Christian conservatives these days are lauding Jefferson and the other founding fathers for their commitment to Christianity in the early days of our country. Hogwash. They were humanists, believing in the innate goodness of a man free from the constructs of religious institutions. As relates to their belief in God, at the most, they were deists, believing "reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that a supreme being created the universe."
The following link establishes Thomas Jefferson's true views on religion and God ("his noble beliefs") through a variety of his quotations. http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm
There is a big difference between a Jeffersonian and an atheist, and I feel that many of the former are mislabeled as the latter. A graduation from the modern-day stranglehold many have on "their God" would simply be a return to the freedom, intellect and optimism of the Age of Reason. I wonder if it won't take a revolution to get there. Hopefully there is a peaceful way.
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
No offense to the smart and good priests I know personally. I simply conclude they are the exception rather than the rule in our evangelical America.
No comments:
Post a Comment