1. Jefferson was against the government establishment of Christianity.
2. Free inquiry (discussion) should be encouraged and indulged.
It seems to me that Jefferson would object to government coerced
religion, but also to the attempt to keep the debate and discussion on
it out of public schools. As an extension of this argument, so as to
bring the discussion back to its original intent, I believe that
Jefferson would have encouraged a healthy public school discussion and
debate on creationism versus evolution. After all, he did pen.. "We are
endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights..."
Thomas Jefferson wrote the following in 1781-1782 in his "Notes on the
State of Virginia", in the
section... "The Different Religions Received Into That State"
"The rights of conscience we never submit-
ted, we could not submit. We are answer-
able for them to our God. The legitimate
powers of government extend to such acts
only as are injurious to others. But it does
me no injury for my neighbor to say there
are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks
my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said,
his testimony in a court of justice cannot be
relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma
on him. Constraint may make him worse
by making him a hypocrite, but it will nev-
er make him a truer man. It may fix him
obstinately in his errors but will not cure
them. Reason and free inquiry are the only
effectual agents against error. Give a loose
to them, they will support the true religion
by bringing every false one to their tribunal,
to the test of their investigation. They are
the natural enemies of error and of error
only. Had not the Roman government per-
mitted free inquiry, Christianity could never
have been introduced. Had not free inquiry
been indulged, at the era of the Reforma-
tion, the corruptions of Christianity could
not have been purged away. If it be re-
strained now, the present corruptions will
be protected, and new ones encouraged.
Was the government to prescribe to us our
medicine and diet, our bodies would be in
such keeping as our souls are now....
Reason and experiment have been in-
dulged, and error has fled before them. It is
error alone which needs the support of gov-
ernment. Truth can stand by itself. Subject
opinion to coercion; whom will you make
your inquisitors ? Fallible men: men gov-
erned by bad passions, by private as well as
public reasons. And why subject it to coer-
cion? To produce uniformity. But is unifor-
mity of opinion desirable? No more than of
face and stature. Introduce the bed of Pro-
crustes then, and, as there is danger that the
large men may beat the small, make us all
of a size by lopping the former and stretch-
ing the latter.
Difference of opinion is advantageous in
religion. The several sects perform the office
of a Censor morum [censor of morals] over
each other. Is uniformity attainable ? Mil-
lions of innocent men, women, and chil-
dren, since the introduction of Christianity,
have been burned, tortured, fined, impris-
oned; yet we have not advanced one inch
toward uniformity. What has been the ef-
fect of coercion ? To make one half the
world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
To support roguery and error all over the
earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a
thousand millions of people. That these
profess probably a thousand different sys-
tems of religion. That ours is but one of
that thousand. That if there be but one
right, and ours that one, we should wish to
see the 999 wandering sects gathered into
the fold of truth. But against such a majori-
ty we cannot effect this by force. Reason
and persuasion are the only practicable in-
struments. To make way for these, free in-
quiry must be indulged; and how can we
wish others to indulge it while we refuse it
ourselves."