1 2 4 Next
Topic: When Will It Be Time to Cut Military Spending?
Bestinshow's photo
Sat 04/23/11 04:12 PM

Hey don't try to spin things just because your logic is flawed. Not to mention he said he was a Christian. You can be against the church and still be Christian. The church has a history of being corrupt. They wrote decided what would and wouldn't be in the bible. They taught only what they wanted taught. I am not claiming he loved the church or even liked it. I am claiming he believed in Jesus which is the most basic definition of being a Christian. He claimed he was Christian and others have pointed out how he wrote how he believed in Jesus. Just admit you were wrong and move on.
Jefferson may have said he admires the teachings of Jesus however he did not believe he was resurected. You can google that.

Chazster's photo
Sun 04/24/11 06:53 AM
He doesn't have to believe that to be a christian. Try again.

Bestinshow's photo
Sun 04/24/11 06:59 AM

He doesn't have to believe that to be a christian. Try again.


Jefferson didn't just reject the Christian belief that the Bible was "the inspired word of God"; he rejected the Christian system too. In Notes on the State of Virginia, he said of this religion, "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites" (quoted by newspaper columnist William Edelen, "Politics and Religious Illiteracy," Truth Seeker, Vol. 121, No. 3, p. 33). Anyone today who would make a statement like this or others we have quoted from Jefferson's writings would be instantly branded an infidel, yet modern Bible fundamentalists are frantically trying to cast Jefferson in the mold of a Bible believing Christian. They do so, of course, because Jefferson was just too important in the formation of our nation to leave him out if Bible fundamentalists hope to sell their "Christian-nation" claim to the public. Hence, they try to rewrite history to make it appear that men like Thomas Jefferson had intended to build our nation on "biblical principles." The irony of this situation is that the Christian leaders of Jefferson's time knew where he stood on "biblical principles," and they fought desperately, but unsuccessfully, to prevent his election to the presidency. Saul K. Padover's biography related the bitterness of the opposition that the clergy mounted against Jefferson in the campaign of 1800

The religious issue was dragged out, and stirred up flames of hatred and intolerance. Clergymen, mobilizing their heaviest artillery of thunder and brimstone, threatened Christians with all manner of dire consequences if they should vote for the "in fidel" from Virginia. This was particularly true in New England, where the clergy stood like Gibraltar against Jefferson (Jefferson A Great American's Life and Ideas, Mentor Books, 1964, p.116).

William Linn, a Dutch Reformed minister in New York City, made perhaps the most violent of all attacks on Jefferson's character, all of it based on religious matters. In a pamphlet entitled Serious Considerations on the Election of a President, Linn "accused Jefferson of the heinous crimes of not believing in divine revelation and of a design to destroy religion and `introduce immorality'" (Padover, p. 116). He referred to Jefferson as a "true infidel" and insisted that "(a)n infidel like Jefferson could not, should not, be elected" (Padover, p. 117). He concluded the pamphlet with this appeal for "Christians to defeat the `infidel' from Virginia"

Will you, then, my fellow-citizens, with all this evidence... vote for Mr. Jefferson?... As to myself, were Mr. Jefferson connected with me by the nearest ties of blood, and did I owe him a thousand obligations, I would not, and could not vote for him. No; sooner than stretch forth my hand to place him at the head of the nation "Let mine arms fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone" (quoted by Padover, p. 117).

Why would contemporary clergymen have so vigorously opposed Jefferson's election if he were as devoutly Christian as modern preachers claim? The answer is that Jefferson was not a Christian, and the preachers of his day knew that he wasn't.

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/myth.html

AdventureBegins's photo
Sun 04/24/11 05:08 PM
Because Jefferson was a staunch supporter of keeping Religon out of Government.

And that church leader was playing in politics instead of religion.

Just look at our time.

We are bombarded with propaganda from all sides.

From unions to churches on one side and political parties on the other, groups abound. Each wanting to 'change' the constitution to better fit their personal dreams of Empire.

Propaganda in that time was a handbill or newspaper article, speach (in person), or traveling side show.

Now days they are airing their crap to the world via the internet.

Perhaps in this day one would be wise to heed the words of a man of such principle.


heavenlyboy34's photo
Sun 04/24/11 05:19 PM
Edited by heavenlyboy34 on Sun 04/24/11 05:20 PM


He doesn't have to believe that to be a christian. Try again.


Jefferson didn't just reject the Christian belief that the Bible was "the inspired word of God"; he rejected the Christian system too. In Notes on the State of Virginia, he said of this religion, "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites" (quoted by newspaper columnist William Edelen, "Politics and Religious Illiteracy," Truth Seeker, Vol. 121, No. 3, p. 33). Anyone today who would make a statement like this or others we have quoted from Jefferson's writings would be instantly branded an infidel, yet modern Bible fundamentalists are frantically trying to cast Jefferson in the mold of a Bible believing Christian. They do so, of course, because Jefferson was just too important in the formation of our nation to leave him out if Bible fundamentalists hope to sell their "Christian-nation" claim to the public. Hence, they try to rewrite history to make it appear that men like Thomas Jefferson had intended to build our nation on "biblical principles." The irony of this situation is that the Christian leaders of Jefferson's time knew where he stood on "biblical principles," and they fought desperately, but unsuccessfully, to prevent his election to the presidency. Saul K. Padover's biography related the bitterness of the opposition that the clergy mounted against Jefferson in the campaign of 1800

The religious issue was dragged out, and stirred up flames of hatred and intolerance. Clergymen, mobilizing their heaviest artillery of thunder and brimstone, threatened Christians with all manner of dire consequences if they should vote for the "in fidel" from Virginia. This was particularly true in New England, where the clergy stood like Gibraltar against Jefferson (Jefferson A Great American's Life and Ideas, Mentor Books, 1964, p.116).

William Linn, a Dutch Reformed minister in New York City, made perhaps the most violent of all attacks on Jefferson's character, all of it based on religious matters. In a pamphlet entitled Serious Considerations on the Election of a President, Linn "accused Jefferson of the heinous crimes of not believing in divine revelation and of a design to destroy religion and `introduce immorality'" (Padover, p. 116). He referred to Jefferson as a "true infidel" and insisted that "(a)n infidel like Jefferson could not, should not, be elected" (Padover, p. 117). He concluded the pamphlet with this appeal for "Christians to defeat the `infidel' from Virginia"

Will you, then, my fellow-citizens, with all this evidence... vote for Mr. Jefferson?... As to myself, were Mr. Jefferson connected with me by the nearest ties of blood, and did I owe him a thousand obligations, I would not, and could not vote for him. No; sooner than stretch forth my hand to place him at the head of the nation "Let mine arms fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone" (quoted by Padover, p. 117).

Why would contemporary clergymen have so vigorously opposed Jefferson's election if he were as devoutly Christian as modern preachers claim? The answer is that Jefferson was not a Christian, and the preachers of his day knew that he wasn't.

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/myth.html


Jefferson was what we would now call a "Unitarian". He accepted the words of Jesus as a great philosophy, and disregarded the rest (hence, his bible is called "The Jefferson Bible"-he created this book by compiling all the words of Jesus into one text). He also owned a quran and other religious texts. Some have called him a deist, but he seems more unitarian to me.

AdventureBegins's photo
Sun 04/24/11 07:22 PM
It is not his religious ideology that I admire.

It is the Legacy of Freedom him, and others left behind.

In other words his politics...

and what was accomplished because of them.

Without Mr. Jefferson and other Patriots like him we would not have the blueprint of a Free Society.

What matters his religious bent...

Christianity endures yet.

as does Freedom...

EasternSquirrel's photo
Tue 04/26/11 11:19 PM
We're overdue for a dictatorship.

AdventureBegins's photo
Wed 04/27/11 11:43 AM
Or a renewal of Liberty...

and a Declaration of same.

1 2 4 Next