Ben Franklin was a unique man that didn’t share the same values as many of the other people of his rank during his time period. He grew up in a time where religion was the main concern of the majority of people, especially high ranking people. He spent his time with his inventions and being a nationalist for his country. He did these things without religion on his mind, his only thought was the betterment of his country and how he could help people who needed help.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the tenth son of Josiah Franklin, a soap maker, and Abiah Folger. He was born into a Puritan family (Isaacson 2003 p.14). Benjamin’s father had the intention of him becoming a clergyman, but he could not afford the schooling that it required. This is how the printer apprenticeship that molded Ben into his rebellious lifestyle began. Benjamin wanted to write for the paper, but his brother James, his mentor, and the owner of the paper, would not let him. Young Benjamin quickly found a way around this by writing letters under the name “Silence Dogood” (ushistory.org p.1). The letters were instantly popular and the true identity of Silence Dogood was a sought after mystery. When Ben admitted he was writing the letters as Silence Dogood, his popularity grew and it created a division between his brother and him. Around this time Ben and family also had a run in with religious leaders leading to James arrest. Still very young, Ben had to grow up fast because he was the only one left to run the newspaper. During this time and later in life in Philadelphia Benjamin showed his great work ethic he likely learned early on from the hard working Puritans he was raised around.
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Benjamin appears to change his religious views between Christianity and Deism several times in his life. Deism is “ A religion whose followers believe in a God who created the universe, established its rules of behavior, set it going, left, and hasn't been seen since”(religioustolerance.org). Benjamin must have showed this work ethic and some holy beliefs as a child because of the intent to send him to school to become a clergyman. Around the time he rebelled and wrote letters as Silence Dogood he was also rebelling against his religion as he began studying Deism. His early journey into Deism did not last extremely long, but he never truly returned into a complete Christian belief. Franklin did not accept the Christian belief that God was always here and could always intervene nor did he accept the Deist belief that God created the universe and completely left. Franklin’s belief was that God created the world, and was still here but only rarely intervened with what was happening here. He often wrote prayers and even called for a prayer at the Constitutional Convention in July 1987 (Fea 2011 p.1). This was late into his life but very shortly before his death he wrote a letter explaining his religious views. He said “I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That he ought to be worshipped.” but he also stated he doubted the divinity of Jesus although he thought he had greatest set of morals anyone had ever seen. Ultimately I believe his view of Deism prevailed in his mind, based off of his actions to do good things for people purely for the purpose of just being a good person.
I have a great respect for Benjamin Franklin for his inventions and general things he did to help people. His inventions were made to help people which he believed was really what religion should be about. While most leaders around the world were concerned with religion, Benjamin Franklin was working on ways to assist people.
First of all, he had a couple of significant inventions that helped the well being of people. One of those inventions is the bifocal glasses. With the bifocal glasses people no longer needed two sets of glasses, one for distance and one for reading. With one purchase of the bifocals someone could use the same pair for both and not worry about the hassle of keeping up with both pairs.
His next invention that had great impact on people’s life is the Franklin stove. The Franklin stove was truly an innovational way to heat homes in colonial times. The iron design of this stove provided more heat to homes with less smoke than the typical fireplace gave off. It also required much less wood to burn. The iron design also allowed the stove to give off heat long after the fire had already burned out (ushistory.or/franklin/science/stove). With this invention he made it possible for people to heat their houses for longer with less fuel.
He contributed several great things to the city of Philadelphia as well. He was among the first to push for the streets to be lit up at night for safety purposes. He was integral in cleaning up the cities streets and the area around the city. After realizing how sick people in the city were, he brought in doctors to create the Pennsylvania Hospital (ushistory.org). Philadelphia was fire prone at the time, so he created the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire to help those who lost their homes in fires.
Finally, and most importantly the role he played in making the United States happen. Franklin played a large part in getting the French on board to help with the American revolution. He helped another Deist, Thomas Jefferson, write the Declaration of Independence. He believed becoming an independent nation would help the people of the colonies.
In conclusion, I believe Benjamin Franklin’s Deist beliefs led to several of his contributions that helped people. His belief that being a good person was the most important part of religion is something most religions believe is important. To him though it was the sole reason to do things.
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