Ben Franklin; his self written Obituary,and his religious beliefs.

The Body

of

B.Franklin Printer;

(Like the cover of an old Book

Its contents torn out

And stript of its Lettering and Gilding)

Lies here, Food for Worms,

but the Work  shall not be lost:

For it will, (as he believed) appear once  more,

In a new and more elegant Edition.

Revised and corrected,

By the Author.

I have recently read: "Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father".  by Thomas S. Kidd.  (Yale University Press, May 2017).  I learned so much.

Franklin rejected the Puritan/Calvinist faith of his family. He could not accept a faith which (in his opinion) was more about belief than behaviour. He decided that the teachings of Jesus were more important than beliefs about Jesus.

All the while he maintained and enjoyed his friendships with two Calvinists -  his sister Jane and the great Church of England and Calvinist  preacher George Whitfield.  

[Yes indeed there were (and probably still are)  Anglican/ Church of England/ Episcopal Priests (Ministers) whose theology is Calvinistic].

Did you know that Ben Franklin and George Whitefield were good friends?

Did you know that Franklin refused to be identified as a Christian, or as an Atheist? 

He described himself as a Deist. 

I love the honesty and wit of the gravestone marker he designed as a young man. See above.