Does anyone know what religion Thomas Jefferson believed in.?

Question

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
-- Thomas Jefferson



I was just wondering if he associated Christianity with Christians?

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Thank you for your answers.

WOW! Grits you are 100% correct. I had no idea. Thanks for sharing.

Answer 1

Whoever that iADOREJESUS person is, she's not very original. She stole every word of that rant.

Answer 2

Deism

In 1803, United States president Thomas Jefferson wrote: “To the corruptions of Christianity, I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.” Yes, there is a difference between Christendom and Christianity. Many of Christendom’s tenets are founded upon the traditions of men. In contrast, true Christianity bases its beliefs solely upon the Bible. Thus, Paul wrote to the first-century Colossians that they should acquire “accurate knowledge,” “wisdom,” and “spiritual comprehension.”

The Protestant sects that resulted from the Reformation retained many unscriptural doctrines.

Deists claimed that, much like a watchmaker, God set his creation in motion and then turned his back on it all, remaining coldly uninvolved. According to the book The Modern Heritage, deists “believed that atheism was an error born of despair but that the authoritarian structure of the Catholic Church and the rigidity and intolerance of its doctrines were even more deplorable.”

Caught between ineffective ecclesiastical systems, millions of people were looking for something better. Some thought they had found it in a form of Deism, also known as “natural religion.” Gaining prominence particularly in England during the 17th century, Deism has been described as a compromise that embraced science without deserting God. Deists were therefore freethinkers set on a middle-of-the-road course.

Some Deists went so far as to reject the Bible almost totally. Nowadays the term is rarely used, although professed Christians who reject ecclesiastical or Scriptural authority in favor of personal opinion or alternate philosophies of life are in actuality adhering to its principles.

Answer 3

Erm, yeah, he did, he was pretty anti-organized-religion in general. Jefferson was a deist, which is part of the reason he was so set on a separation of church and state.

Here are a few more Jefferson quotes since I happen to have a list of quotes I like by all people handy:

In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ~Thomas Jefferson

What has been the effect of religious coercion? To make half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. ~Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785

Answer 4

Protestant.
Jefferson was raised as an Episcopalian (Anglican). He was also influenced by English Deists and has often been identified by historians as a Deist. He held many beliefs in common with Unitarians of the time period, and sometimes wrote that he thought the whole country would become Unitarian. He wrote that the teachings of Jesus contain the "outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which has ever fallen from the lips of man." Wrote: "I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know." Source: "Jefferson's Religious Beliefs", by Rebecca Bowman, Monticello Research Department, August 1997

Answer 5

Deist. And that means He believed in Deity. Thomas Jefferson believed in Jesus.

But he was also aware of what some people in high places did in the name of Christianity. That is why he felt strong about the separation of church & state. When national power is given to a Church leadership, evil people will get in high places & actually persecute the Church, as a leader in a Church of a nation. The Church is actually the ones who love Jesus and are Saved by His redeeming love.

See, power corrupts. It also attracts people who lust for power.

Answer 6

, Who grow to be Jefferson that he might desire to be writing a assertion concerning the unalienable top of liberty that grow to be to be enjoyed or pursued by utilizing all adult adult males who're created equivalent? Why, Jefferson himself grow to be then a slave proprietor! in certainty, 80-seven years surpassed by utilizing in the previous the yankee president, on January a million, 1863, introduced an abolishing of slavery especially factors of the u . s ..—The Encyclopedia Americana, quantity 8, pages 561, 562; quantity 10, web site 271.might desire to this is he grow to be believing what grow to be incorrect ?

Answer 7

Thomas Jefferson was a Deist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson

Answer 8

According to popular opinion today, Thomas Jefferson was a "deist"...whatever that is. They "prove" this in classic fashion...by quoting him out of context.
Your quote, for instance, taken all by itself, would seem to indicate that Thomas Jefferson not only was not a Christian himself, but was actively hostile to Christianity.
As you say, I think he "associated Christianity with Christians"...at least so far as giving any one group of Christians any political leverage.
However, I do not think he was actually actively hostile to Christians.
For instance, what of this quote?:

"The care of every man’s soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or estate, which more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he shall not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills…

I cannot give up my guidance to the magistrate, because he knows no more of the way to heaven than I do, and is less concerned to direct me right than I am to go right. If the Jews had followed their kings, among so many, what number would have led them to idolatry?"

Could Mr. Jefferson actually have been a Christian, himself? I think so.
Here is a bit more from his notes on religion:

"Christ has said that “wheresoever two or three are gathered together in his name he will be in the midst of them.” This is his definition of a society. He does not make it essential that a bishop or presbyter govern them…

Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men to whom she is rarely known and seldom welcome. She has no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. Error has indeed often prevailed by the assistance of power or force. Truth is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error…"

Evidently Jefferson was, truly, a Christian.

Answer 9

Jefferson was a "Deist" or often an agnostic; he was willing to concede that "all this" was unlikely to be a coincidence, but smart enough to see that the "Christian Bible" is so full of holes it could not possibly be the work of any "God" worthy of respect....

Answer 10

I did check that out briefly at one time.

Seems like a bible minus most of the really ridiculous stuff. A bit of an improvement on it but well.....

Answer 11

Most of the founding fathers were Deists.