Thomas Jefferson - July 4th

by DNCall 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  DNCall

  July 4th is not only the date Americans celebrate independence, but it's the date of Thomas Jefferson's death.

  I think it would be appropriate, not only for this day, but for this forum, to share a couple of thoughts contained in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777. This statute serves as a precurser to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

  First regarding the nature of truth: ". . . 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:" (emphasis mine.)

  Immediately following this statement, we read: " Be it enacted by General Assembly 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."

  How eloquently this condemns the doctines of past truth/present truth, suppression of thought and speech, and shunning, practiced by the Witness religion.

  Happy 4th!
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  designs

  Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant and conflicted modern man. A slave owning anti-slavery political giant who saw the future and tried to steer the Nation to a better union.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Wise evaluation of truth: " Truth is great, ... and has nothing to fear from the conflict "
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  whathappened

  Thanks for the dose of sanity today, I needed this.
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  Ding

  John Adams died the same day as Jefferson... a few hours later.
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  DNCall

  Ding: Ironically, Adams' last words were "Jefferson lives!"
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  Mum

  There is a statue of Jefferson in front of a public building (court house?) in Louisville, Kentucky (in Jefferson County). On the base is a quotation that goes something like this: The human mind was created free, and no attempts to control it will ever be effective. (paraphrased)

  Does anyone know the actual, full quotatiion? I was very impressed by it, but now can't recall the whole thing.
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  Oubliette

  Thomas Jefferson - April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S. ) – July 4, 1826

  I'm thinking the GB probably aren't such great fans of Jefferson.

  It's interesting that Jefferson personified truth as a woman. No doubt the GB perceives her to be a real bitch!

  Thanks for sharing the thought provoking words of Mr. Jefferson on the anniversary of both the Declaration of Independence for the Colonies and also of the death of one of its Founding Fathers!

  Happy 4th!
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  Eve Deceived

  Mum, is this the one (partial quote): "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;"

  Full Quote here: "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 choose 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 legislature and ruler, 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 our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; and therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust or emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religions opinion, is depriving him injudiciously 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 emolumerits, 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, … 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."

  taken from the

  • A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, Chapter 82 (1779). Published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes, Federal Edition, Paul Leicester Ford, ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904, Vol. 1, pp. 438–441. Comparison of Jefferson's proposed draft and the bill enacted

  Happy Independence Day!!!!!
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  Eve Deceived

  "It's interesting that Jefferson personified truth as a woman. No doubt the GB perceives her to be a real bitch!" - Oubliette

  Oubliette, I noticed that too about Jefferson personifying truth as a woman, and I have now found one more reason to like Jefferson all the more.