Benjamin Franklin And His Attitide To Reading And Religion

Unlike most men of his time, Benjamin Franklin was an avid reader, “reading was the only amusement I allowed myself”. He had no time to waste in taverns or gaming, partly because he had a family to educate and two printers to contend with for business and partly due to his love for reading. When he settled in Pennsylvania, most booksellers southward of Boston were simple stationers whose sales were restricted wo paper, ballads and common school books. None quenched the thirst of those who loved reading, forcing them to outsource books from England. When the readers met, they quickly formed a book club in a hired room, where Benjamin proposed that each member brings their books along where they would be of common benefit, allowing each member to borrow and read at the comfort of their homes. This practice contended the readers for a while.

Not long after book clubs began, Benjamin proposed that they spread the benefit of a common book pool and a subscription library was formed. Mr. Charles Brocken, a skilled conveyancer was hired to bring in a legal aspect to an agreement to engage each member in paying a down sum to purchase books and later a yearly contribution to facilitate buying of more books. However, readers were scarce and even those available were so poor that it was a challenge to bring at least 50 people willing and able to contribute the amount. Despite the near financial handicap, the library initiative began. “On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned”. The idea of a library was later implemented in other towns and provinces. Libararies received donations and a reading culture grew among the people and just after a few years, locals got more intelligent and better instructed as compared to people of the same rank in other countries. For Franklin, the library had the personal benefit of “afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repaired in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me”.

Even though Benjamin Franklin was not a member of any religious movement or denomination, he can be well said to have been a religious man. By his own words, Benjamin claimed to be a Deist at an early stage in his life. “. . . for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist. ” Deists generally believe that the universe has a creator but his influence does not stretch to intervention in the daily lives of people. Franklin evidently diverted from this school of thought later in life. He believed in the providence of God and acknowledged his guidance throughout his entire life. His return to a more theistic approach of life could be attributed to his early life – Benjamin had been brought up in a Presbyterian household. Therefore, for most of his adult life, Franklin believed that there existed a God that had created the universe, who governed it, punished wrong-doing and rewarded virtue. “I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and governed it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man… and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter. ” Franklin, in spite of the fact that he rarely attended Christian gatherings, still held a belief that religion, if practiced properly, could be of great benefit for mankind. Moreover, Franklin regularly contributed some money in support of the Presbyterian ministry in Philadelphia. This tendering of monetary support led him to attend Sunday summons, although infrequently, at the behest of the Philadelphia minister. Franklin’s religiosity is capped by his belief in prayer. He believed in God’s wisdom and guidance and often solicited His assistance in prayer. “And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit his assistance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of examination, for daily use”.

In conclusion, Franklin must have been a religious man. His religious views largely contradicted with the conventional belief system of any religious group, especially in his refusal to publicly proclaim allegiance to a religious denomination, but his private practices evidently point to the makings of a religious man.