The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Religion

Franklin plays it safe here by openly acknowledging God, just to make sure no one thinks that the fact he doesn't go to church makes him a non-believer. Quite the opposite. This kind of language strikes a pious and virtuous note right out of the gate: there's nothing more humble than chalking your success up to God.

This is a pretty brave thing for Franklin to say. After all, some people have been hanged or burned for less than saying flat out that they have "doubt[s] of Revelation." This statement shows confidence about any potential repercussions to this statement and provides evidence (reading material) for why he has these doubts in the first place.

This is pretty open-minded for an eighteenth-century guy. Franklin doesn't get into any fights about whose religion is better or worse, and he openly and generously gives to all religious causes that need help.

Franklin is talking here about the gap between private virtue and public appearances. While church services really aren't for him, he doesn't mind providing them for other people. Since he thinks public services seem proper and useful, he has no problem contributing to the Presbyterian minister's salary, even though you'd never catch him listening to the sermons.

In contrast to Franklin's numerous comments about not believing in organized religion or attending church services, it's refreshing to hear him speak about his beliefs, which are important to him. This example of a prayer Franklin wrote is an interesting mixture of piety and praise for God with realistic interest in self-betterment.

Throughout the book, Franklin is pointing out the difference between religion as belief, religion as virtue, and religion as specified by sect (denomination). Also, while Franklin says there's no "mark" of any other "sect" in his plan, we could argue that there are signs of his extremely particular belief system, which almost counts as its own, individualized kind of organized religion. What we're trying to say is, even when you're trying not to participate in organized religion, you ended in something that's organized, if only by virtue of its refusal to be organized as something else.

In another of Franklin's prayers, he presents some pretty traditional-sounding Christian beliefs: that God should be worshipped through prayer and thanks, and that people's actions in life will have consequences either in heaven or on earth. Franklin's prayer is notable, though, for the way it prioritizes doing good works for other people as the most important way of serving God, showing it as even more important than prayer or traditional worship.

Franklin has a different system of judgment than most: because this guy is preaching the kinds of ideas Franklin approves of, he doesn't care that Hemphill is really giving other people's sermons. Even though we treat copying and plagiarism as sins today, Franklin treats that as way less important than the big ideas that are being conveyed in those unoriginal sermons. It pushes us to ask what we consider more important: originality or goodness.

While Franklin isn't a churchgoer or an advocate for any particular religious sect – except his own, non-sect beliefs – he's open-minded enough to still consider people's beliefs in religion a good thing and support them in his society. His use of the word "wonderful" here is really interesting, too. While it can mean awesome or great, it can also mean miraculous or amazing. This religious fervor is, in a way, a miracle.

Here we come against one reason why Franklin may react so strongly against forms of organized religion: he disagrees with how aspects of some faith systems can interfere with what he sees as necessary life needs. Because Quakers are pacifists, it's against their beliefs to vote for or support military offenses or militia preparation. While Franklin values their right to their beliefs, he stresses the impracticality of pacifism in a situation like the colonists' during the French and Indian War, when not preparing properly for battle could lead to all their deaths.