Stephen McDowell hosts America's Providential History Podcast

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Now in the last number of podcasts, we began to examine the faith of some of the presidents of the United States. We first looked at our first president, George Washington, and took a number of m podcast looking at his life, his faith, his character. And then we looked at our second president, Jon Adams, last week. This week I want to present information about our third president, Thomas Jefferson.

Since his time, pamphleteers misrepresented Thomas Jefferson's religious opinions

Now we've all heard of Thomas Jefferson and he's the chief writer of the Declaration of Independence. but, and people think they know something about Jefferson, but a lot of it is misunderstood, especially regarding his religious beliefs because they are one of the most misunderstood things about him. One historian said Thomas Jefferson was probably the object of more unjust attacks than any other American statesman before. Since his time, pamphleteers misrepresented his religious opinions and many of his enemies spread false accusations concerning his personal life. As a result, the belief became widespread that he was an infidel. Infidel means he's a non believer, doesn't believe, but as this author writes, he says that despite his liberal leanings, Jefferson was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church and he was especially well pleased with the religious situation which existed in Charlottesville where Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists met together every Sunday in the courthouse. So Jefferson's religious life, in a way kind of had three different, periods, certainly when he moved to France in 1784 and began to see that national church and the influence of in many ways a corrupt church and corrupt clergy began to change some of his thinking, and beliefs, later on in his life as well as we will examine. But his religious beliefs seem to certainly follow the orthodox Anglican faith and Calvinism, really. But after his experience in France, he began to. Before that he. Nothing he said or did would indicate he was anything but orthodox in his belief. After his experience in France, he began to adopt what you might call more interdenomination or non creedal Christian beliefs. And then in its later years, the last dozen or so years of his life, he became what could be called a Unitarian Christian. But remember, Unitarianism, as we talked about last week when it first began, was rooted in orthodox Christianity and belief in the atoning work of Christ and the errancy of God's word and other things. When he went to France in 1784, he was 41 years old. He went there to be the ambassador from the United States. but for the first four plus decades of his life, there's no clear evidence that Jefferson held to anything other than orthodox Anglican Christian tenets. Now, Jefferson grew up in the Anglican church. Virginia, before independence was founded officially as an Anglican colony. The Church of England was the established church, though there had always been from the very beginning, those of a different persuasion, dissenters, those who adhere to more puritan or separatist views early on and more of the Presbyterian, and other dissenting views as the time of independence approached. But he grew up in the Anglican church. He attended schools run by Anglican clergymen. And as an adult he worshiped regularly and served on the vestry of his church. The vestry, it's an elected position and these were the rulers of the church. Like elders in the church. Beginning around 1773, Jefferson also regularly attended the services held in the courthouse that were led by other denominations. As the quote from the historian early on mentions how Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists met together in the courthouse, which Jefferson thought that was a marvelous idea. They shared the courthouse as a common temple. Ministers rotated on who preached. And Jefferson thought this is a great example of, what the church ought to be like. And so Jefferson's regular exposure to the diversity of Christian worship and religious awakening occurring at this time in central Virginia helps us to understand his keen interest in leading the fight for religious freedom. Jefferson put both his own children and a nephew in private Christian schools and commended other Christian schools, as well. Jefferson consistently referred to God in his higher law in public settings. From the time of ah, an early court case in 1767 all the way to the end of his life. And his personal motto on his seal, personal seal was rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. And Jefferson turned his home, Monticello, really into a museum, hanging all kinds of paintings and sculptures as a tool to educate those who visited. And two thirds of the paintings and sculptures in his home at Monticello were from biblical or Christian history. Throughout his life, Jefferson studied the Bible for his own personal benefit. And he also gave money to Bible societies to so that they could distribute Bible to others. And so Jefferson's early life was orthodox, in its belief, first part of the Anglican Church. when we declared independence, he left the Anglican church because he was a patriot. And he actually started his own Church in 1777. He drew up a subscription letter and he got leading citizens in the Albemarle county to support this new endeavor because he said, look, we have to have church, we got to worship. I'm not going to go to the church associated, with England because we're in conflict with England and separated ourselves from England, but I want to worship. So he got together a subscription letter and he to establish a new church. He called it the Calvinistical Reformed Church of Charlottesville. Began meeting in 1770 and it met in the courthouse in downtown Charlottesville. He saw nothing wrong with using a public meeting place, a civil place of civil meetings, civil government to meet for a church building in this Calvinistic Reformed church. Met from 1777 to 1784. By 84, he and some of the other leading men had moved away. Jefferson had moved to, to Europe, to be ambassador to France. Others had moved away. And by that time the Episcopal Church kind of sprung up to take the place of the Anglican church here in Virginia and in the colonies. so he started his own church there. And then, in 1782 his wife died, which was a really devastating event to him. He'd been married 10 years. She had given birth to six children. Two survived to adulthood. And so when she died in 1782, it was really a great blow to him. Devastating to him because he loved her dearly. And in 1784 then he, his wife died in 1782. In fact, one of his two year old daughter died as well. Around this same time, 1784 he moved to France, to become the ambassador. And the deaths of his wife and daughter left Jefferson devastated and certainly may have contributed to some of his beliefs and views. Events occurring in France when he moved there likely affect his religious views as well because there was a strong anti clerical feeling among the French people due to the strong support of the Catholic church for the politically corrupt and unpopular monarchs. And so this caused some thinkers in France to become anti Christian. They equated the Christian faith with the corrupt version of the Christian faith that existed as the national church in France then and had been for a long time. of course Jefferson never became anti Christian, but he did see the problems that existed with having a national church. And he definitely saw the problems that exist when you have corrupt clergy, as well. These things could have contributed and most likely contributed to some of the questioning, sincere questioning he had as he began to analyze orthodox Christianity, during this time period of his life, late 1780s through his time as the president, then in his later years, last 14 years of his life, 1813 to 1826, some might say he embraced more Unitarian type Christian views. But again here Unitarianism was still rooted in understanding of biblical orthodoxy. Jefferson never explicitly agreed with Unitarianism until these later years when he began to embrace some of the ideas that he actually heard different evangelical ministers, speak, regarding to get back to the simplicity of the gospel in the first centuries. In 1803 he had, deliberately distributed to his family and closest friends a paper that he called My Religious Creed in order to clearly affirm his Christian faith. It was entitled A Syllabus of the Merits of the Doctrine of Jesus. That same year, Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Rush. Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration, father of medicine in America, very devout believer in the Christian faith. And he wrote to him saying, my views are very different from that anti Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. Now what he was addressing when Jefferson ran for president in 1800, a lot of people attacked him, his political enemies. And some, of them in their attacks claimed that he was anti, Christian, against the Christian faith. They said, he's going to come if he's elected and confiscate your Bibles and take them away from you. And of course you have. The false narrative of the media is not new today. It was happening then and some people so much believed that they actually buried their Bibles after he was elected, thinking they were going to come for him. But that was nothing even close to, the truth. And so they were, charging, you can't elect Jefferson because he's not a Christian. That's an interesting argument to make for those who are running for president. They're saying you're not fit to be president because you're not a Christian. So that's what he was, the context of Jefferson's letter to Rush. And he said, look, my views are very different from that anti Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. And then he goes on to write, to the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the sense he said, is that I embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ. And so he was against the corruptions of Christianity. He had seen corruptions in Christianity, yes, in France, but he had seen them in some of the clergy in the United States as well, in America and in the colonies. And he, pointed this out. That's why some clergymen didn't like him too Much some of the Anglicans didn't like him, as well. But he said, look, I'm against the corruptions of Christianity, which we all should be, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself.

Unitarianism in its early stages was still rooted in orthodox Christianity

I am a Christian in the sense he said, I believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Now, even as he might have embraced more of a Unitarian Christian thought, again, Unitarianism, not like it is today, but Unitarianism, in its early stages was still rooted in orthodox Christianity. But even as he might have expressed ideas where you might label him that, he still worshiped in Trinitarian churches and faithfully supported orthodox ministers in Bible societies. And even when he adopted more of these Unitarian views, he believed he was coming more purely biblical believer, like the first century, Christians. And again, he had heard in the first phases of the second Great Awakening, there were preachers who preached and went and preached camp meetings in the late 1790s, early 1800s, and in Virginia, the west part of Virginia, what is today West Virginia and Kentucky, that, some of these preachers, you know, said, hey, we need to get back to emphasizing the Lord our God is one, and get back to the beliefs of the early Christians, the simplicity of the gospel that's preached in the first centuries. And so he had heard evangelical ministers emphasize, these, what some might call Unitarian ideas. And so Jefferson, in embracing that thinking, yeah, we need to get back to the simplicity of the gospel instead of having, you know, dozens and scores of creeds that you need to adhere to to become part of the church. Let's have this. Some simple doctrines as presented, early on. And again, Unitarianism at this point, as was taught at Harvard's Divinity School and, reflected in other writings, was still rooted in scripture and in the person of Jesus. It wasn't detached from these until well after Jefferson's death. And when Unitarianism later merged with Universalist thought, began to reject any kind of Christian orthodoxy. And Unitarianism today differs certainly greatly from Jefferson's beliefs. And if you want to hear more about this, go to the podcast last week when I talked about Jon Adams and his association with Unitarianism. Jefferson's adoption of Unitarian views then followed the leading of some evangelical churches in his community. That's where the ideas first came to him, most likely, as well. So now it is in his writings of his last 14 years that most, people most frequently cite and are quoted by modern scholars, when they try to proclaim, well, Jefferson really wasn't an orthodox Christian because he did express some doubts of the deity of Christ. Now he believed Christ was the son of God and Christ died for mankind. But he did express in a couple of maybe five or 20,000 letters, and these were in his later years expressed some doubts. Was Jesus Christ God himself? Yes, he was the Son of God. Yes, he came as a man, but was he God himself? And that questioning he had even heard from some evangelical, churches. And so modern, writers and individuals will just pull out excerpts from a few of his letters written in his later time and try to say this is what Jefferson believed his whole life. And then they even don't accurately represent what he's talking about in some of these letters. So they quote letters to five Unitarian clergymen are quoted frequently, while the other 110 Orthodox clergymen in his life, his more orthodox writings are ignored or downplayed. So the modern historian's bias toward the views of Jefferson that he held when he was in his 70s and 80s tend to give the perception that his whole life was what he believed and contributes to misconceptions of Jefferson in many ways. Now a couple of the misconceptions of Jefferson's life include. One, some people believe Jefferson was opposed to organized religion and was not a regular participant of any church where in reality Jefferson worshiped regularly all his life and even served on the vestry of his church twice. He financially supported his first, his Anglican pastors after, independence, the Episcopal pastors and of course the pastors the church that he started. He not only supported his own churches and pastors, but other church clergy, churches, Bible societies, Christian schools and Christian colleges. He was married in the church, he had his family baptized, married and buried with its services. He arranged for organized chapel services and non denominational religious instruction in schools, including at his University of Virginia that he established where they had daily chapel services and students were required to attend. He made many statements in support of Christianity and expressed delight when he heard of churches growing in size. When his Anglican church lost its financial and popular support during the Revolutionary War, as I, mentioned, he personally led in an effort to start a new church and he suggested the name, let's call it the Calvinistical Reformed Church of, Charlottesville. And he put forth his own money to secure its pastor, Charles Clay. And interesting. See Charles Clay had been his Anglican minister and the Anglican church he attended before Independence, but Charles Clay was also a patriot. So he left the Anglican Church at Independence. And Jefferson like the preaching of Charles Clay so much, he invited him to be the pastor of the church that he started. And you can read Some of Charles Clay's sermons that have been preserved, today. And he preached evangelical messages, preached about regeneration and having a personal relationship with the living God. And Jefferson liked him so much, said, hey, I want Charles Clay to be my pastor. Jefferson also donated his architectural services to design a plan for the first Charlottesville Episcopal Church, building. Jefferson worshiped frequently with other denominations in Albemarle County Courthouse, which, as I mentioned earlier, he called the Common Temple. and it's, which met these, four major denominations. Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist. The Methodists were just beginning about the time of independence in early America. As I said, for decades they met in the courthouse in downtown, Charlottesville, worshiping together. Jefferson called that the Common Temple. And Jefferson, in addition to worshiping at the Common Temple, he also frequently attended Baptist church services at Lewis Mountain Meeting House. While president. Jefferson worshiped regularly with various denominations. They even use the US Capitol building for church services. So he went to church in the Capitol building while he was president. And, the Capitol building, the first public meetings that were held there were church services before the Congress met. It first met there in 1800. But even while he was under construction in the late 1790s, church services were there. but Jefferson, as president elected in 1800, assumed office in 1801, often went to church in the capital. In 1774, Jefferson drafted a resolution for the Virginia legislature appointed a day of fasting and prayer. conflicts were rising with Britain at this time. This of course, was before independence. And when, a response of the legislature of Virginia was to what can we do in support of the cause of liberty? Well, they issued, a resolution pointing a day of fasting and prayer recommending everybody in Virginia, fast and pray on that day, go to church and hear a sermon. It was Jefferson who drafted that resolution. And he made a special effort to organize a worship service with Albemarle county citizens to observe that day in June of 1774. Now, while governor of Virginia in 1779, Jefferson proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be observed throughout the state. And so when you look at Jefferson's life, he certainly wasn't opposed to organized religion. He was a regular participant in church, all kinds of churches. He started a church, he supported churches, supported pastors and issued proclamations for people to go to church. He was a great friend of many, many church clergymen, many, many, churches, ah, from different, denominations.

Another misconception about Thomas Jefferson is that he and clergy were antagonistic

So another misconception that people have of Thomas Jefferson and his religious faith. They believe that he and the clergy were antagonistic to each other. Well, in reality, Jefferson admired, supported, commended and worked in partnership with well over a hundred different Christian clergymen, and they admired and supported him as well. This included the national leadership of the major denominations in America. He was personal friends and allies with, many churches, many groups of churches, two moderators of the Presbyterian General Assembly. He was friends and allies with three presidents of Princeton University and other Presbyterian divinity schools, Jon Leland and Luther Rice, who were Baptists. He was friends with, and they supported him and his efforts for religious liberty, and he supported them. He was friends with Ezra Stiles, a leader of the Congregationalists and president of Yale. He's friends with the Muhlenbergs of the Lutheran Church. He was friends with the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Virginia and was friends with the Catholic archbishop in both America and France. And he didn't personally meet the leaders of the Methodist Church, but they publicly praised him, as well. So you can see that he was friends and worked with Christian denominations of all kinds of many, ministers. Clergymen gave Jefferson their political support as well. Jefferson supported many clergy in various ways. He helped to get clergy appointed as chaplains in the government and as professors at the College of William and Mary. In fact, when he was starting his University of Virginia, after he served as president, this was the exercise of his later years of life. He attempted to move the entire faculty of Jon Calvin's University of Virginia, Jon Calvin's University of Geneva there in Switzerland, to Virginia to form the foundation of a state university. He thought, hey, I'm starting university, I need excellent professors and faculty. So his suggestion was, let's get all the faculty from Jon Calvin's university, to come and teach here. And that legislature kind of put a stop to that. But that shows you the thinking of Thomas Jefferson. He appointed some clergy to government posts while he was president. He secretly commissioned and donated funds to a Baptist minister to start anti slavery churches in Illinois. Used his influence while president to get the commissioners of the District of Columbia to allow land to be purchased by Catholic church. Now, there were a few clergymen who disliked Jefferson. some of were those who had lost their jobs when the Episcopal Church was disestablished after Jefferson's statute for religious freedom was approved. Because you know Jefferson, after we declared independence, we rewrote our constitution, Virginia did. And he was appointed on the committee to rewrite the laws of Virginia constitutions. And one of the bills, bill number 79, was for the disestablishment of the official church. The Episcopal Church had been the Anglican Church. And for a brief Period, the Episcopal Church, which rose in its place here in Virginia, that, he wrote this bill that would disestablish, the official church, the Episcopal Church as the official church which received preference because he was for religious freedom. A lot of the dissenters, Baptists and Presbyterians, those not part of the official church, they had freedom to meet together, freedom to worship. But, they not only though supported their own church, but in different ways had to support the official church. And they didn't think that was right. And so Jefferson championed their cause and they supported him in establishing the church. And it wasn't a move to secularize the state. It was actually a great step forward for religious freedom. And by the way, Jefferson wrote his own epitaph. If you go to his grave site today, just down the hill from his home, Monticello, near, Charlottesville, there's a small obelisk monument, placed over his grave site. And it contains the words that Jefferson instructed be written as his epitaph. And it engraved there, here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Freedom, of, the Statute of Virginia for religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. So it lists three things. Those are three things that Jefferson believed were significant or contributions that he made, toward his country, toward his state. And they thought, this is what I want to be remembered for. It doesn't mention anything about his public service. His as a member of the House of Virginia legislature or as governor of Virginia, or as ambassador, secretary of state, vice president, president. None of those. He was just as our founders thought. I'm, doing my duty and if I can serve my fellow man in civil government, and I will serve them. Nothing special about that. But these three things, the author of the Declaration of Independence, that was a great step forward in civil liberty, author of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom. That was a great step forward for religious freedom. It wasn't to secularize, but to allow freedom so that everybody could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. As he wrote, and also written in that statute, is to compel a man to support the propagation of opinions for which he disbelieves is both sinful and tyrannical. You can go to the Jefferson Memorial today in Washington D.C. and there's an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence graved on the wall. There's also excerpt from his Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom there as well. And the third thing he wanted to be remembered for was the father of the University of Virginia and Here again some represent that founding of that educational institution as a, to secularize education, which is again not true at all, that every other college university in the early years were spying for the church most by a particular denomination. And Jefferson thought well what I want to do is set up a non denominational university, really. He invited the major denominations to set up their schools of theology around the university. So, so each student could choose which particular theological doctrine they wanted to study. But then they all were required to learn about God the Creator. they were required to attend chapel, services, every morning. Reverend William Holmes McGuffey, who wrote the famous McGuffey Readers, was a Presbyterian pastor who taught at the University of Virginia for 25 years. He, the students especially loved his chapel services that they would conduct, in the rotunda of the University of Virginia. And so Jefferson starting the University of Virginia, his thinking was, hey, I want a non denominational university. And during the 19th century University of Virginia sent out more missionaries, gospel missionaries than any other university, for a time period. And so the three things he wanted to be remembered for reflect his worldview and really his Christian thinking and Christian faith. And so you can again see his biblical thinking in and attempting to the type of professors that he got to teach at his university.

Some people believe Jefferson and the clergy were antagonistic, but not at all

And Jefferson were talking about how some people believe Jefferson and the clergy were antagonistic to each other, but not at all. He appointed some clergy to government posts while he was president. He secretly commissioned and donated funds to a Baptist minister to start anti slavery churches in Illinois, as we said. So there were some clergymen who didn't like him, some of the Anglican clergymen especially, and our Episcopal clergyman. When the Episcopal Church was disestablished as the official church, some of them then lost their jobs, some funding dried up and other things that would cause them to think they got upset at Jefferson because he among many others, saw the importance of this statute for religious freedom. other clergy who might have had disagreement with Jefferson favored the Federalist Party when Jefferson was the Republican candidate for president. So when he ran for president against Jon Adams, there were certainly clergymen who adhered more to the political philosophy of Adams as opposed to Jefferson. And they had some negative, things to say about him. So while some attacked Jefferson during the campaign, though many ministers came to his aid. Reverend Samuel Knox wrote a well known tract in 1800 entitled A Vindication of the Religion of Mr. Jefferson. And the clergy who supported Jefferson greatly outnumbered those who did not. In fact, Jefferson was considered the preeminent champion of the evangelicals in early America. And they had many pot the dissenter, dissenting voices. And Virginia, for example, loved Jefferson and many other states as well. 8 Clergymen in Central Virginia. Charles Clay, Charles Wingfield, William Woods, Jon Waller, Henry Fry, Jon Goss, Peter Muhlenberg, Jon Leland. They ran for public office as overt Jeffersonians, and some did so as a result of his outward support and urging. So Jefferson obviously encouraged pastors to get involved in government and politics. Politics and those that embraced, you know, ideas of, civil liberty and religious liberty. his letter, 1779. In a letter he wrote in 1779, he publicly commended his pastor, Reverend Charles Clay. And he wrote many letters to churches while president. And these show that Jefferson, encouraged clergymen, supported clergymen and supported churches, were friends with them. And it's only in a few letters, you know, a handful of letters out of 20,000 written during, over his life, did he express any kind of animosity toward any clergy. And generally, it was understandable when he did so, because these were some of those who embraced the corruptions of Christianity. And then finally, another misunderstood aspect of Jefferson's religious life is that some people believe Jefferson was not only for separation of church and state, but also separation of all religion from public life. That is, Jefferson wanted to set up a secular state. Now, Jefferson did support the idea of the separation of church and state, but to him that meant that there should be no single official, state favored denomination supported by tax dollars. That's what he meant. There's a jurisdictional separation of the function of civil government and the function of the church. They are both divine institutions and had a biblical purpose. But they were, not to intermix or interfere or usurp the authority of one another. In 1802, he wrote this famous Danbury Baptist letters, where in which contains the phrase a wall of separation between church and state. That phrase, which really wasn't used during that time at all. But, it was later in the 1940s, taken out of context by the Supreme Court. And it was used to mean, God shall have nothing to do with public life. And that's certainly not what Jefferson believed at all. But, when Jefferson used that phrase wall of separation between the church and state, he was really paraphrasing the words of that Baptist minister, Roger Williams, who in the early mid-1600s spoke of a wall being needed to protect the church from government interference. That's the main idea of that. They need to keep the government out of the affairs of the church. And from lording over the church or, directing the church. See, Jefferson believed that the Constitution's First Amendment was a legal wall that prevented the national government from setting up a favored national church. It wasn't just Jefferson believed this, this is what the founders believed when they gave us the First Amendment. And it's interesting, just two days after Jefferson wrote this famous Danbury Baptist letter containing the phrase separation of church and state, which has been misrepresented by modern, courts. On January 3, 1802, he went from, went from the White House or from the chief executive office, his home where he lived. He went up Pennsylvania Avenue to the US Capitol to go to church. He attended a church service held in the House chamber. And he often attended church meetings in the Capitol over the next seven years. And so here it was. If he meant God can have nothing to do with public life, he certainly didn't demonstrate it in his action because he had been going to church in Charlottesville in the courthouse, which was typical throughout the colonies. He went to church in the Capitol building while he was, ah, president. He started a church earlier that met in the courthouse. and he also did a lot of things. He's the one suggested, let's get the Marine Core band to play the music for the church service that met in the Capitol. And they were supported by, ah, tax money. In another letter in 1802, he said that he did not want a government without religion because it's impossible to have a government without religion. Because every government is based upon some faith, some religion, some set of ideas and principles rooted in what a people consider to be ultimate. In his book, the Notes on the State of Virginia, he said that civil liberties could never be secure if they were divorced from a belief in God. his 1808 letter to Reverend Samuel Miller, in his second inaugural address in 1805, emphasized that under the Constitution, religious legislation was placed under the exclusive authority of the state governments. He believed that religious expression in the public sector was not prohibited by the Constitution, but it wasn't a national issue, it was a state issue. And the state, if they wanted to have a state established religion, they could, according to the Constitution. But certainly there can't be a national church. He opposed government compulsion of religion. He supported government involvement in religion in many ways. In fact, some of the things that he did that shows that he did support government involvement in religion include support for legislative and military chaplains. He recommended a, national seal using religious symbols. He appointed official days of fasting and prayer. He wrote laws that punished Sabbath breakers. He supported the use of Christian oath, supported allowing government property and facilities to be used for worship, supported the use of Bibles and non denominational religious instruction in public schools. He supported the funding of salaries of clergymen, to teach, in Indian mission schools. And he supported exempting churches from taxation. Just some of the things that he did to show that he was not for separating religion from government. So the image many people have today of Jefferson, as a secularist who promoted removing religion from public life is totally unfounded. In fact, Jefferson recognized the great need for the Christian religion to be dispersed throughout a nation that desires to be free. And this is one reason he contributed throughout his life to bible societies. And 1814 he sent money to one Bible society, which by the way, the founding fathers, many those who gave us the Declaration and Constitution started Bible societies in their local or state level. later many of them merged to form the American Bible Society. But they all said, hey, everybody needs to have access to a Bible. In 1814 Jefferson sent money to one Bible society. Same I had not supposed there was a family in this state not possessing a Bible. I therefore enclose you cheerfully in order for $50 for the purposes of the society. That was a lot of money back then. Goes on to say there never was a more pure and sublime system of morality delivered to man than is to be found in the four Evangelists. While, President Jefferson served as the Chairman of the D.C. school Board from 1805 to 1807. In this capacity promoted the teaching of the Bible in the public Schools of Washington D.C. and Daniel Webster records that Jefferson said that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers and better husbands. And so Jefferson considered himself a Christian, said yes, I am a Christian. I believe in the teachings and doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth, in fact. But some people bring up, well, you talk about his faith, but didn't Jefferson write his own Bible? And leaving out all the parts that he didn't believe and leaving out the miracles and other things, well, they misrepresent something that really points to Jefferson's great admiration for the teachings of Jesus. While President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who loved to read the Bible, decided I want to have just the teachings of Jesus all in one place. So he physically got four different Bibles in four different languages and he cut out the words of Jesus and pasted them in a book for his own study. So it's kind of like a red letter edition where he got the teachings, of Jesus and then he would read the Bible about an hour every night while president.

Jefferson thought this would make a great text to teach Indians after Louisiana Purchase

I wonder how many of us do that today in our personal devotions and study. But he called it the Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth. And, it was an account of the life and doctrines given of Jesus by Matthew, Mark, Luke and Jon. And so it was first done for his own personal study. But after the Louisiana Purchase, he then thought, hey, this would make a great text to teach Indians. Because when Indians were converted in the generations prior to that, from the very beginning with colonization, for 200 years, that was the heart of most Americans to propagate the Gospel to those who had not heard it. And when the Louisiana Purchase took place, it doubled the size of American territory. And there's lots of Native Americans who live there. And one thing that many people are working to do is to, teach them the truth of the Scripture. And so they'd always used the whole Bible before. And Jefferson thought, well, some of that Bible is a little hard for them to understand. So he thought, hey, this abridgment of the NewSong Testament could be a great use for the Indians, making it a lot easier for them to comprehend the teachings of Jesus and the central message of the Gospel. So the whole intent of Jefferson and putting together the philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth was not to make his own Bible and leave out the miracles. There's many miracles in it, but to have just the teachings of Jesus all in one place. Now, that original work, that, he put together is not known where it is. It's not, it doesn't exist as far as folks know today. But the original Bibles that he cut out, the words of Jesus are there so you can know what was in it. And that actually has been republished. This is 1804, first abridgment of Jesus words. You can get a copy of that from us providencefoundation.com you can go and look for this work and read for yourself what Jefferson did, interestingly after his presidency in the 18 teens, he did another version of this that he wanted for his own personal study. So he made another abridgment of the words of Jesus. And again, it was not to be published or substitute for a Bible or anything. As for his own personal study. And that second abridgment was later, generations later, in the possession of some of his descendants. And it was, found out and discovered. And some Unitarian ministers got a copy and republished it and claimed Jefferson was a deist or something like that and misrepresented Jefferson's work, claiming he wrote his own Bible. But interestingly, the U.S. congress decided, around 1900 to print 9,000 copies of Jefferson's abridgment of the words of Jesus. And they would give those out for years and years to new congressmen and senators that were elected to office to make sure to introduce them to, to the words of Jesus and to show them here. This is the work of Thomas Jefferson, our third president. So Jefferson considered the sacred volume, the Scriptures. Anybody who would study them, will be better citizens, better fathers and better husbands. Jefferson would claim. Yes, I am a Christian in the sense I believe and embrace the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, which is a central part of what the Christian faith is. He's a member of the church all his life, great friends with clergymen, started a church. And so when we look at what Jefferson did, and Jefferson said, you certainly can't conclude that he was secularist, or anti Christian or anything else at all. His declaration was he was a Christian. Now he did express some doubts of the deity of Christ, not original ideas with him, not denying that he is the son of God, but just wasn't really sure that he was God himself. I wouldn't try to claim that he was a regenerated believer, but he certainly professed Christian faith and was a great friend to the Christian faith. Well, if you want to learn more about Jefferson's religious beliefs, just a short summary of that can be found in our book, In God We Trust, tour guide, tour guide of Washington D.C. and Virginia. And there's one section on Jefferson's home, Monticello in Charlottesville, a brief synopsis of that. But it also points you to a book that you can get on our website, Providence foundation, written by Mark Bellisles and Jerry Newcomb on doubting the religious life and legacy of Thomas Jefferson. So that's a thorough analysis of Jefferson, his religious beliefs and faith from his own words. And then another resource you might find interesting is the Selected Religious Letters and Papers of Thomas Jefferson. And these contains, over 50 Jefferson letters and other documents that never been in print before. And so this was compiled by, edited by Mark Bellisles as well. And you can get a copy of that at our website, providencefoundation, dot com. So those are some resources that I, could point you to if you want to study and read much more about Jefferson and in particular the faith of Thomas Jefferson. Now in future podcasts, we may explore much more about the man Jefferson, his contributions to the cause of liberty and the birth of the United States. I just wanted to highlight his religious faith and religious beliefs to, help correct any false images that some people may have of, Thomas Jefferson. Well, as a say, you can Visit our website, providencefoundation.com to access some of these books I mentioned, but we also have different articles and things, on the website that you might find interesting. Well, thanks for joining us, this week and hope to have you come back next week and the weeks following as we'll look at the religious life of some of the other presidents of the states. United. United States. God bless you.

The Faith of the Presidents: Thomas Jefferson