• Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

President Jefferson's Letter to Danbury Baptists

BobRyan

BobRyan

Well-Known Member
Jefferson's assurance to the Baptists was in the form of protecting their right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience - and to not allow the state to infringe on that right.

That is very different from the more modern "Freedom from religion" groups who insist that the Christian religion is not to be tolerated in America.

in Christ,

Bob
 
N

Nevada

New Member
BobRyan said:
Jefferson's assurance to the Baptists was in the form of protecting their right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience - and to not allow the state to infringe on that right.

That is very different from the more modern "Freedom from religion" groups who insist that the Christian religion is not to be tolerated in America.

in Christ,

Bob
Click to expand...

I think fear tactics are used by some clergy to scare people into writing out checks. We see clergy using fear tactics in the Middle East, where they lie and say The West wants to destroy Islam. Here in America, we have fear-tactics light, which is used to elicit contributions. There is no real war against Christianity in America. Much of what is represented as such is merely the secular republic James Madison considered essential to the health of religion.

Freedom of religion is a frightening thing. Many have a watered down view of it, thinking it only applies to their denomination, or the umbrella of faiths it falls under. Never do they think it applies to radically different folk. In reality, freedom of religion is an absolute, all-or-nothing thing. Deny it to the Jew, Muslim, atheist, infidel, and you destroy it. In his autobiography, Thomas Jefferson said it encompassed all:

"within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination."

from:

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions45.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:
N

Nevada

New Member
Salty said:
I wonder if they have read the entire letter?
Click to expand...

I challenge you to copy and paste anything from the remainder of Jefferson's letter that contradicts the part I posted. I don't think a President would contradict himself in 1 mere letter.

Know this: finding words from Jefferson attesting to his devotion do not count. There is no contradiction between secularism and devotion, otherwise, President James Madison would not have stated in his letter to Robert Walsh, 1819, that "total separation" was good for religion. http://foundingfathersquotes.blogspot.com/2005/01/james-madison-letter-to-robert-walsh.html

Jefferson was hated by many a clergyman in his day. Jefferson was a Unitarian and a deist, who wrote that belief in the trinity would disappear within a generation. However! James Madison was more a traditional Christian, and devout, and he thought secularism the best thing to ever happen to religion. In today's world, what I call Catholicized conservatism, has held up the false idea that secularism is anti-Christianity. Obviously, it wasn't to Christian Madison, "The Father of the Constitution", nor to deist Jefferson.

So, with all due respect, what does the rest of the letter show to rebuke Jefferson's earlier words in it?

With all due respect. I love a polite debate, and respect all's opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top