please join me in thanking dr. kidd , dr. kidd, and dr. dreisbach. outstanding job. thank you. we have a few remarks. we will release our speakers to go sit at their table for book signings. thank you, gentlemen. we have there books for sale at the back of the room if you would like to purchase them. right now i would like to introduce you to rob copeland who would like to say a few words on behalf of museum of the bible. thank you. >>> c-span, history unfolds. it was released by american cable television companies. today, we continue to bring unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public- policy events in washington dc and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >>> coming up on c-span3, american history tv, we continue our look at the bible and the founding of america. up next, baylor university professor thomas kidd talks about benjamin franklin's faith and the role it played in his life. c-span's washington journal live every day with policy issues that affect you. coming up friday morning, carly co

dr. thomas kidd, dr. daniel dreisbeck and dr. james byrd who will talk with us about how the bible influenced the generation. the aenigma of benjamin franklin's faith with thomas kidd. benjamin franklin tells us in his autobiography he became a diest as a young man. franklin proposed that delegates open sessions with prayer. in this session, thomas kidd will explore the enigma of franklin's faith and the tension between his well-known skepticism and the enduring influence of his puritan upbringing on his familiarity with the boibl. thomas kidd is a distinguished professor of history at baylor university. he's the author of "benjamin franklin: the religious life of a founding father" please join me in welcoming dr. kidd. [ applause ] >> well, thank you to kay and thank you to the museum of the bible for hosting this wonderful event. it's a pleasure to be here at the museum. i hope to consult with some of the section on bible in america. it's just a wonderful thing to actually be here and see this lovely facility. so thank you for h

at the 1777 delegation, dr. kidd will explore the distinction between his faith and his skepticism and the enduring influence of his puritan upbringing and his familiarity with the bible. he is a distinguished professor at baylor university and the associate director for the study of religion. he is the author, benjamin franklin, the religious life of a founding father. please join me in welcoming dr. kidd. [ applause ] >> thank you for hosting this wonderful event. it's a pleasure to be here at the museum. i hope to consult with the section on the bible in america. it's a wonderful thing to be here and see this lovely facility. thank you for having us and thank you to those of you joining us online or tv. it is great to be here. i want to talk to you today about the enigma of ben franklin's faith. i would like to open with the story that happened at the constitutional convention. in 1787, at the constitutional convention, time dragged as delegates bickered about representation in congress. virginia's james madison i

dr. kidd. franklin quoted god helps those who help themselves. could you put that in the context of your remarks about franklin's believes? >> well, that's an example of franklin that almanac was full offal for rhythms that sounded sort of like proverbs and sometimes they were proverbs. and i think that that type of philosophy is god helps those who help themselves is an excellent example of this type of emphasis on virtue and morality and industry and frugality that were the hol mar hallmarks of franklin's philosophy on religion. i mean, that statement in particular i think sort of dissenters god in a way that his calvinist forbearers would not have wanted to do. so the point for his parents would be you don't just need god to help you. you need god to change your life. and what needs to happen is if we are converted by experience of god grace transforming power, then enabled to live a godly, moral life, where i think that type of philosophy of god helps those who helps themselves is more of

dr. kidd. did franklins knowledgeable but not doctrinal phase make him a better bridge builder between religious groups? and did a similar thing work for lincoln? >> i think it did. he was a very friendly terms with lots of differentkinds of churches and ministers. when he was in philadelphia, the most commonly would attend the cities anglican church, or the church of england -- the city's anglican church, or the church of england. his wife was more devout. and she was ananglican and he would go with her to church and he gavemoney for the anglican church to be expanded. some peoplesaid it was because he wanted a steeple for his electrical -- forhis electoral experiment, what i think he got the church was a good thing. he even gave money to help build a synagogue in philadelphia. so it wasn't just charity and benevolenceextended to different types of christian denominations, but even to jews, too. so i thinks that -- i think that's an upside to franklins nondogmatic approach. and he definitely

we'll start with are dr. kidd. franklin quoted god helps those who help themselves, and can you put that into context in your remarks of franklin's belief? >> well, that is an example of franklin, that "poor richard's almanac" was full of aphorisms that sounded like proverbs and sometimes they were proverbs. and i think that that type of philosophy, of god helps those who help themselves, is an excellent example of this type of emphasis on virtue and morality and industry and true gality that were the hallmarks of franklin's philosophy about religion and morality. and so -- but there's a way in which -- i mean, it -- that statement in particular i think sort of de-centers god in a way that his calvinist forbears would not have wanted to do. the point for his parents would be you don't need god just to help you, you need god to change your life. and what needs to happen is that if converted by an experience of god's grace transforming power and then we're enabled to live a godly, moral life where i think that that t

dr. thomas kidd and dr. james byrd who will talk us to about how the bible influenced the founding generation. our first session is the enigma of ben franklin's faith with thomas kidd. benjamin franklin tells us in his autobiography that he became a deist as a young man. yet at the constitutional convention in 1787 franklin proposed that delegates open sessions in prayer. in this session thomas kidd will explore the enigma of franklin's faith and the tension between franklin's well-known skepticism and the enduring influence of his puritan upbringing and familiarity with the bible. thomas kidd is from baylor university, and associate director of baylor's institute for studies of religion. he's the author of "benjamin franklin: the religious life of a founding father." please join me in welcoming dr. kidd. [ applause ] >> thank you to kay and thank you to the museum of the bible for hosting this wonderful event. it's a pleasure to be here at the museum i hope to consult with some of the section on bible in ame

we'll start with are dr. kidd. franklin quoted god helps those who help themselves, and can you put that into context in your remarks of franklin's belief e? >> well, that is an example of franklin, that "poor richard's al almanac" was full of aphorisms that sounded like proverbs and they were full of proverbs. that type of philosophy of god helps those who help themselves is an excel will lent exlent ex tu, re virtue and morality and franklin's vision of religion and morality, but there is a way in which, and i mean it -- that statement in particular i think that it sort of desen-centers g in a way that his calvinist forebearers would not have wanted the do. his parents wanted god not only thele help you now, change your life. and what needs to happen is that if converted by an experience of god's grace and transforming power and enabled to live a godly, moral life where i think that, that type of philosophy of god helps those who helps himself is god as a supplement, and if you are following god's principles, and

. >> dr. kidd, this question is for you. can you give us examples of the ways in which the bible, itself, influenced franklin's writings? >> in my talk, i mainly cited episodes where it would show up as builder of basketbable and t ways it would come up. you were talking about the bible showing up and not knowing it was there. that happened to me with franklin because it was so omnipresent that i would just not notice or even though i fry to read the bible every day as a believer. there were just things that were going over my head. one of my favorite examples is a passage that franklin cited in his pamphlet, "plain truth," which was one of the very first political pamphlets in american history. it is about the pennsylvania militia and the quakers are opposed to the militia. it is not important to get into the details. he is pushing for raciising a pennsylvania militia. one was the expedition of the danits in judges 18. anybody remember this very well? i didn't remember this very well. i had to bring this up and remind mysel

please join me in welcoming dr. kidd [applause] . thank you to the museum of the bible for hosting this event. it's a pleasure to be here at the museum. i hope to consult with some of the sections on the bible and america. it's a wonderful thing to see this lovely facility. thank you for having us and thank you to those of you joining us online or on tv. it's great to be here. i want to talk to about the enigma of ben franklin's faith. to open with a story of something that happened at the constitutional convention. time dragged as delegates bickered about representation in congress. insisted that states with more people should possess more power. the small states knew that under the articles of confederation, america's existing national government, allstate said equal authority regardless of population. why should the small states give up that power under a new constitution? the convention might have failed at this point. it really could have. the country would've continued to struggle under the inefficient, feckless articles of gov

please join me in thanking dr. kidd , dr. kidd, and dr. dreisbach. outstanding job. thank you. we have a few remarks. we will release our speakers to go sit at their table for book signings. thank you, gentlemen. we have there books for sale at the back of the room if you would like to purchase them. right now i woul >>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >>> coming up on c-span3's "american history tv." we continue our look at the bible and the founding of america. up next, baylor university professor thomas kidd talks about benjamin franklin's faith and the role it played in his life. >>> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up friday morning, the goldwater institutes starly coleman discusses right to