It seemed Franklin always talked about his greatest contrast with most of his encounters of people were his different perceptions on religion. However, I don't know if I missed it, but I really didn't get any great explanations in part1 as to why he disagreed with religion so much, and what his view points were on it.

-- Anonymous, January 17, 2000

Answers

There is no doubt that Franklin believed in a higher power who had dominion over the universe. I think that Franklin's problem with religion was with those who chose to spread the knowledge of God. In the second section of his autobiography he refers to a minister who encourages him to attend church on a regular basis. Franklin takes the minister's advice and attends a number of services, but becomes very bored with what he hears. I think that in order for someone to provoke Franklin to endorse a specific religion, that man or women would have to present an argument for their religion that could not be dismantled by Franklin's Socratic form of argument.

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2000

BF seems to be a very matter of fact kind of guy. He wants to see things and ideas in front of him because he is a logical man who wants to succeed. With motivations like these, why would one choose to believe in a topic that can't be seen? Even with his virtues, he seemed to believe that those were all you needed to be a decent human, you don't need religion to prove decency.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000