The USA was founded upon Christianity.

My opponent stated "true. But the other half were not. Furthermore, the other half were mostly Deists. " If that were true then you would still only be half right, "Which God? Remember, George Washington and Jefferson along with most of our founding fathers were Deists! " While that was true of Jefferson, if you recall the quote of Washington's earlier it is not true of Washington. I will repost it here for you convenience, "While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian. " Later on I will also show why Christianity was more important to Jefferson than may appear. "The constitution still serves as the law of the FEDERAL government. Remember, this debate is referencing to the FEDERAL government. " True, however it is important to look into the context as the state Constitutions in a large part served as a model for the Federal Constitution because by that time most of the states had their Constitutions already written. ‘"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (YHWH). " Clearly this is not taken from the 10 commandments, otherwise you wouldn't be allowed to worship other gods! " If one were creating a government with religious freedoms they couldn't very well include that in there. I am referring to other Commandments that while not explicitly stated in the Constitution there are implications from the 10 commandments. "The Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy, contributed 34 % of all quotations used by our Founding Fathers. " If the origin of the other sources are counted then it composes 94% of their quotations. John Adams wrote in 1798"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. " Since this seems to contradict his statements in the Treaty of Tripoli we should look at the frequency that he mentioned God or Religion as opposed to the opposite. He referenced the Ten Commandments so we can be fairly certain he was referring to the God of the Bible. Even though Jefferson's own beliefs were questionable, in 1786 he writes , "if a person brought up in the Christian religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are more gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true, or the Scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on the first offense by incapacity to hold any office of employment, ecclesiastical, civil or military; on the second by disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator, and by three years' imprisonment without bail. " Those sound like pretty harsh punishments for heresy, especially coming from a Deist. Check this source to see the other examples of these quotes. [1] In fact Jefferson and Franklin decided in Biblical imagery for the Seal of the United States. Franklin is another example of someone who struggled with his faith but promoted the importance of Christianity. [2] "Have you even read the Bible? I highly doubt it if you are saying that. Of course, this is not that type of debate so if you want me to quote some evil bible verses, we can in another debate. " I have read the Bible and am pretty sure I know which verses you have in mind. You are right it would be a whole different debate. So for the sake of keeping this debate from going in too many directions, I will not address this further. So even though many of the Founders had funny views of what Christianity actually was and probably couldn't truly be called Christians, it is clear that they thought that it was important an so at least in public supported Christian ideas. I pass it on to my opponent 1 . http://www.alliancealert.org... (p. 24) 2 . http://www.torenewamerica.com...