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Diversity of thought.. Benjamin Franklin:
Benjamin Franklin, a writer and inventor, and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States was the son of a Puritan, but none-the-less an enlightened Deist.
"As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the World ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble." - Benjamin Franklin
"I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies." - Benjamin Franklin, [in Toward The Mystery]
"I have ever let others enjoy their religious sentiments, without reflecting on them for those that appeared to me
unsupportable and even absurd. All sects here, and we have a great variety, have experienced my good will in assisting them with subscriptions for building their new places of worship; and, as I never opposed any of their doctrines, I hope to go out of the world in peace with them all." - Benjamin Franklin, [letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale]
"Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He
ought to be worshipped. 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. These
I take to be the fundamental principles of all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them." - Benjamin Franklin
"The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of Reason." - Benjamin Franklin, [Poor Richard, 1758]
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