“Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which
weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in
her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every
opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a
God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of
the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.”
- Thomas Jefferson, 1787
A Revolutionary Act
To Jefferson, no tradition was so
sacred as to escape reconsideration
in the light of new discoveries and
the progress of knowledge. Jefferson
viewed the gospels through the lens
of the Enlightenment, a flowering
of scientific experiment and rational
enquiry in the 18th century.
Reworking parts of the New
Testament was an extension of
his revolutionary spirit. Jefferson
had challenged the authority of the monarchy, questioned the sovereignty of
Parliament, and opposed aristocratic privilege in American society. He had
drafted the Declaration of Independence, taken part in revising the laws of
Virginia, and helped establish new legal principles and educational institutions.
In religion as in politics, he imagined liberating contemporary minds from
inherited misconceptions and superstitions.
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