On the Founding Fathers and deism:
Thomas Jefferson: "Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary (1952) includes in the definition of Deist: "One who believes in God but denies supernatural revelation." There is no question Jefferson rejected the Bible as divine revelation and rejected the divinity of Jesus. In the Declaration of Independence Jefferson's appeal was to the God of the Deist, "Nature's God," not specifically to the God of Christianity (see letter dated Sep. 14, 1813, to Jefferson from John Adams equating "Nature's God" with "the revelation from nature").
As President, Jefferson occasionally attended church services; but, he was not a communing member of any Christian church. Further, he refused to proclaim any national days of prayer or thanksgiving."
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/jefferson_deist.htmFranklin: "Franklin began to clarity his religious beliefs through a series of essays and letters. In them, he adopted a creed that would last the rest of his life: a virtuous, morally fortified, and pragmatic version of deism. Unlike most pure deists, he concluded that it was useful (and thus probably correct) to believe that a faith in God should inform our daily actions; but like other deists, his faith was devoid of sectarian dogma, burning spirituality, deep soul-searching, or a personal relationship to Christ."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090213/pg_1Another good book to read on this topic if you're interested, is "Faiths of the Founding Fathers" by David L. Holmes.
As for whether the Founding Fathers are good company, I have no idea, having never met them! But most Americans seem to consider the creation of the USA as a good thing, and so I would assume that the people involved in creating it would have some positive attributes and at least few good qualities. Your opinion might be different, but hey, isn't that one of the great things about the country they created - freedom of speech and the right to express it?
