Was an assertion by one or several "founding fathers" in the US, that the entire concept of freedom or liberty, at that time anyway, required people to have an ingrained set of solid moral values, as a means of replacing kings or tyrants, with truly "virtuous" motives of their own, *vitally* relying upon *self-imposed* rules instead.

At that time, those "fathers" asserted that the only apparent and obvious alternative was to have a belief in Christianity, and to thereby govern oneself by its tenets.

Looking back at that time in history, I think it was brilliant... for its time. The Christian religion could not only replace absolute "rulers" but shame them with the very tools "some" claim were created for a means of control over the peasants or the plebs or the masses in the first place.

Whatever the Truth may be, I can see a practical reality. People who do not feel a need for self-discipline or self-control, according to some overarching greater goal, will simply revert to primal desires and doing whatever helps themselves personally, or for their immediate concerns. As a result, civilization quickly withers.

***That mindset never builds civilizations.***

The question I am asking these days is, does that other mindset necessarily need to be a Christian one?

I don't know the answer, and I don't think many actually do, especially within a world so currently overflowing with the global finance and global power of utterly selfish corruption.

Those 1700's so-called geniuses are being tested today for sure.