These founders were not saying that religion is the source of morality or that an individual’s morality cannot exist without religion. They were claiming that religion is necessary for societal morality. And they were wrong. The educated elite, including the founders, achieved morality independent of religion, but they failed to extend the possibility of that achievement to others. They thought religion was needed for the commoners. The enlightened could use reason to discover morality, so they needed no religion other than a bare deism or theism, to which many luminaries ascribed. John Stuart
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