Note to Tom Sullivan: Thomas Jefferson was not a Deist.

World Net Daily ^ | 4/28/2005 | D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

[PhilipFreneau]

Talk Radio Host Tom Sullivan, sitting in today for Rush Limbaugh, failed to challenge a caller (a self-declared "secularist") who labeled Jefferson a 'Deist'. Thomas Jefferson was no deist.

In the source column, Dr. James Kennedy wrote:

"While Jefferson has been lionized by those who seek to drive religion from public life, the true Thomas Jefferson is anything but their friend. He was anything but irreligious, anything but an enemy to Christian faith. Our nation's third president was, in fact, a student of Scripture who attended church regularly, and was an active member of the Anglican Church, where he served on his local vestry. He was married in church, sent his children and a nephew to a Christian school, and gave his money to support many different congregations and Christian causes."

Further reading of the column reveals this:

"Most intriguing is the manner in which Jefferson dated an official document. Instead of "in the year of our Lord," Jefferson used the phrase "in the year of our Lord Christ." Christian historian David Barton has the proof – the original document signed by Jefferson on the "eighteenth day of October in the year of our Lord Christ, 1804.""

Dr. Kennedy does believe (or he did at the time of this column) that Jefferson had rejected the deism of Christ in 1813, after his public career was over. But that in no way makes Jefferson a Deist, which is defined as one who denies the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe. To the contrary, Jefferson wrote in a June 26, 1822 letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse:

"The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the happiness of man.

1. That there is one only God, and he all perfect.

2. That there is a future state of rewards and punishments.

3. That to love God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself, is the sum of religion. These are the great points on which he endeavored to reform the religion of the Jews."

A belief that there is a future state of rewards and punishments (as Jefferson believed) denies the basic premise of Deism -- that the creator does not interfere with the laws of the universe. Jefferson was no deist.

[BikerNYC]

The surrounding sentences are in keeping with Jefferson's letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814:

“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own”

[wideawake]

Nice selective quoting.

[wideawake]

Sort of like Tolstoy taking only the 'Sermon on the Mount' and rejecting everything else.

Good analogy.

[PhilipFreneau]

>> If Jefferson was so religious, why then did he start an evil worshipping, US hating, muderer loving, tax the people to death cult called the Democ-rat party?

He didn't. The so-called "Democratic-Republican Party", also called the Republican Party by Jefferson, was started by Jefferson and Madison in 1792 in opposition to the Federalist Party. The Republican Party's ideology was close to that of the anti-Federalists, promoting a weak federal government, with the bulk of the power resting in the states.

The party named "the Democratic Party" was formed in 1828 after the Republican Party splintered into the Whigs and the Democratic Party. This was the origin of the modern-day Democratic Party; but it was in no way ideologically similar to the modern-day democrats.

The original Democratic Party was a states-rights party, like the modern-day conservative branch of the republican party (it was, after all, the party of Andrew Jackson). The Democratic Party's ideology evolved (or became bastardized) in the 20th Century from a limited-federal government, strong state's rights party, to a strong federal government, limited state's rights party.

[BikerNYC]

Jefferson is a complex man and taking a few of his words will never give adequate evidence of the totality and complexity, the nuance if you will, of his thoughts.

This is true.

[norge]

I seriously doubt that even JFKennedy would recognize the Democrat Party of today. LBJ would.

[Born Conservative]

[Mr. Blonde]

I don't find that him going to church and so on is great evidence of him being a believer. Even today it is expected that our leaders go to church. Why would anyone expect it to be different in Jefferson's time?

[Blzbba]

"He didn't. The so-called "Democratic-Republican Party", also called the Republican Party by Jefferson, was started by Jefferson and Madison in 1792 in opposition to the Federalist Party. The Republican Party's ideology was close to that of the anti-Federalists, promoting a weak federal government, with the bulk of the power resting in the states. "



Thanks for handling this, Philip. Nice post that hopefully provided some education.

[GarySpFc]

"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." President Thomas Jefferson

"The reason that Christianity is the best friend of Government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart." President Thomas Jefferson

"Of all systems of morality, ancient of modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to be so pure as that of Jesus." Thomas Jefferson To William Canby, 1813

"I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man..." President Thomas Jefferson

“I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands... the Bible makes the best people in the world." President Thomas Jefferson

"My views- - - are the result of a lifetime of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference of all others—" Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush On April 21, 1803

"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a cisciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator." Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his Bible.

[Yardstick]

*Bump*

[Skooz]

I've been debating foolish secularists for years. People who barely even know what they are talking about when they say "the founders weren't theists - they were deists".

At that point, I usually just curtail the discussion because I know I am dealing with someone who hasn't the slightest idea what they are talking about.

[Mach9]

No one's claiming Jefferson (or any other protestants at the time) liked Catholics. If I'm not mistaken, "priest" was meant literally here.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

Not sure where you stand on this, but none of the quotes you provided are inconsistent with a Deist of the 18th century. They accepted the moral code of Christ as the highest yet achieved by Man; they also spoke of Providence and the Creator too.

[cvq3842]

Thanks for posting!

[Tired of Taxes]

I've been debating foolish secularists for years. People who barely even know what they are talking about when they say "the founders weren't theists - they were deists".

It seems I've been discussing (or reading discussions about) it for years, too (though I'm normally on the other side of the discussion). And one thing I've noticed: BOTH sides pick and choose text from Jefferson's letters to support their argument.

Only one fact is indisputable: Jefferson is no longer around to tell us what he was really thinking.

My guess is that, like every single other human being, he thought and wondered and may have even changed his mind about certain things once in awhile; thus, we have all these different writings from him that sometimes seem to contradict each other.

All I have to say is, if he and the other Forefathers wanted to create an exclusively Christian nation, they certainly erred by not being more specific in the Constitution, because it's not mentioned there.

[sageb1]

Here is an interesting discussion of how fear of Catholicism has played a role in the judicial history of our country, beginning with Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State

[GarySpFc]

Not sure where you stand on this, but none of the quotes you provided are inconsistent with a Deist of the 18th century. They accepted the moral code of Christ as the highest yet achieved by Man; they also spoke of Providence and the Creator too.

There is a real problem, because both Jefferson and Franklin believed God works in the affairs of man. CLEARLY, Franklin, Jefferson, and Wilson were not anything like the skeptics and Deists we see today.

[GarySpFc]

All I have to say is, if he and the other Forefathers wanted to create an exclusively Christian nation, they certainly erred by not being more specific in the Constitution, because it's not mentioned there.

Every man either grows in grace and knowledge of the Lord or he regresses. They did not foresee the ACLU, People for the American Way, and other God-hating groups in the future. Let's remember that many of the states had a state church until 1925.

[Austin Willard Wright]

These are very selective quotations on your part. Jefferson believed Jesus was a great philosopher rather than the son of God and thus the Virgin Birth was a nonsense. Indeeed, hbelieved that all supernatural elements of New Testatment were later additions. If you think that still makes him a Christian, that is your right.