Mumia W wrote:
What's not to love about Ben? He was an atheist too.From
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/john_remsburg/six_historic_americans/chapter_4.html
"In conversation with familiar friends he called himself a Deist or Theist, and he resented a sentence in Mr. Whitefield's journal which seemed to imply that between a Deist and an Atheist there was little or no difference. Whitefield wrote: 'M.B. is a Deist; I had almost said an Atheist.' 'That is,' said Franklin, 'chalk, I had almost said charcoal" (Ibid, Vol. i., p. 319).At the age of eighty-four, just previous to his death, in reply to inquiries concerning his religious belief from Ezra Stiles, the President of Yale College, he wrote as follows:Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshiped. That the most acceptable service we render 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."This is pure Deism. Paine <http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/> and Voltaire <http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/voltaire/> would have readily subscribed to every one of the above six articles of faith. Compare the creed of Franklin with the creed of Paine.
-- Kent