John Adams Vindicated
Jonathan Rowe on Jul 12th 2007
Where is to be found Theology more orthodox or Phylosophy more profound than in the Introduction to the Shast[r]a [a Hindu Treatise]? “God is one, creator of all, Universal Sphere, without beginning, without End. God Governs all the Creation by a General Providence, resulting from his eternal designs. — Search not the Essence and the nature of the Eternal, who is one; Your research will be vain and presumptuous. It is enough that, day by day, and night by night, You adore his Power, his Wisdom and his Goodness, in his Works.”
– John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, December 25, 1813.
John Adams, in Heaven right now, is looking down smiling that his religious “phylosophy” is being implemented by the US Senate. Adams squinted hard to find generic monotheism — what he referred to as “orthodox theology” — in many of the exotic pagan world religions.
Here is some irony: Adams, like the other key Founders, was a fervent theological unitarian. 1+1+1 = 3, not 1. Yet, Trinitarian logic neatly fits with the syncretic universalism of the key Founders. Trinitarians say the different “persons” in the Trinity are simply different manifestations of the one true God. Well, as I understand, that’s exactly what the Hindus argue. Except there aren’t just three different manifestations, but thousands or more. And in listening to the Hindu prayer, it’s monotheistic just like Adams’ above reproduced sentiments.
Update: Google books reproduces the entire letter from which the above Adams quotation was taken.
Filed in The Belfry, The Bureau
[...] The second recent example occurred when a Hindu Chaplain was invited to pray for the US Senate which so outraged orthodox believers that a few of them interrupted this public supplication to a “false God.” And again, America’s principle founders, given they believed most religions worshipped the same God, would have had no problem with this. John Adams himself writing to Thomas Jefferson expressed the belief that Hindus worship the same God he did. [...]
[...] John Adams may well have done the same. However, I haven’t been able to find his quotations. He certainly believed all world religions worshipped the same God and noted to Jefferson that Hindus worshipped the same God they did. [...]
[...] given they believed most religions worshipped the same God, would have had no problem with this. John Adams himself writing to Thomas Jefferson expressed the belief that Hindus worship the same God he [...]
[...] (denier of the Trinity) who believed the Bible to be only a partially inspired book, and that all sorts of exotic religions, notably Hindusm, worshipped the same God he did. John Adams is not a good spokesman for the “Christian [...]