Thomas Jefferson the Christian

Was Thomas Jefferson a deist? Many historians today would say that, yes our third President and writer of the Declaration of Independence was a deist. Perhaps one of our most well known founding fathers, Jefferson was a man of great talent ranging from the creation of new farming techniques to various inventions, and most notably, his talent as a statesman. Among this man’s talents was not that of being a deist. Through his own words, Thomas Jefferson made it quite clear that he was not a deist. By his words, one can find for themselves the falsie to the claims made by many historians concerning Jefferson’s beliefs.
First, of all what is this belief Jefferson is claimed to be a part of? What is deism and what is a deist? Well, here are the following definitions to aid in understanding this belief:

1. Deism: n. [Fr. Deisme; Sp. Deismo; It. Id.; from L. dues, [God]. The doctrine or creed of a Deist; the belief or system of religious opinions of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation: or deism is the belief in natural religion only, or those truths, in doctrine and practice, which man is to discover by the light of reason, independent and exclusive of any revelation from God. Hence deism implies infidelity or a disbelief in the divine origin of the scriptures.

2. Deist: n. [Fr. Deiste, It. Deista.] One who believes in the existence of a God, but denies revealed religion; one who professes no form of religion, but follows the light of nature and reason, as his only guides in doctrine and practice; a free thinker. (1)

It is not extremely hard to make Thomas Jefferson a deist, because frankly he fits parts of the above definitions. Jefferson was indeed “[o]ne who believed in the existence of a God”, “one who profess[ed] no form of religion”, and he was a “free thinker” (1). Still, Jefferson was not a deist because of the fact that while deists believed that God created the earth and left it to natural laws without any intervention, thus also disclaiming the divinity of Jesus Christ as God’s son and discrediting God’s intervention, through the Atonement of his son, Thomas Jefferson did believe in God’s intervention through Jesus Christ. Jefferson was opposed to the corruptions of the religion of his day, but he himself considered himself to be a Christian, when he said the following in a letter to Benjamin Rush:

My views of [the Christian religion] are the result of a life of inquiry and 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 in which he wished anyone to be—sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others. (2)

Jefferson indeed was a true Christian. As another proof to his belief in Christ, he took the New Testament and copied the words he believed to be the actual words of Christ. These words were copied, in his hand, into a book in several languages to allow Jefferson the fullest understanding of Christ’s words as he could possibly find. In Jefferson’s mind he held the “precepts of Jesus, as delivered by himself, to be the most pure, benevolent, and sublime which have ever been preached to man.” (3) Those words from Jefferson don’t appear to be congruent to a man who’s belief held that God did not intervene in the lives of man.

Jefferson did not seem to be a conforming Christian by historians because he simply felt the doctrines of Christ were corrupted by man. Our third president, however, felt and firmly believed that there would be a restoration of true Christianity. He once said in a letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse that he was happy “in the prospect of a restoration of primitive Christianity.” (4) He noted of both a restoring of truth and the corruptness of the present religions, in his time, when he said:

If freedom of religion guaranteed to us by law in theory can ever rise in practice under the overbearing inquisition of public opinion, truth will prevail over fanaticism, and the genuine doctrines of Jesus, so long perverted by his pseudo-priests, will again be restored to their original purity. This reformation will advance with the other improvements of the human mind, but too late for me to witness it. (5)

Jefferson, if a deist, would never have even wanted a reformation or restoration of true Christianity. The fact that he does, easily denounces any claim to him holding any beliefs others than that of a Christian.

As is evident, Jefferson was no deist; neither was he anything other that a Christian. He may well have been more of a Christian than the average church-goer in his day. Jefferson is easily dismissed as being a deist through his own words and also through his belief in a restoration of true Christianity.


References


1. Webster, Noah. First Edition of an American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967.


2. Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush (21 Apr. 1803), Bergh 10:379-80.


3. Thomas Jefferson to Jared Sparks (4 Nov. 1820), Bergh 15: 288.


4. Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse (19 July 1822), Bergh 15:391


5. Thomas Jefferson to Jared Sparks (4 Nov. 1820), Bergh 15: 288

The Real Thomas Jefferson (American Classic Series)


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