Of course the Founders, like all educated men of the period, were well-grounded in the Bible whether they were fervent believers or not: it was part of the general education of almost every literate person. It was an unavoidable part of their literary world. That should come as no surprise.

The 18th century Enlightenment was not an intellectual atmosphere particularly warm to literal belief in the Bible and fervent religious expression apart from Methodism, which was for a long time regarded as a lower and lower-middle-class phenomenon. Even mainstream Anglican and Episcopalian churchmen condemned what they called, in the language of their time, 'enthusiasm' in religion.

The Founders were classic men of the Enlightenment. i have my problems with the Enlightenment, but you have to see the Founders clearly, as they really were, not to make them out to be people you would prefer them to be and more in accord with your own beliefs.