Just what exactly did Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton believe?

Were they Christian evangelicals?

Were they Deists?

Were they men of the Enlightenment?

Or, were they just a bunch of guys looking to pick a fight with a king?

Historian Brooke Allen believes she has the answer.

And she reveals it in her book, "Moral Minority, Our Skeptical Founding Fathers."

Her results amazed me.

From the time I was in ol' Mrs. Cates' fourth grade class until this year, I believed "Christian men using Biblical principles" founded the United States.

Boy was I wrong.

According to Allen, the founding fathers weren't the 17th century's version of Oral Roberts. Instead, they took a more natural -- that is, liberal -- view of the world.

And they developed their concept of America by using the work of philosopher John Locke -- not Jesus.

"God entered the picture only as a minor player," Allen wrote. "And Jesus Christ was conspicuous by his absence."

Even now, months after reading that, I'm still shaking my head.

From the "In God We Trust" printed on our money to the picture of George Washington that hangs in the Methodist Church in my hometown, I believed the founders were brilliant, practicing Christians.