Changes

The line "''he attempted to create the Jefferson Bible''" Should be changed to "Thomas Jefferson created The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" since he did in fact complete his cut rendition of the text which is now in the possession of the U.S. Library of Congress[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefJesu.html]. It is also highly misleading to say that Jefferson was a self proclaimed Christian. the abundance of Jefferson's personal letters such as this [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field(DOCID+@lit(ws03101))] leave today's readers little doubt of his opinion of Jesus Christ as a man, if a morally outstanding man. This fails to meet the one defining precept amongst all Christian denominations: a belief in Christ's divinity. Deist is an appropriate term for Jefferson's religious beliefs. The main point against evidence of Jefferson's Deism is also misleading since it states that all Deists believe in a God who does not interact with the world and Jefferson obviously believed in divine intervention. Jefferson certainly did believe in divine intervention and there was a differing of opinion between deists over this, much like the division with Christian denominations regarding the literal interpretation of such things as the Eucharist. The second Library of Congress letter from Jefferson linked above also shows that Jefferson distributed his "Revised Bible" among friends and family alone. Further reading into his letters makes it apparent that he longer wished to influence politics and thought on a religious level and the writing was for his own personal benefit. There is no doubt however that Jefferson did indeed have a great fascination with Christian texts above the texts of other religions. He was, however, not a Christian nor did he ever profess to be one. In the quote cited Jefferson claims he is a Christian in that he feels the teachings of Christ to be morally correct; precisely which teachings he is referring to can easily be seen in his version of the New Testament. Also, I feel that this article on Jefferson requires major expansion. Jefferson was one of the most staunch opponents to an overly powerful federal government and one of the earliest and strongest supporters of state's rights and sovereignty as well as the right to bear arms. As a major figurehead for modern conservative political ideals I feel his article is in need of massive expansion. - --[[User:RobinGoodfellow|RobinGoodfellow]] 23:53, 12 June 2008 (EDT)RobinGoodfellow

The line "''he attempted to create the Jefferson Bible''" Should be changed to "Thomas Jefferson created The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" since he did in fact complete his cut rendition of the text which is now in the possession of the U.S. Library of Congress[http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefJesu.html]. It is also highly misleading to say that Jefferson was a self proclaimed Christian. the abundance of Jefferson's personal letters such as this [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field(DOCID+@lit(ws03101))] leave today's readers little doubt of his opinion of Jesus Christ as a man, if a morally outstanding man. This fails to meet the one defining precept amongst all Christian denominations: a belief in Christ's divinity. Deist is an appropriate term for Jefferson's religious beliefs. The main point against evidence of Jefferson's Deism is also misleading since it states that all Deists believe in a God who does not interact with the world and Jefferson obviously believed in divine intervention. Jefferson certainly did believe in divine intervention and there was a differing of opinion between deists over this, much like the division with Christian denominations regarding the literal interpretation of such things as the Eucharist. The second Library of Congress letter from Jefferson linked above also shows that Jefferson distributed his "Revised Bible" among friends and family alone. Further reading into his letters makes it apparent that he longer wished to influence politics and thought on a religious level and the writing was for his own personal benefit. There is no doubt however that Jefferson did indeed have a great fascination with Christian texts above the texts of other religions. He was, however, not a Christian nor did he ever profess to be one. In the quote cited Jefferson claims he is a Christian in that he feels the teachings of Christ to be morally correct; precisely which teachings he is referring to can easily be seen in his version of the New Testament. Also, I feel that this article on Jefferson requires major expansion. Jefferson was one of the most staunch opponents to an overly powerful federal government and one of the earliest and strongest supporters of state's rights and sovereignty as well as the right to bear arms. As a major figurehead for modern conservative political ideals I feel his article is in need of massive expansion. - --[[User:RobinGoodfellow|RobinGoodfellow]] 23:53, 12 June 2008 (EDT)RobinGoodfellow