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Would Jefferson be disappointed?

"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 Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors.”

Jefferson to John Adams, 11 Apr 1823

It's been 187 years and Christians still believe Jesus was born from a virgin. Would he be disappointed?

Also, what do you think this means for Jefferson: was he a deist? From what I've read, it seems like it, but I'm still not sure if that's the best characterization of what he believed. He seemed convinced that he was the only real Christian in the world, as far as I can tell.

Update:

@Creation Scientist: Obvious troll is obvious.

9 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    All the founding fathers, from Jefferson to Palin, from Adams to Paine, were all devout evangelical Christians, who fully intended for this to be a Christian nation founded for Christians only. Those are the facts, case closed.

    Source(s): I said case closed.
  • 1 decade ago

    Jefferson definitely didn't think he was a Christian in the sense that we would understand the term.

    For example, he published an edition of the Bible with all the supernatural bits left out. If you want to call that Christianity then go ahead, but not many would agree that is Christianity by any reasonable meaning of the term.

    He also said "I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition [Christianity] one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded upon fables and mythologies", though there is some doubt as to when and where he said this.

  • 1 decade ago

    Interesting to note Christian Churches all over the world seems to be running most number of orphanages. Maybe the virgin birth of Jesus (perhaps as an orphan of that age) might attract a lot of people who lives the life devoid of any love from family. Maybe later the churches tried to manufacture such themes with many canons that promote love for the green need not be a desirable natural taste for the production of a heaven beyonce.

    Maybe the theme brought forward is something like the cross is to be taken restricting the immediate loveful themes available. Perhaps the Shunmatha in Hinduism with handsome Lord Subrahmanya as the Chief warrior Lord of Heaven at the helm with all the knowledge of Shastras with much earlier Vedic times could be interesting to think about.

    Edit:-

    Maybe in an advaitic point of view maybe all are orphans only in the eyes of God with some consorts given or even all are God's own only without a second or even few are God's own as Thee gets manifested as partial and full too maybe.

  • 1 decade ago

    Jefferson would be disgusted by a loud segment of our population. It is a pity that intellects of his caliber are rare.

    Jefferson would best be characterized as a Unitarian. He was strongly influenced by Joseph Priestly (who Adams shielded from the Alien and Sedition Acts). Although he never joined, formally, the Jefferson Bible is a manifestation of this philosophy.

    Source(s): The Invention of Air Steven Johnson
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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    He would be disappointed.

    Jefferson by is writings seem to be very spiritual in a deist/pantheist kind of way; and was had some very strong word to say about Christianity.

  • Sd Sd
    Lv 5
    1 decade ago

    Jefferson would be disappointed.

    From what I could tell of him he liked the philosophy of Jesus but not the mysticism. He probably felt that those who did enjoy it where being idiots(I might be projecting here).

  • ?
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    hells ya he would, and hes prolly a deist, maybe agnostic but definately not a theist, and above all that he was a secularist, jefferson is my favourite founding father

    Source(s): ur friendly neighbourhood hedonistic atheist
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    If Jesus knew what was going to be done in his name he would have strangled himself with his umbilical cord.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    He would be very disappointed but it would be with the government as it is today not Christianity.

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