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But 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, Notes on Virginia, 1782 What is it men cannot be made to believe!
-Thomas Jefferson to Richard Henry Lee, April 22, 1786. Question
with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that
of blindfolded fear. -Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787 Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment
was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ,
the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend,
within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every
denomination. -Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography I concur with you strictly
in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped
by many who think themselves Christians. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789 I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy,
in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of
a free and moral agent. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789 They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they
believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of
man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion. -Thomas Jefferson
to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800 Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government
reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared
that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'
thus building a wall of separation between church and State. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury
Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802 History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious
leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. -Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von
Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813. The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful that
it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other
books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In
the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts
are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills. -Thomas Jefferson on The Gospels, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814 Christianity
neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper,
February 10, 1814 In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He
is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. -Thomas
Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814 If we did a good act merely from love
of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist? Their
virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God. -Thomas Jefferson, Letter
to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814 You say you are a Calvinist. I am not. I am of a sect by myself,
as far as I know. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Ezra Stiles Ely, June 25, 1819 As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurian. I consider the genuine doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything
rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to
William Short, Oct. 31, 1819 Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers,
I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much
ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions
should have proceeded from the same being. -Thomas Jefferson on Jesus, letter to William Short,
April 13, 1820 To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of say that the human soul, angels,
god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise:
but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, and Stewart. At what age of the Christian church
this heresy of immaterialism, this masked atheism, crept in, I do not know. But heresy it certainly is. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, Aug. 15, 1820 Man once surrendering his reason,
has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. -Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822. I can never join Calvin in addressing his god.
He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Daemonism. If ever man worshipped a false god,
he did. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823 And
the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be
classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom
of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine
doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors. -Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams,
April 11, 1823 It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it, and I then considered it merely
the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams. -Thomas Jefferson on The Book of Revelation, letter to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825 Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured,
fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. -Thomas Jefferson,
Notes on Virginia, 1782 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom
"SECTION I. Well aware that
the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds;
that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether
insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations,
tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion,
who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to
do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well
as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others,
setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them
on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That
to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful
and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him
of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and
whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness; and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which
proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours
for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions
in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an
incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion,
is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural
right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly
of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminals
who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men
are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers
into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency
is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will
make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or
differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when
principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left
to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by
human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted
freely to contradict them.
"SECTION II. We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that
no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced,
restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions
or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion,
and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. "SECTION
III. And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have
no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare
this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted
are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its
operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right." ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Jefferson letters
THE MORALS OF JESUS
To Dr. Benjamin Rush Washington, Apr. 21, 1803
Dear Sir, -- 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. At the short intervals since these conversations, when I could justifiably abstract my mind from public affairs,
the subject has been under my contemplation. But the more I considered it, the more it expanded beyond the measure of either
my time or information. In the moment of my late departure from Monticello, I received from Doctr Priestley, his little treatise
of "Socrates & Jesus compared." This being a section of the general view I had taken of the field, it became
a subject of reflection while on the road, and unoccupied otherwise. The result was, to arrange in my mind a syllabus, or
outline of such an estimate of the comparative merits of Christianity, as I wished to see executed by some one of more leisure
and information for the task, than myself. This I now send you, as the only discharge of my promise I can probably ever execute.
And in confiding it to you, I know it will not be exposed to the malignant perversions of those who make every word from me
a text for new misrepresentations & calumnies. I am moreover averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the
public; because it would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavored to draw them before that tribunal, and to
seduce public opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience, which the laws have so justly proscribed.
It behoves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their
case may, by change of circumstances, become his own. It behoves him, too, in his own case, to give no example of concession,
betraying the common right of independent opinion, by answering questions of faith, which the laws have left between God &
himself. Accept my affectionate salutations.
FREEMASONRY AND RELIGION
Freemasonry
does not pretend to take the place of religion or serve as a substitute for the religious beliefs of its members. It does,
however, require that each member believe in a Supreme Being, a future existence, and the brotherhood of man. How he interprets
or elaborates these fundamentals is left to the individual’s private judgment and religious faith. Freemasonry expects
each person to follow his own faith, and “to place his duty to God…above all other duties.” In the beginnings
of Masonic ritual in the early 1700s, God was treated in Christian terms.
In English and American Freemasonry,
Christian references were removed from the ritual to enable men of different faiths to take part without compromising their
own beliefs. This is practical tolerance. This tolerance is one of our great strengths because it enables men of all faiths
to meet in ordinary friendship. Without interfering in the way each Brother practices his religion, it shows how much they
have in common. The requirement of a belief in the Supreme Being and the fact that Masonic ritual contains frequent prayers,
does not make Freemasonry a religion. Freemasonry offers no sacraments. Freemasonry does not deal with the ultimate that religion
offers: salvation. If a man wants spiritual peace, he must go to his house of worship. If he wants salvation, he must seek
it in practicing his religion. Freemasonry may teach or encourage men to do 2better. But Freemasonry does not deal in religion.
Religions have doctrines.
Freemasons are forbidden to discuss religion in their lodges; therefore no Masonic doctrinal
system is possible. A belief in the Supreme Being is required, but Masonry does not attempt to prescribe how the belief is
to be exercised or practiced. There is no Masonic God. A Freemason who prays to the Great Architect of the Universe knows
that his own belief will translate and direct that prayer to the God he worships. Prayer alone does not make a religion. In
understanding the relationship between religion and Freemasonry, we must understand what we mean by religion. One definition
of religion is “a system of faith in and worship of a Divine Being.” There are obligations in religion, which
are different from those of Freemasonry. These broader obligations are set by religious leaders for their congregations: Their
aim is to “impart knowledge of God and faith in his revealed will.”
Freemasonry as defined in our
ritual is very different from the obligations required of a religion. We learn in the First Degree Charge that “Freemasonry
is an institution having for its foundation the practice of the social and moral virtues.” The emphasis on morality
is obvious, but so is the lack of a required system of worship. The relationship between Masonry and God and Masonry and Religion
is clearly laid out several times in Masonic ritual. For example, in the First Degree Master’s Lecture, we are admonished
to have faith in God, hope of 3 immortality, and charity for all mankind. We are charged to regard the Volume of the Sacred
Law as the great light in our profession and are told that in the Bible we will learn the duties we owe to God.
In describing those duties, the Masonic ritual does not prescribe a formal system of worship. In the Second Degree, we are
taught that through Speculative Masonry the contemplative Mason views with reverence and admiration the glorious works of
the Creation. But the ritual never requires the candidate to conform to a specific dogma. The Brotherhood of Man is a fundamental
tenet of Freemasonry. All the great religions of the world teach the Brotherhood of Man as a basic tenet of faith, but the
BASIS upon which they set it forth differs for each religion and for Masonry. Buddhism, for example, bases the doctrine of
Brotherhood on the belief that all men are so entangled in the sufferings of life that they must be Brothers out of sympathy—a
Brotherhood of Understanding.
Confucianism based the doctrine of Brotherhood on the sense of common task in developing
mankind—a Brotherhood of Service. Christianity bases the truth of Brotherhood on the truth of the Fatherhood of God.
There is a deep and beautiful truth in each of these religions. Masonry has attempted to picture the truth of the Brotherhood
of Man by using a system of symbols and allegory that can unite men of every country, sect, and opinion in fellowship and
love. In doing this, Freemasonry is an example to 4others of what can be accomplished when men and women put aside what might
divide them in favor of what unites them in achieving a greater good.
James Anderson wrote the first Masonic Book
of Constitutions, published in 1723, not long after the founding of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. His first principle
on the relation of religion and Freemasonry illustrated a change of attitude from previous years: “A Mason is obliged
by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law…and if he rightly understands the Craft, he will never be a Stupid Atheist,
nor an irreligious Libertine, nor act against conscience. In ancient Times the Christian Masons were charged to comply with
the Christian usages of each country where they traveled or worked. But Masonry being found in all Nations, even of diverse
Religions, they are now only charged to adhere to that Religion in which all men agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular
opinions); that is, to be Good Men and True, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions, or Persuasions they
may be distinguished.” Freemasonry teaches morality—it encourages men to try to be better, to discipline themselves,
and to consider their relations with others.
Religions also encourage morality, but they refer questions of morality
and ethics to God. Freemasonry deals with morality at the ground level; religion takes it upwards. 5Masonry does not seek
to reform men. It seeks to bind better men, those who are already good and true, in closer bonds of fellowship and love, and
to perfect the work already begun in making those better men into good men. The ancient Greeks taught that the goal of life
was to achieve the Good—to live the good life, to be good men. To be a good man was to be what a man is supposed to
be and how he should live his daily life. The ancient Greek philosophers had many answers for what is means to be a good man.
Freemasonry is our modern answer to this question. Freemasonry teaches that to be good men we must first
believe in a Supreme Being, for if there is no God then all things are permitted. Freemasonry teaches men to be honest and
honorable in dealing with other men and women, and not to act against what they know in their hearts and minds to be the right
thing to do. We obligate ourselves not to cheat or defraud another person in our business dealings. Because all men are our
brothers and members of the human family, we know that we can trust each other with our innermost secrets and to keep them
in confidence. We are taught to sympathize with the misfortunes of others, to listen with a friendly ear to the hearts of
the unhappy, and restore peace to the troubled minds of our families and friends. And these are but a few of ways in which
Freemasonry works to make better men good, and good men even better.
Religion is a man’s personal guide
to living the good and moral life for himself and his family. Freemasonry brings together men of all religions 6with those
who simply believe in a Supreme Being, to work with harmony to improve our local communities, our state and our nation. The
tenets of Freemasonry reinforce and support the Divine and Moral Laws taught in our churches and synagogues. Freemasonry is
our modern working tool for each of us to apply the principles of brotherly love, relief and truth to solving the problems
that face us in today’s world—public education, homelessness, ethics in government, and the list goes on. United
in Freemasonry, men who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance are enabled to work to change the world.
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