An audience gathered at the California High School Auditorium Sunday, Sept. 7, listened as John Eidsmoe addressed several related topics in an afternoon and evening of "Faith and Freedom." He was introduced by Dr. Peter Kurowski, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, California. He also spoke at Calvary Lutheran School, Jefferson City, on the previous day. His speaking tour was sponsored by Thrivent Financial.
Eidsmoe stressed the use of "primary sources" in research, rather than depending on what others have written about historical events and persons. He spoke on the "Deep Biblical Roots of the Founders," providing information from original sources of the Christian background and beliefs of several of the leading Founding Fathers of what was to become the United States of America.
In the second part of the presentation, Eidsmoe spoke of the influence of John Locke, Sir William Blackstone and John Knox Witherspoon on the Founders, the Constitution and the beginning of the United States. John Locke wrote lengthy treatises on human freedom, morality and government. Blackstone wrote many volumes on the law. Witherspoon was a Scots Presbyterian minister and signed the Declaration Independence. In addition, he was a professor at the college which later became Princeton.
In the first part of the presentation, Eidsmoe commented on the common statement that the founders were Deists, Eidsmoe gave the church affiliations of the members of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Of the 55 members, all but a handful were members of a church. Only three could be considered to be Deists, but even those three, from their writings, appeared to believe in a Creator God who was involved in His creation. A Deist, defined at the time of the Founders, believed that God created the universe, setting it into motion, and then turning His back on his creation.
Eidsmoe said many have compared the Deist view of the creation of the universe to a clockmaker making a clock, winding it up and leaving. He said the fallacy of this is that the clock needs some attention, needing to be wound up time to time. He said this compares to the universe and the earth, which need attention from time to time.
Quotes from the writings of the founders are liberally sprinkled with Biblical references. He presented biographical sketches of many of the leading Founding Fathers, illustrating that they were familiar with the Bible.
Eidsmoe is a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, an attorney, constitutional scholar, author and pastor of the Free Lutheran Church.