quote:

To be fair, [evangelical minister David] Barton is right to observe that Jefferson was no atheist. He also correctly points out that Jefferson gave money to churches, attended worship services and revered Jesus as a great moral teacher. But does that make him an "orthodox" Christian? Not by a long shot.

Jefferson called the biblical book of Revelation the "ravings of a maniac." He rejected the divinity of Jesus and the virgin birth. He characterized the Trinity as "hocus-pocus phantasm." And in Bibles on display at the Smithsonian, he cut out the Resurrection. To call Jefferson a Christian is to demonstrate disdain for either history or Christianity (or both).

. . .

In our nation's capital, many Republicans and Democrats now treat their political opponents as mortal enemies at war with all that is good and godly in America. And the Supreme Court, which used to be seen as "above" politics, is under closer scrutiny than ever after a string of hotly contested 5-4 rulings. This fervent factionalism is not confined to politics and law, however. It is leeching into science and history. As musician David Byrne of the Talking Heads once put it, even facts now have a point of view.

. . .

The greatest of these efforts to defuse our partisan passions is Jefferson's first inaugural address. Jefferson must have been tempted to use his inauguration day to strike back at his Federalist opponents, who during the election of 1800 — the most venomous in U.S. history — had called him the "great arch priest of Jacobinism and infidelity." And later in his presidency he would write of his desire to "sink federalism into an abyss from which there shall be no resurrection." In this moment, however, he opted for reconciliation.

This 4th of July, after the parades are over, I propose we all devote a few minutes to remembering our least Christian president. Instead of reading Barton, go straight to Jefferson himself and to the words he chose to deliver on his first day as president: "Let us then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things. … Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans; we are all federalists."

Essay at Sojourners