A Christian Nation? Jefferson Didn't Want One

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By John M. Kelley, Posted by Rob Kall (about the submitter) Page 3 of 3 page(s)

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Lastly and most interesting about Jefferson on this subject was that he spoke against government coercion of any belief. "Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men, governed by bad passions, by private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity? But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature." Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XVII, 1782. ME 2:223

The founders were clear about the direction they desired, and it did not include the religious determination of civic policy or law. Lets not call this attempt to make our government and society anything other then what it is, the desire to build a theocracy run by religious demagogues.

John M. Kelley is a teacher, writer and activist in Corpus Christi, Texas who worries daily about the world he is leaving his grandchildren. His blog is at http://www.mytown.ca/johnkelley

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