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JEFFERSONS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS To begin with Thomas Jefferson was believed to be the third US President as well as the chief author of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jeffersons religious views and values varied extensively from the orthodox Christianity. It is interesting to note that during his life Jefferson was extremely interested in religion, divinity, biblical study and morals. He was directly connected with the Episcopal Church and the religious theory of Deism. As the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, he issued a statement concerning human rights that numerous Americans consider as nearly holy. Besides, to define Mr. Jeffersons religious beliefs let us have a closer look at such concepts as Deism and Christianity. According to Harvey Deism is the view that regards God as the intelligent creator of an independent and law-abiding world but denies that he providentially guides it or intervenes in any way with its destiny. Reason is the sole instrument through which Gods existence and nature can be deduced from the perfectly rational workings of the universe.1 Being a religious philosophy Deism determined that a supreme force created our universe. Moreover this concept often suggested that this supreme creator did not cut in humanitys affairs or postpone the natural laws of the world. Deists typically denied miraculous and preternatural events such as oracle and wonders. This thought was also famous as the Clockwork universe theory. It said that God created and constructed the universe, however, stood aside in order to let it run on its own. Deism followers trusted in the existence of the supreme being without any reliance on the existed religion, sacred books or religious authority. Moreover, Deists stated that humanity had a necessity to worship God, a responsibility to behave properly. It should be emphasized that there were objective requirements of good and evil that people derived from reason. Humanity had an obligation
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CD NOTES: Deism

to bonify. Besides, people ought to be convicted of sin. Deists considered a humans soul to be immortal and its disposition in the afterlife depended on humans behavior and deeds. Now let us proceed to Christianity. According to numerous leading scientists Christianity was believed to be a monotheistic religion rested upon the life and teachings of Jesus. The followers of the Christian creed were known as the Christians. Christianity asserted that Jesus was the Son of God. In this connection God became a mortal and the savior of mankind. Consequently, Christians got used to adverting to Jesus as Christ or Messiah. Moreover, Christianity as the religion was founded in Palestine by the adherents of Jesus. It was believed to be one of the worlds crucial religions. Noticeably, it dominated both in Europe as well as South and North Americas where it had been a vigorous historical power and cultural impact. However, it also claimed followers in fact in every country of the world. The most significant teachings of customary Christianity were that the second person of the Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; that his life on earth, his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven are proof of Gods love for humanity and Gods forgiveness of human sins; and that by faith in Jesus one may attain salvation and eternal life.2 This doctrine was substantiated in the Bible especially in the New Testament. Nevertheless, the Christians also considered the Old Testament to be a holy and powerful scripture. According to the Jeffersons letters I suppose that he was a deist. In his letter to Peter Carr the third president of the USA claimed that The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm. It is given to all human beings in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.

strengthened by exercise, as may any particular limb of the body. 3 Like the majority of Deists he considered morality to be as significant a personal fitness. He stated that reading good piece of writings could strengthen humans moral abilities and raise ones worth. Besides, like numerous Deists Thomas Jefferson denied the existence of various miracles. All odds and supernatural events that could be described in the books he explained as humans inspiration, imagination and dreams. For example in Joshuas work the reader were told that the sun could stand still several hours. However, the same fact could be observed in Livy or Tacitus writing. Although, the fixity of the sun was classified as the showers of blood, speaking of statues, beasts. But it was said that the writer of that book was inspired.4 Moreover, in his letter to Peter Carr Jefferson advised him to keep in your eye the opposite pretensions of those who say Jesus was begotten by god, born of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws of nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven. In these lines one could find another proof of Thomas Jeffersons belonging to Deism as its followers rejected the concept of Jesus belonging to the sacred Trinity. On the other hand Mr. Jefferson emphasized that one did not have to believe or deny all facts and description of humans conveyed in the Bible and other writings because any other persons or description of persons have rejected or believed it. In this way Thomas strived to induce the reader to believe in himself and to listen to his heart as the mankind was answerable not for rightness of some deeds but for their own mistakes and wrongs. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable not for the rightness but uprightness of the decision. Deists claimed that people were obligatory to perform right as well as only one God existed and Thomas also accepted those tenets. However, in his letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush Jefferson stated that he also stuck

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Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Peter Carr, Paris, August 10, 1787. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Peter Carr, Paris, August 10, 1787.

to some dogmas of the Christianity. Thomas adverted to himself as Christian. 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.5 Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson believed in some other tenets of Christianity. For example, he recognized that there were some obvious proofs of the inevitability of a superintending force to keep the Universe in its course and order. Secondly, he believed that the world was created by the supreme, intelligent being and the God was a spirit. There were some fundamental Christian statements that Jefferson shared namely: there is one only God, and he all perfect, there is a future state of rewards and punishments, to love God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself, is the sum of religion6. It should be highlighted that Jefferson was the follower of the Deism as he trusted in one God, in sacred providence, the religious moral law and in awards and punishments after the end of the mortal life on the Earth. It is worth pointing out that the third president of the USA did not believe in magical and miraculous revelation. Yet he was thought to be a Christian deist as he considered Christianity to be the highest interpretation of natural religion. Moreover, he highlighted that Jesus served as an incomparably powerful moral guide. In spite of it Thomas Jefferson was not a conventional Christian because he denied the teachings that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the incarnate Son of God. 7 Jefferson trusted in the moral dogmas of Christ and altered a compilation of Jesuss teachings leaving out the supernatural events. Thomas was decisively anticlerical because he stressed that in every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in

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Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Benjamin Rush, Washington, Apr. 21, 1803. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Monticello, June 26, 1822 Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Joseph Priestley, Washington, April 9, 1803.

alliance with the despot...they have perverted the purest religion ever preached to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, and therefore the safer for their purposes. In his private letter to John Adams Jefferson asserted that he had a slim faith in the existence of such invisible beings as God, angels and the soul namely: to talk of i mmaterial existences is to talk of nothings.8 Now let us proceed to the coincidence and diversity of Jeffersons and Franklins religious beliefs. It is interesting to note that both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were deists, however, their religious views and standpoints did not completely coincide. Mr. Franklin thought that there was one Supreme the most perfect Being, author and forefather of the gods themselves. On the other hand Jefferson insisted on the idea that there was the only holy Supreme being but rejected the presence of Trinity. Being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America he believed that a person was not considered to be the most perfect creation rather than because there were numerous degrees of beings his inferiors, consequently there were a lot of degrees of beings higher to him. Allegedly, Mr. Franklin thought that the Infinite designed myriad of beings and gods, rather superior to a person, who could better conceive his perfections than we, and returned him a more rational and glorious praise.9 Nevertheless, the third president of the USA accepted the doctrine that said that there was the evident confirmation of the possibility of a superintending ascendancy to keep the world in its course and order. Furthermore, he supposed that world was created by the supreme, intelligent being. Despite it Thomas conceived that the mankind was answerable for the deeds before the God and peoples duty was to bonify: That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this.

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Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To John Adams, Monticello, April 11, 1823. Franklin,B. Articles of Belief.1728.

It is interesting to note that Mr. Jefferson believed in the existence of the only God whereas Franklin asserted that It may be that these created gods, are immortal, or it may be that after many ages, they are changed, and others supply their Places.
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However, later

Benjamin corrected himself I believe in one God, creator of the universe. That He governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we can render to him, is doing good to his other children. It should be highlighted that both Franklin and Jefferson were sure that a supreme being who created the Universe was a good one: he is a good being, and as I should be happy to have so wise, good and powerful a being my friend, let me consider in what manner I shall make myself most acceptable to him. Now let us have a closer look at the Declaration of Independences dogmas and tenets. Some historians considered it to be a deist document others claimed that the Declaration was a truly Christian writing. So who is right? In the first paragraph of the Jeffersons work one could trace some features of the Christian philosophy, namely: all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Moreover, In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson referred to natures God. However, this phrase was incomprehensible. The religious standpoints of Jefferson were extremely argued in his time. Nevertheless, he shared the moral views of Jesus. Jefferson trusted in a creator alike the God of deism. In the tradition of deism, Jefferson based his God on reason and rejected revealed religion. That Jefferson included God in the Declaration of Independence is very significant because it helped lay the foundation for a civil religion in America. Moreover, the reference to God in the Declaration of Independence did not portray the personal God of Christianity. Having held deist standpoints Thomas Jefferson
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Franklin,B. Articles of Belief.1728.

penned the major part of the Declaration. That document described the Laws of Nature and of Natures God. That natures viewpoints of God accepted deist teaching and might even appeal to those of pantheistical dogmas but any effort to employ the Declaration as a support for Christianity failed for that cause alone. It should be emphasized that in The Declaration of Independence Mr. Jefferson continually conveyed the Deist beliefs of mankind reason and a Creator God. For instance, Thomas asserted that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This fact proved that a man after he was created had the force to pursue his own fate. The humanity was to be responsible for their own lives and destinies as God helps them who help themselves. For instance, Thomas Jefferson claimed that among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitle them. These lines described that God designed the Universe but rejected that he was involved in the destinies of any person and that the Universe acted by natural and selfsustaining. Finally, the first and foremost problem was that the Declaration of Independence adverted to a Creator and not the Christian God comprehended by people making the statement. The second puzzle was that the rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness none of that were rights discussed in the Constitution. It should be pointed out that according to Dulles Newton was a devout deist. He varied from the stringent deists because he considered God to be a peculiar physical reason to maintain the planets in stable orbits. He trusted in biblical oracle but treated the dogmas of the Trinity and Incarnation as absurd. Moreover, Locke believed in Christian revelation on the ground of biblical prophecies and miracles. But he held that reason should be the ultimate judge of all truth and that the firmness of our assent to any proposition should

not exceed the strength of the evidence that we could produce in its favor. 11 He denied particular Christian tenets such as the Trinity and the Incarnation that in his standpoint failed to meet the test of rational connectedness. Nevertheless, he classified himself as a Christian as he accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah foretold in biblical prophecy; he had no difficulty in admitting the miracles ascribed in the Bible to the prophets and to Jesus. Noticeably, there were three deist forms. The first supposed two channels of truth: cause that helped to get an access to the basic and indispensable truths and revelation that said peculiar additional truths helpful but not obligatory for salvation. According to the next version revelation was a support to reason, however, it could do no more than ratify or interpret truths accessible to cause alone. The most principal form said that cause was the sole font of truth and that revelation did not exist. It is worth pointing out that among the creators of the American republic who did not sign the Declaration of Independence, George Washington, James Madison, George Mason were considered to be religious liberals. Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton were commonly Christians and resisted deism. None of the Founding Fathers meditated more assiduously on religion than Thomas Jefferson. One of Jeffersons firmest principles, as we know, was that of religious freedom. Like his contemporaries Franklin, Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Madison, Jefferson was convinced that the republic could not stand without a high level of public morality, and that moral behavior could not survive in the absence of divine authority as its sanction. All things considered Jefferson served as a deist as he trusted in one God, in holy providence, in the sacred moral law and in awards or punishments after peoples death. However, he did not trust in miraculous revelation. He was a Christian deist as he believed that Christianity was the supreme interpretation of natural religion. Besides, Jefferson thought that Jesus was a powerful moral teacher. Thomas did not belong to the orthodox Christians as
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Dulles, A. The Deist Minimum, Jan. 2005.

he denied the dogmas that Jesus served as Messiah and the personified Son of God.

References CD NOTES: Deism Dulles, A. The Deist Minimum, Jan. 2005. Franklin,B. Articles of Belief.1728. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Peter Carr, Paris, August 10, 1787. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Joseph Priestley, Washington, April 9, 1803. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Benjamin Rush, Washington, Apr. 21, 1803. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Monticello, June 26, 1822. Thomas Jefferson, [Letter] To John Adams, Monticello, April 11, 1823.