Warm greetings,
Forum
Alas,
some days, when my patience is pushed HARD by encountering waves of pseudo-science ignorance, in the name of a blinkered version of “loyalty”, I feel like a werewolf, and wish to turn myself into a temperary anti-theist. But then, “WHOA, no no no.” I quickly come to my senses, and remember the gift of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. And especially the epic, and lesser known Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, penned by Thomas Jefferson. They are both equally essential.
*** If you have never read the Virginia Statute, (and I find this remarkably common) I strongly invite everybody here to read it. The full text is visible if you scroll down a bit, from inside the Wikipedia page, linked below here.
The prose fits easily on half a screen page, but the long winded, majestic run-on sentences common to the writing of the era are amusing. The early lines are a pretty bumpy read! But the final movements hit their mark like a fine piano concerto. Jefferson worked hard to be as great a writer as his comrade in patriotism, Thomas Paine. He certainly came close. And periodically, Jefferson’s verse hit some heroic home runs.
In the USA, we enjoy freedom of conscience outlined in these documents. This gift never ceases to inspire me. The Law judges us only for our actions, and not for our private thoughts. I strongly embrace, that freedom for me, means freedom for thee, and all of us have responsibilities to be tolerant of the beliefs of others. I concurrently believe that it is our responsibility as adults to pursue moral virtues, and, we must all seek to demonstrate these world views with our actions, and not just with our words. Teaching by example is how we anchor the best morals into all of us.
For Your Info, due to an accident of fate, Jefferson was overseas in France at the wrong moment, a very long ship ride away, and so he missed the opportunity to have his home state’s statute directly enshrined into the body of the Bill of Rights. He did publicly affirm the basics in his time as US president and the Supreme Court, so far, has supported the principles. I challenge anybody of faith, or lack thereof, to disagree with a single word of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.
So many fail to comprehend that Jefferson was not really an atheist, instead, he just rejected all the supernatural aspects occurring in the bible, by personal fiat, except the Resurrection of Jesus. Thou at other times, he ignored the Resurrection, so it’s hard to know his final take on that aspect. And he tossed out the old testament with a remarkable amount of anger, as something to read, and then leave behind. He saw Jesus as his number one hero of morality, this he shouted to the trees! but a mortal one, to place on a high pedestal with all the other ethical heroes of mortal human history.
Jefferson was a lifetime financial donor and member of an Anglican church and he lived thru the era where this denomination became the Episcopalian church in the U.S.
Outside of letters to select comrades, Jefferson kept his worship habits very private, never pressing the public to follow in his path. Jefferson’s bible interpretation was unique enough in the 1700’s, so I assume that this posture was a simple political caution. But maybe, he was just shy about it. (First president George Washington was even more private about his own religious beliefs.) And this reality may be why many today have not come across the Virginia Statute, and yet, they HAVE read The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. For me, they are both the same essential narrative.
Jefferson often read the bible sitting alone in front of a wood stove, as a frequent ritual before going to bed at his sprawling estate. He reveled in the music of the words, concentrating mostly on his favorite passages. It was his way of “programming his dreams” to be a better person. He did not smoke the tobacco his farm grew (!) and that his slaves harvested. It has been said that he only drank wine with meals, to lubricate conversation, and he never drank hard spirits.
Without hesitation, I would be pleased to see the government text of the Virginia Statute on the walls of school classrooms of all age groups, K-12, nation wide. We must let our USA freedoms ride or they will apathetically get pushed aside.
LINK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious_Freedom
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom,”–Thomas Jefferson
“Mathematics without ethics is LAME.”**–Irikevig, y2011,
**part of the author’s LAME LIST of philosophical razors
Or maybe some forum members utilize a stereophonic version of the Discorse App? Tiss a surprise, as I only found the dialogue window for a “NAME-Optional” in my profile page. I do like the byline itself, so no worries there.