I stumbled across the picture above on a social networking site. Some would have people believe that Thomas Jefferson was not a theist. To them, I offer the following quote:
"In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry & reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system 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 he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other..."
- Thomas Jefferson, April 21, 1803 letter to Benjamin Rush in Bergh, ed., Writings of Thomas Jefferson 10:379 (Emphasis Added)
Thomas Jefferson did have some very serious and legitimate concerns about mainstream Christianity and most of its organizations, but he did believe in a divine being and the teachings of Christ.
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