My response to Clay Jenkinson’s book: ‘Becoming Jeffersons people’

The bulk of this book is a mere 131 pages. Within it lies  a collection of quotes from Thomas Jefferson and ideas by it’s author for changes in American society and politics. Some of these changes I can agree with in regards to growing a family or neighborhoods food on communal land, Freedom in its many forms, Self defense etc.

My gripe with this little book lies in the following section.

“Church and State” Pages 60-61

Mr. Jenkinson has the following thing to say about keeping politics and religion separate.

“A Jefferson is firmly committed to the “wall of separation between church and state.” However much it may annoy conservatives and evangelicals the Jeffersonian gently but firmly insists that there is no place in the public square for crosses, prayer, nativity scenes, the ten commandments, the pledge of allegiance (Offensive to Jeffersonians on other grounds as well) or other paeans to the Judeo Christian tradition or any other religious system. A Jeffersonian resists with historical evidence the silly notion that the founding fathers intended a Christian commonwealth. To be sure most of the founding fathers were Christians and many of them believed in Gods providence shone in some special way on the American experiment but most of them that the government of the US needed punctiliously neutral on questions of conscience and religion that a citizens religious sensibilities were entirely private and that any governmental endorsement of religious activity even ecumenical religious activity was a quasi establishment of an official religion and therefore impermissible in a free society.”

 

“In spite of all that evangelicals pretend the Constitution of the US is entirely silent on questions of religion. God is never mentioned in the Constitution not even as the “Creator” or “Natures God” (Both from the declaration of independence). A Jeffersonian believes that the judiciary rightly interprets the meaning of the First Amendment as prohibiting virtually all overtly religious expression in the public arena and denies the notion that the judicial decisions of the second behalf of the twentieth century deliberately misread the Constitution to promote a secularist agenda that the Founding Fathers would have found abhorrent.”

“A Jeffersonians believes that if evangelicals don’t like the increasing enforcement of the secularist intent of the Founding fathers they should create a movement to amend the Constitution or tear it up altogether. Short of that they should go about their private (and absolutely unmolested!) worship in private spaces (Chapels, synagogues, churches, private schools, summer camps) and show much respect for the social compact.”

 

“Jeffersonians are freethinkers, skeptics, and rationalists which means that if they are Christians they are to nominal and habitual Christians rather than believers in the divinity of Jesus. Jefferson believed that Jesus was one of the greatest men who ever lived certainly the greatest ethicist and the simple adherence to the ethical code of Jesus would bring about paradise on earth. But the metaphysics from the miracles to the apocalypse from original sin to the Trinity or the efficacy of prayer were inherited mythologies that embarrass the validity of Jesus message and which can (and should) be discarded by beings worthy of the title “rational”.”

 

“Even so Jefferson respected the religious sensibilities of all unself-righteous others and defended to the death their right to worship any god they pleased so long as they did not try to prescribe religious activity for others.”

 

“The Jeffersonian is a one person ACLU politely but firmly insisting upon the utter neutrality of the state with respect to questions of conscience.”

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Here is my reply by section:

1 I as one Christian have every right to display a Cross or portions of Scripture publicly and have no problem countering the liberal propaganda created by atheistic theocrats. I consider liberalism and atheism religions and their public denials, skepticism and rejections, attacks against my Faith that should be met with specific answers to their objections and my own attacks of those subjects  within liberalism, leftist politics and atheism that attempt to take away my rights or attempts to change my morality or future in employment, taxes, politics etc..

2 Since liberalism is the national ‘religion’ (Of the USA) then we should be willing to accept that we need to change the US Constitution to reflect that in enforcing public removal of religious symbols is illegal. This of course means that those in liberal camps or atheist camps cannot publicly show their own ‘faith’ publicly and  are also in the wrong by demanding the removal of public religious symbols of others. After all is there proof Americas Founding Fathers would enforce immoral laws to force Churches to remove Crosses or other symbols?

3 In promoting a new religion I will call “Jeffersonianism” those who promote such ideologies should therefore be willing to accept doubts, skepticism and specific investigations of their ideas, writings and actions. Since this author is promoting atheism and leftist ideologies it should not be surprising that we can look at their ‘profit’ and note his many failures. Besides that shouldn’t we Christians also enforce the same unfair law by telling “Jeffersonians” that they should remove their liberal bumper stickers, signs and other leftist public advertisement supporting their positions in atheism? I guess we will…

4 For Christians to give up their supernatural Faith in Christ means that they are no longer Christian and Jesus teachings are no more use to anyone. Liberal churchianity has already followed the status quos into Gnosticism, Deism or something else. Why should true Christians give up their Faith and their beliefs for Jefferson’s opinions and that of his followers? Yes Jeffersonians can believe in morality and ethics but their ‘faith’ has no value when we see the hypocritical actions of their leftist brethren.

5 Although Mr. Jefferson did not believe in a specific religion and undoubtedly defended Christian religious practice the author of this booklet does not defend public or private worship. It seems to me he supports leftist beliefs and atheistic attacks on Christianity first and any other religions that show public symbols.

To conclude:

In using Jefferson as a example of political change we must ask ourselves will Jefferson’s example of immorality and his religious beliefs also be the ‘norm’ in this political ideology?

So far Mr. Jenkinson’s ideas do not promote a Free-er America but the current Status quo through failed liberalism and atheism.