"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when...?

Question

.....we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?"

At least the father of the United States of America's Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson) had a concept of God. Thank God he had US in mind when he wrote it.

He went on to say:
"That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."
Strong words from the "father" to those that would take away these rights.

Dave,
Sorry. You've taken that out of context. Many people do that with scriptures, too.

Weird Darryl,

Thomas Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence and was America's third President. He was a noted author, educator, architect and SCIENTIST. He founded the University of Virginia. In his Notes on the State of Virginia. Pretty impresssive. Yes?

"The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its Benevolent Institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind."
Now Miss K,
Do you think you have more sense than THIS man? You've got to be kidding.

Dave,
You're out of context again. Please reread in it's entirety.

Jefferson by NO means was perfect; but HE WASN'T FOOLISH ENOUGH TO NOT BELIVE IN GOD.

Answer 1

Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man but that is not enough reason for me to believe in a god.
.

Answer 2

Jefferson was a deist who composed a cut-and-paste New Testament. His god was "Nature's God," not the splitter of the red sea. The context of his life and thought suggests that this quote--assuming it's not apocryphal--was a rhetorical device, and not really much about God or Christianity at all. If I recall, it was about slavery, which carries its own issues since Jefferson was a slaveholder until the day he died.

Edit: "The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it..." To Jefferson this meant things like miracles, the resurrection, possibly life after death, and biblical innerrancy.

Are *you* willing to say that merely believing in *a* god is sufficient, or makes one a Christian? Didn't think so. NEXT!!

Answer 3

He also said: "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." He said this about organized christian religion. This is not taken out of context (see below). He is speaking of his opposition to the establishment of religion.

He felt the bible was too filled with nonsensical miracles which added nothing to the morals taught by Jesus. He therefore rewrote the NT and created what is known as the Jefferson Bible which he titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

In negotiating and signing the Treaty of Tripoli, he stated in the treaty that: "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion".

Jefferson was a Deist who was only a christian to the extent that it was necessary to get elected. He in no way accepted the christian understanding of god and specifically rejected many of christianity's key dogmata.