The War on Independence

Today, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the ideals it proclaims are under attack.
Many of the attacks are coming from people who insist the blessings of liberty belong only to those who share their religious views.
For example, Joel Webbon, a pastor in Austin, Texas, recently said this on his popular podcast: "Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hindus, and atheists should not have the right to vote. I'm a Christian nationalist, so yes, I would require a public profession of faith that you're a Christian in order to vote."
Webbon and other Chistian nationalists promote the assumption that all the men behind our claim to independence from England were Christians. This is simply not true.
Thomas Paine, whose pamphlet “Common Sense” provided much of the impetus for independence, ridiculed Christian teachings, saying the Bible “is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy.” 
Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, created a version of the Christian New Testament that left out all the miracles of Jesus, including the resurrection. In his autobiography, he wrote that the protections of the government extend to “the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and infidel of every denomination." 
Benjamin Franklin, a member of the committee that drafted the declaration, was a Deist, who rejected the divinity of Jesus and was openly critical of Christianity.
John Adams was another member of the drafting committee. As our second president, he sent to the Senate a treaty with Tripoli, a Muslim nation. It proclaimed that “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.” The Senate ratified the treaty in 1797.
So careful were the drafters of the Declaration to avoid any reference to Christianity that they omitted the customary “in the year of Our Lord” from the date. In addition, they referred to the divine in terms not specific to any religion.
Those who seek to declare our country a Christian nation and to limit its protections to Christians do more than ignore history. They ignore the famous words of the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson, that “all men are created equal.” 
Not just Christian men, but all men. And, today, not just Christian women, but all women. 
As we celebrate Independence Day, those stirring words should thunder as proudly as the fireworks.

Donald E. Knebel
July 4, 2026