He did respect a hierarchy of hops, however

From the blog over at First Things, slowly adjusting to life without contributions from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, here's Michael Orsi in a book review talking about a "forgotten revolutionary:"

"While Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, and John Adams (Samuel’s cousin) were all more or less men of faith, they tended to view religion in a utilitarian light—as something useful for establishing the new nation. They recognized its value in building the civic virtue necessary for self-government. For Samuel Adams, however, religion was the essential motive for the entire revolutionary enterprise. His conception of freedom stemmed from a radical belief in the equality of all men before God. This made any form of hierarchy repugnant to him, whether in the state or in the Church itself."