[USConstitutionBuff]

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823


I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, and Stewart.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, Aug. 15, 1820

Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822.

[Diamond]

Is that all you've got? Three quotations from the DEIST, Thomas Jefferson, the third of which is a general observation about human reason, and so does not have any direct bearing one way or the other on the subject of the Judeo-Christian religious, legal and cultural institutions and thought that undergirded the foundation of America?

Cordially,

[antisocial]

Adams, John letter to Zabdiel Adams
June 21, 1776
Topic: Religion and Morality

Statesmen by dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.




Adams, John Address to the Military
October 11, 1798
Topic: Religion and Morality

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.




Adams, John letter in response to Rush letter above
August 28, 1811
Topic: Religion and Morality

[R]eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society.

Jefferson, Thomas Westmoreland County Petition
November 2, 1785
Topic: Religion and Morality

Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts...in which all religions agree.



Paine, Thomas Common Sense
1776
Topic: Religious Liberty

The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety.

So, what's your point!