Was Franklin a religious man Why or why not Provide specific

Was Franklin a religious man? Why, or why not? Provide specific evidence to support your conclusions.

Solution

Franklin was a religious man and here is the evidence to support it.

Ezra Stiles (1727–1795), the Calvinist president of Yale College, was curious about Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and his faith. In 1790, he asked the nation\'s senior statesman if he would commit his religious beliefs to paper. Franklin agreed. He was nearing the end of his life - he died six weeks later - and possibly believed this was as good a time as any to summarize the religious creed by which he lived.

\"Here is my Creed,\" Franklin wrote to Stiles. \"I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we render to him, is doing Good to his other Children. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and will be treated with Justice in another Life respecting its Conduct in this ... As for Jesus of Nazareth ... I think the system of Morals and Religion as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw ... but I have ... some Doubts to his Divinity; though\' it is a Question I do not dogmatism upon, having never studied it, and think it is needless to busy myself with it now, where I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble.\"

Franklin put his faith in an active God who watched over his natural creation and could, on occasion, intervene in the lives of his human creation as well. Thirty-six years after he claimed to embrace Deism, Franklin sounded like anything but an adherent to this religious system. \"Without the Belief of a Providence that takes Cognizance of, guards and guides, and may favour particular Persons, there is no Motive to Worship a Deity, to fear its Displeasure, or to pray for its Protection,\" he wrote. This was also a God who answered prayer. Franklin wrote prayers for his own personal use and took time to rewrite the Lord\'s Prayer so that it was more suitable to contemporary readers. In July 1787, during the meeting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Franklin called for prayer to bring reconciliation to the political differences of the body.

Yet for all of his talk of God and his providence, Franklin\'s religious creed falls far short of orthodox Christianity. His beliefs were less about Christian doctrine and more about virtue - moral behavior that serves the public good. He labored to instill character in his life, going so far as to attempt \"moral perfection\" through the daily cultivation of thirteen different virtues. He had little tolerance for theological squabbles often associated with organized Christianity and thought debates over the meaning of Christian orthodoxy prevented clergy from preaching the true spirit of Christianity, namely, loving one\'s neighbor.

Franklin\'s religious beliefs were quintessentially American and, in many ways, quintessentially Pennsylvanian. It did not matter what one believed about God, as long as one\'s religion contributed to a more benevolent society and made the world, one neighborhood at a time, a more enlightened and civilized place.