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Benjamin Franklin's Influence On Religion

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Benjamin Franklin was a well-known American figure with humble beginnings. Born in Boston in the year 1706 from puritan parents, Franklin grew up with in a religious setting. Throughout his life Franklin changed his views on spirituality and religion. In his early teens, Franklin began to change his views on religion, later becoming a Deist. As a young man, Franklin stopped attending church on Sundays to have more time for his research.
At age 12, Franklin began his first job, apart from his apprenticeship in his father’s store, assisting his brother, James’, at a print shop. James created his own newspaper, The New England Courant, where Franklin would become employed as an apprentice. Franklin is largely known for his witty, sharp humor, …show more content…

Historian David T. Morgan argues that Franklin, who claimed to be a Deist, was actually the “first American champion of generic religion,” as he was generally undecided about his true beliefs. Morgan states that Franklin believed that all religions were the same in principal because they were all useful and served the same purpose: to provide one with comfort and morals. Morgan brings up Franklin’s pamphlet “A Dissertation upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain,” in which Franklin seemed uncertain and confused about his own beliefs. From the Dissertation, Morgan deduces, despite the fact that Franklin addresses his own deist beliefs in the beginning, that Franklin belied all conventional religions including his own. While Morgan defends his opinion that Franklin had never settled on any one belief, he states that Franklin “..did not fully endorse orthodox Christianity” and was unsure if “Christ was divine or not.”
In contrast to Morgan, Louis J. Sirico, Jr. writes about Franklin’s insistence of prayer before Constitutional convention meetings. Sirico quotes Franklins proposal to include prayer in meetings and focuses on Franklins quotes from Christian scripture. However, like Morgan, Sirico acknowledges Franklin’s contradictions with regard to his beliefs. Morgan uses a quote from his interview with Ronald Regan, asserting that it was strange that Benjamin Franklin, a distinguished deist, was the one who suggested the inclusion of

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At a young age, Franklin was a determined. He would become his brother’s apprentice in his printing press company. This would inspire him to establish his own printing press which would be well known throughout all the colonies. He was then given the rank of postmaster, which made him the head of all the post offices in the colonies. He was very interested in pursuing science and enjoyed inventing; this curiosity of science would lead him to be the first to discover electricity.

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Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 and during his childhood and teenage years he studied English literature and perfected his writing and poetry skills. Ben Franklin was always an advocate of free speech. As a result, Ben Franklin founded the Pennsylvania Gazette. A colonial paper that became popular among the colonies. He could publish controversial letters that made people during those times start serious conversations around towns .

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Benjamin Franklin By: Nathaniel Priedeman Early Life Benjamin Franklin was born January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts to his father Josiah Franklin and his mother Abiah Folger. Benjamin's father was a soap and candle maker. Benjamin was the 15th child and the youngest son. Ben learned to read at an early age age and even with his success at Boston Latin School in which Ben attended, he stopped his schooling at age 10 to work full time at his father's soap and candle shop.

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Franklin values prayer and doing good works over rituals such as a regular attendance to church, emphasizing using one's own reason for understanding the word of God. For example, Franklin described the time he went to listen to his friend, the Presbyterian minister, preach for five consecutive weeks (Andrews, 133). Franklin remained unenthused about public worship and found the aim of the minister was to focus the people on becoming “Presbyterians rather than good citizens” (Andrews, 133). He found himself “disgusted” by the argument the minister made in regards to the verse from Philippians, therefore, deciding to never return to his sermon again nor to any other public sermon again. This point of view is similar to Thomas Paine’s point of view in that Paine believed the only way to discover God

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Instead, he became his brother’s, James, apprentice at the age of twelve to learn the printing trade(Begins Apprenticeship). This lasted until 1723, when Benjamin could not work with his brother anymore and left to go to Philadelphia. After so many months, he established himself as a printer and bought the newspaper ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’(Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790). One of his tributes was ‘Poor Richard’s

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Born in 1706 as the eighth of 17 children to a Massachusetts soap and candlestick maker, the chances Benjamin Franklin would go on to become a gentleman, scholar, scientist, statesman, musician, author, publisher and all-around general genius were astronomically low, yet he did just that. Franklin wrote in the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual revolution in the 18th century. The ideals of the enlightenment are still thought of today, as they are a part of the United States’ Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When one remembers Benjamin Franklin very few people are aware of the fact that he worked as a printer until the age of 42. As a printer he had access to substantial amounts of literature.

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When Franklin was twelve years old, he made a decision about being a printer. At this age, Franklin started working long hours daily at his dad’s candle

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18-9). Franklin always admired teachings of Jesus but fell short in belief of Christ’s divinity. As he aged he acknowledged a supreme and high being and aided in pushing along the new religious movement in American culture. John Adams aligns similarly to Ben Franklin, both raised in church to follow Puritan guidelines and faith, Adams believed that God had created the Universe and the study of nature would better help us understand and please God’s wishes; this is closely aligned with the great enlightened thinker John Locke (p. 34). Scientific thought influenced men alike including George Washington, nonetheless Washington held somewhat to the hand of God, using it for justification and placed importance of faith stating “religion and morality are essential pillars of civil society” (p. 59).

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He knows that he can achieve moral perfection without the help of religion, but notes that many of the things he identifies as virtues are the same things as religions would similarly identify. Although growing up in Boston, which was a Puritan hotbed, Franklin was not swayed by any one religion. Given, he subscribed to Deism; the idea that God created the world, set it in motion, but does not intervene. He still relied on hard work, material gains, and rationality to achieve moral perfection. Douglass believed in God and was proud of his faith.

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When Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography was published in the eighteenth century, it reflected Franklin’s uncommon and advanced mindset during this time, considering that during this time humans were hanged for doubting the Revelation. In his Autobiography Franklin expresses skepticism towards religion and explains why he does not commit himself to one particular faith. However, Franklin respects the freedom of religion and highly promotes moral and virtues behavior. Franklin discusses his reflection on religion and the distinction between organized religions and beliefs that are not bound to religious systems. He stresses that organized religion and sects are more focused on following specific rules and practices, than concentrating on really

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The importance of Ben Franklin has been told all throughout history, along with the famous $100 bill with his face on it. Drafting the Declaration of Independence, foudning universities and libraries, the post office, shaping policies in the U.S., publishing newspapers, making advances in science, and letting us use bifocals and using lighting for electricity. Even if this man never finished school, he did much reading and experiments that help us out today. The reason why I chose to write about Benjamin Franklin was because he was a very important Founding Father and it’s important for people to learn all about

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Franklin tells the readers about his parents bringing him to church as a child, and him never being very amused with the teachings. He states, “I began to doubt of Revelation itself. … In short, I soon became a thorough Deist.” (pg.

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