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The Myth of Christian America  /  MCA (13 of 14): Faith of the Founding Fathers #3  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 2
John Adams wrote to Jefferson, “The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my religion”; what does it reveal about God—and about the gospel—when someone reduces Christianity to commandments and ethics, and where does that collide with the early Christian insistence on Jesus as Lord and Savior?
Another way to ask: Adams said his religion was basically the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. What gets lost about God and the gospel when Christianity is reduced to rules and good behavior instead of Jesus as Lord and Savior?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests Adams reduced “religion” to moral instruction, which can honor God as a moral lawgiver but sidelines the distinctively Christian claims about Jesus, miracles, and revelation that early Christians centered on.

Support from Transcript:

  • Adams explicitly said: “The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount contain my religion.”
  • Bercot frames Adams as someone who “always viewed himself as a genuine Christian” while rejecting key doctrines.
  • Adams argued “No prophecies, no miracles are necessary,” which pushes Christianity toward ethics rather than saving acts of God.
  • He rejected the Trinity and ridiculed “Athanasian divines,” showing a break with historic doctrinal Christianity.
  • Bercot repeatedly contrasts “conventional Christians” with those lacking “any real relationship with Jesus Christ,” using that relationship as a key measure (he says this about Washington; by implication it matters here too).
  • Bercot says it’s “not honest” for conservative evangelicals to portray Adams as a genuine Christian given these beliefs.
Discussion Follow-ups If Christianity becomes mainly ethics, what happens to worship, repentance, and faith? How would Bercot’s emphasis on “relationship with Jesus Christ” reshape our definition of Christianity?

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