the things you learn straight off is that John Adams, as were all of our founding fathers, flawed. He had doubts and anxieties like we all do.
Our founding fathers were deists for the most part not what one would really call Christian if we were to use today’s terminology. Yes they felt that people had God given divine rights but that was about as far as they were willing to take God. John Adams was a Unitarian as were most people in New England at the time.
There is one scene where Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin are together discussing the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had written something along the lines of We hold these truths to be Divine. Franklin thought that too preachy so they changed it to what we hear today, self evident.
We need to be careful in how we think of the founders. Politics ruled the day and compromise was in full effect. Some even avoided the meeting when the vote was taken on Independence so they would not stand in the way. Independence was not a popular event and it was difficult to achieve.
Thank you John Adams and the others for all your hard work. God bless you for the risks you took both professional and personal for us to gain our freedom.
If you have not watched the series or read the book, I would recommend it to you. It really is wonderful.
