"Believing
with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God,
that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the
legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I
contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people
which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus
building a wall of separation between church and State."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association, Connecticut,
January 1, 1802.
For
a period of time I was ensconced at Mr. Jefferson’s University as the Corporate
Compliance Officer. I was responsible for leading the University’s efforts in
complying with all laws and regulations governing every aspect of the
University. It was a daunting responsibility and one that put me in opposition
to some of the faculty at times. Moreover, living in the heart of our country’s
founders was a great privilege and caused me to contemplate our history often.
The
above quote from Thomas Jefferson, our third president and founder of the
University of Virginia, is the one taken that established the “separation of
church and state.” I note from the outset that Mr. Jefferson was simply saying
that the State or Federal Government should not establish a national religion
or denomination thereof. It is clearly saying, however, that everyone has the
God- given right to worship as he pleases, which is the freedom of religion, not from religion. This straightforward letter has sadly
been misinterpreted as putting a damper on speaking and living out our
religious freedoms in this country.
It
is true that Jefferson did not have a good opinion of religion. Frankly, I
don’t have a great opinion of religion either.
As I define religion, it is a “system of established faith or doctrine.”
(Webster College Dictionary). In other words, man establishes religion, and man is fallible. Faith
is an individual’s relationship with his Creator, lived out as he pleases. I
believe Jefferson is endorsing such practice in his statement. He does,however, often have
a problem with clergy trying to enforce behavior.
"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."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813. This quote
shows clear opposition to his experience with clergy and government.
"The
clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the
machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and
religious rights of man."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah Moor, 1800.
Jefferson’s
experience was not helped by the clergy of the day apparently; however, this
did not change his position on freedom of religion.
"I
am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal
ascendancy of one sect over another."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1799.
The
above clear statement and opinion flies in the face of many who portray
Jefferson as a religious hater. He did seem to have a problem embracing the
New Testament and concept of the Trinity as well as Jesus as God and Son of
God. He found Him mostly rich with beneficence, but not the incarnate Christ it
seems.
"Among
the sayings and discourses imputed to him (i.e. Jesus) by his biographers, I
find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most
lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity,
so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible
that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to William Short, April 13, 1820.
Jefferson
was indeed outspoken about religion, which was perhaps most indelicately
personified with his thoughts about the book of Revelation:
"It
is between fifty and sixty years since I read it (i.e. the Book of
Revelations), and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more
worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherence of our own nightly
dreams."
Source:
Letter of Thomas Jefferson to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825.
Having
recently completed a rather exhaustive study of Revelation, I find humor in
Jefferson’s thoughts. Clearly, he was a man who did not believe in the concept
of the Bible being the inspired and inerrant Word of God. But remember, he did
not wish to cause anyone else not to indulge in the Truth of the Gospel and all
other Scripture. Isn’t “the freedom of speech” a wonderful right?
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