Agnostic? No given some of his writings he'd be outdoing Christopher HItchens and Richard Dawkins if he were alive today:
"The priests of the different religious sects ... dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight, and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subdivision of the duperies on which they live." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Correa de Serra, April 11, 1820, "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot." - Thomas Jefferson 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 Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823 "It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one and one is three, and yet, that the one is not three, and the three not one.... But this constitutes the craft, the power, and profits of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more flies." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams (August 22, 1813) On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 4:40 PM, LRS Scout <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think that TJ letters and writings contradict the man's position. I > think the state writings earlier argue againt his position at least as far > as athiesm > Franklin and Jefferson were likely agnostic but payed lip service and > homage to western christianity and philosophy. See the jefferson bible. > On Apr 4, 2013 4:35 PM, "Larry C. Lyons" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > There's an interesting essay by Eric Raymond that answers this. Its well > > worth reading the whole thing. > > http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=312 > > > > Quoting from the essay: > > > > Religious conservatives are fond of replying by pointing excitedly at the > > references to "Nature's God", "Divine Providence", and the "Creator" in > the > > Declaration of Independence. > > > > Raymond then quotes the relevant passages of the Declaration: > > > > When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to > > dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and > to > > assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to > > which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent > respect > > to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes > > which impel them to the separation. > > > > We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, > > that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; > > > > And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the > > protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our > > Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. > > > > Raymond then cites some other passages in Jefferson's writings where he > > displays as obvious hostility to Christianity. So Raymond asks, "Of what > > 'God', if not the Christian one, was Jefferson speaking?" He replies: > > > > The answer to this question -- which also explains the references in the > > Declaration of Independence -- is that Jefferson, like many intellectuals > > of his time, was a Deist. The "Creator" and "Nature's God" in the > > Declaration of Independence, and the God of Jefferson's altar, is not the > > intervening Christian God but the God of Deism. > > > > Deism was an early attempt to reconcile the mechanistic world-view > arising > > from experimental science with religion. Deists believed in a remote sort > > of clockmaker-God who created the universe but then refrained from > meddling > > in it afterwards. Deists explicitly rejected faith, revelation, religious > > doctrine, religious authority, and all existing religions. They held that > > humans could know the mind of God only through the study of nature; in > many > > versions of Deist thinking, the mind of God was explicitly identified > with > > the laws of nature. > > > > Thus "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God"; in Deist thought these > concepts > > blurred together. The phrase "endowed by their Creator" could be rendered > > accurately as "endowed by Nature". In modern terms, this is an entirely > > naturalistic account of human rights. > > That's exactly right. Finally, Raymond notes: > > > > Jeffersons "altar of God" quote and the references in the Declaration of > > Independence are easy to misconstrue today because Deism did not long > > outlive the Founding Fathers. In their time it functioned as a sort of > > halfway house for intellectuals who rejected traditional religion but > were > > unwilling to declare themselves atheists or agnostics. As the social risk > > of taking these positions decreased, Deism waned. > > > > So they were not referring to some dude in some cloud wearing a white > > sheet, Rather they were referring to the entirely naturalistic and > > mechanistic principles found in the world. A concept entirely compatible > > with skepticism. > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 4:21 PM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > You are correct. I never implied they were. > > > > > > But they DID mention a Creator......it very specifically said our > rights > > > are endowed by our CREATOR...not by us. So whether by God or by Nature, > > our > > > rights were endowed to us, we didn't create them ourselves. > > > > > -- > > Larry C. Lyons > > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:362424 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
