Atheists' Billboard Falsely Attributes Quote To Thomas Jefferson

A billboard in Costa Mesa, Calif., is getting some attention, but it's certainly not the kind its sponsors were hoping for.

The sign, paid for by atheist group Backyard Skeptics, includes a quote about Christianity attributed to Thomas Jefferson. But further research reveals there's no solid evidence that Jefferson ever uttered or wrote the words, the Orange County Register first reported.

The billboard includes a picture of Jefferson with the quote: "I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature. It is founded on fables and mythology."

Experts at the Jefferson Library Collection at Monticello are constantly asked about the quote, the Orange County Register reports. Some say the former president wrote the words in a letter to a Dr. Wood, but officials cannot find trace of any correspondence to a person by that name.

Bruce Gleason, a member of the group, told the Orange County Register that he should have done a bit more research before putting the words on the sign. The billboard was unveiled on Wednesday, the newspaper reports. Gleason explained that purpose of this sign and others around the city was to "expunge the myth that this is a Christian nation," as well as to "share the idea that you can be good and do good without a religion or god."

UPDATE: 6:24 p.m. --

Jefferson kept a personal book containing certain verses from the New Testament and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Los Angeles Times points out. He arranged the snippets into a small "scrapbook," which left out mentions of the virgin birth, Jesus' resurrection, and other forms of divinity and miracles. He called it, "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth," but it later came to be known as the "Jefferson Bible."

The founding father identified himself as a Christian, despite his questions, the Christian Post explains. Scholars have debated the issue, and some have posited that "without acknowledging Jesus' divinity and resurrection, Christianity [is] baseless."

Author Lori Ann Ferrel, who's written about the "Jefferson Bible," told the Los Angeles Times that Jefferson "was more skeptical about religion than the other Founding Fathers."

Comments

[jacobisrael]

03:42 PM on 12/13/2011

Thomas Jefferson: "1. Their system was Deism; that is, the belief of one only God. But their ideas of him & of his attributes were degrading & injurious. 2. Their Ethics were not only imperfect, but often irreconcilable with the sound dictates of reason & morality, as they respect intercourse with those around us; & repulsive & anti-social, as respecting other nations. They needed reformation, therefore, in an eminent degree."

[Cyn de Harven]

03:41 PM on 11/28/2011

PS. I believe in both Creation AND Evolution.

Because they can exist together.

And neither of them really make sense without the other.

[jacobisrael]

01:26 PM on 11/30/2011

Here are the results of the Gallup poll on creation:

Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process. 40%

Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. God had no partin this process. 9%

God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so. 47%

No opinion 4%

What this means is that if God had ANY part in the process, then you REJECT evolution. If you believe God had NO part in it, then you are one of the 9% who ACCEPT evolution.

[Cyn de Harven]

11:46 PM on 11/30/2011

I'm sorry but your post makes no sense.

Firstly, a Gallup poll is just that - a poll - made up of the opinions of the small number of people polled. So it doesn't "mean" anything.

Secondly, your conclusion at the end is completely skipping over the fact that 40 percent of those asked, believed in both an evolutionary development of the human race with God playing a role. You have completely neglected to mention that in your conclusion, but simply gone with the black/white, yes/no view. So the conclusion that you've come to - that if you believe God had any part in the process, that means you reject Evolution - is wrong by account of the very poll you're using to try and make a point.

[YouMightTryThinking]

10:32 PM on 12/19/2011

If you "believe" in both, then you fail to understand evolution. The theory of natural selection describes a reductionist, mechanistic process that provides all of the steps necessary to explain the fact of observable evolution. There is nothing left for "God" to do. To include "God," whatever you mean by that, is to add unnecessary, non-explanitory, nonsense to a beautiful and complete theory.

[jacobisrael]

03:33 PM on 11/28/2011

The reason the Jews claim Mr. Jefferson was a deist is because Mr. Jefferson correctly identified Jews as deists.

[Terbear624]

12:09 PM on 11/17/2011

Athiesm has become it's own religion: To not believe in any religion. That's fine, do as you want, your choice. I don't have to prove God exists, I believe it - my choice. I believe the Bible is the Word of God, my choice. For a skeptic no proof is ever enough, for the believe no proof is necessary. To me, these billboards are just for shock value and to be deragatory towards people that believe. It's just a way to belittle people of faith. You say you are attacked for your non-belief but you are attacking people who do believe. I don't see a point to your billboard other than to create issues. If you don't believe in Christmas - don't celebrate it. It won't bother me any.

[artboyzreborn]

04:05 PM on 11/25/2011

It is an insult to call atheism a religion. Isn't it a little self-defeating to begin a criticism of an insulting campaign (I happen to agree that it is) with an insult. As an atheist, I don't believe it is necessary to belittle people's faith to rationalize my lack of belief. But it's important for believers to know they insult us all the time. Even if they don't realize it.

[jacobisrael]

05:56 PM on 11/09/2011

Bodine666 quoted in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/atheists-billboard-thomas-jefferson_n_1035168.html my reply 3:00 pm Wed, Nov 9, 2011
"--Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introducti­on of Christiani­ty, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned­; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity­. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites­. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82--"

What you must recognize, Bodine666, is that Mr. Jefferson was referring to Catholicism, which Protestants PROTEST, and which was made the state religion of ENGLAND in 1774 (thus disenfranchising all Protestants, especially unitarians like our Founding Fathers):

"Within the Anglican Communion there was also growing unrest over the parliamentary requirement that the Anglican clergy must "subscribe" to the doctrinal articles of the church, including the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity. ... on Essex Street, London, on April 14th, 1774. Among those in that first congregation were Benjamin Franklin and his friend, Joseph Priestley. "

Us Protestants responded with 1776 which removed all Catholics, thankfully, from our shores.

[artboyzreborn]

04:09 PM on 11/25/2011

"What you must recognize, Bodine666, is that Mr. Jefferson was referring to Catholicis­m"

I think this aspect of the quote makes it clear he wasn't leaving anyone out of his condemnation...
" To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites­­." My math may be rusty, but two halves equal a whole...don't they?

[jacobisrael]

02:38 PM on 11/26/2011

""'To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites­­­.' My math may be rusty, but two halves equal a whole...do­n't they? "

None of our Founding Fathers were Catholics, they were Protestants, and mostly unitarian Protestants. It was decades after the nation was founded that the first Catholic was allowed to say a prayer in Congress. Today, less than 20% of Americans are counted by the RCC as church members, BUT many of them (maybe as many as half?) how reject the Pope because of his failure to apologize to the victims of sodomite priests. What Catholics I know claim they would do to them if they had THEIR chance can't even be repeated in polite society. And now we have 6 Supreme Court justices who are Catholics and NONE who are Protestants, which is precisely why we will soon be as bankrupt (morally and financially) as 98% Catholic Italy.

[Jjan Baldwin]

02:13 PM on 11/09/2011

"I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation leading to evolution."
George Wald (Nobel prize for Medicine in 1967).

[artboyzreborn]

04:15 PM on 11/25/2011

With all due respect to Mr. Wald, that quote is nonsensical. How can anyone believe in a scientific theory. Such a theory is built on facts in evidence. I can't make any claims regarding facts not in evidence, such as whether or not there is a god. Certainly if you didn't want to believe in god evolution would not offer the scientific mind a respite.

[Jjan Baldwin]

11:10 AM on 11/09/2011

"When it comes to the origin of life on this earth, there are only two possibilities: Creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved 100 years ago, but that leads us only to one other conclusion: that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance." George Wald (Nobel prize for Medicine in 1967).

[fanofhistory]

09:09 PM on 11/13/2011

At least he's honest! No comebacks on this one? Where are all the "science proves Christianity is a fairy tale" folks? You gotta admire the guy's faith. He believed in something that science has proven has no basis in fact. The same cannot be said of Christians. Science has not proven that their beliefs have no basis in fact, so they don't have to exercise as much faith as the people who believe this stuff do.

[jacobisrael]

02:47 PM on 11/26/2011

I actually didn't understand your point. But it's important for you to get your lexicon straight, which means you must look up the definition of "science" so that you will realize that the Holy Bible IS science, and that by rejecting the Holy Bible,you reject 95% of science, and this is the BEST part of it. Even after half a century of BANNING the teaching of creation (a SERIOUS violation of free exercise of religion), and teaching that evolution is science (which it is NOT), however, 91% of Americans STILL reject evolution. And now you know why.

[artboyzreborn]

04:16 PM on 11/25/2011

Third option: God invented spontaneoous generation.

[jacobisrael]

03:32 PM on 11/28/2011

This is actually what the Gallup Poll on evolution proves, but the way it's presented makes it hard to understand. Bottom line, less than 9% believe in "evolution" with the other 91% basically AGREEING with the account in the Holy Bible (including, btw, many Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Shintoists).

[leighton1010]

12:29 PM on 11/06/2011

Jbzee,

The Holy Bible was written a few thousand years ago. It warned there will be mockers in the end days. Everything has a beginning and a end.

Even if Jesus was a base off of fairy tails and dreamers. My Lord Jesus and he's way of life is more real than you and the rest of the atheists and non believers who believe in yourselves and vanity fair.

Stay in the Grace of Christ Jesus.

[Asal Cliste]

06:37 PM on 11/06/2011

huh?

[jakeofclubs88]

12:20 PM on 11/07/2011

Yeah, that was what I was going to say.

[Cyn de Harven]

06:11 PM on 11/28/2011

God forbid we believe in ourselves...

[uncle buc]

03:24 PM on 11/05/2011

Ooops!They did it again

Britney Spears

[uncle buc]

03:22 PM on 11/05/2011

atheism is a sham

Andy Roney

[jbzee]

11:47 AM on 11/06/2011

Believing in fairy tales and superstition is a sham

[Truth Only]

07:55 PM on 11/06/2011

Yes, and that's atheism. You can get real by knowing Jesus Christ.

[DaveRIndy]

08:16 PM on 12/02/2011

This is a deliberate misquote and lie. Google it. Andy Rooney said, "Religion is the ultimate sham." He was given an award in 2001 by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. and has many quotes about his atheism and unbelief. Again, Google this information for the truth.

[Bodine666]

06:30 PM on 11/04/2011

Finally, President Jefferson's solution to christian dogma

--Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus.
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp July 30, 1816--

(Part 2)

[Bodine666]

06:28 PM on 11/04/2011

-----The founding father identified himself as a Christian, despite his questions, the Christian Post explains.-----

The claim above is absolutely false. President Jefferson never identified himself as a christian.

--Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my god and myself alone
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, 11 January 1817
--Note lowercase g in god as in the original --

President Jefferson certainly had no respect for the christian religion

--History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.
Thomas Jefferson, to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813 --

--Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781-82--

--The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823--

(Part 1)

[Weiqiu Liu]

02:11 AM on 11/07/2011

-----The founding father identified himself as a Christian, despite his questions, the Christian Post explains.-­----

"The claim above is absolutely false. President Jefferson never identified himself as a christian."

You have been reading too many atheists propaganda books. Yes, he did (albeit conditionally):

"...They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed ; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus
himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other."
April 21, 1803 letter to Doctor Benjamin Rush

[Mr Ruthless]

03:53 PM on 11/07/2011

"To the corruption­s of Christiani­ty I am, indeed, opposed"

Reread this part over and over again until it sinks in. He didn't believe jesus was the son of god or any of the other miraculous things in the bible. He merely respected the teachings. That would be a christian in a non-religious way.

[jacobisrael]

03:42 PM on 11/07/2011

Bodine666, again, you slander the good memory of a REAL Christian man, Mr. Jefferson. In his OWN hand, he wrote numerous times "I am a REAL Christian".

Cease and desist from this slander. If you don't believe it, just ask, and I will forward digital copies of his very own handwriting as proof.

What you MUST understand is that Mr. Jefferson rightfully CONDEMNED organized "religions" like Calvinism. He wrote the best critique of Calvinism ever.

To be a REAL Christian, you don't need to be a member of any organized religion, much less Calvinism. Of course Calvinists accused him of being a deist because he could see right through their scam. He spoke and wrote both Greek and Hebrew and had an understanding of the original Scirpture which NO religious leader today could duplicate.

[artboyzreborn]

04:41 PM on 11/25/2011

What he meant by the term is the subject of much debate. Certainly, those who choose to follow the non-Christian argument do so to honor him. So, no slander intended. I think what you mean to say is that those who would impune his christianity insult christians, like yourself. Once again, no insult intended. It's just the way we see his statements in the context of his life.

[Truth Only]

06:04 PM on 11/04/2011

The religion of atheism is alive and well. But it has no basis.

[Bodine666]

08:30 PM on 11/04/2011

The religion of atheism...

I like that. Tell me, what is this religion? What are the tenets? Where are the meeting places? What basis is needed to not accept stories of magic creatures? Do you say people that don't believe there are fairies in the garden or unicorns running wild have no basis for that? You seem to have twisted your reasoning ability into a knot. It is christians that need a basis for their beliefs. It is christians that have the burden of proving their god exists. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. I don't have to prove your god does not exist. That is your claim. Not mine. It falls on you to prove those claims. To put it plain and simple, it is christians that have no basis for their beliefs. There is not a single story in your bible that has been corroborated by history. Not one. Christian beliefs are based on hearsay. Not a single person alive today had anything revealed to them by any god. You believe what your parents told you and what they say depends on where they were born.

Christians can't deal with people that need no magic gods to have a good, fulfilling life. They cannot understand how others can so they project their beliefs onto others and claim their non acceptance and non belief of these magic creatures is in itself a religion. Unbelievably ridiculous.

[Truth Only]

12:14 AM on 11/05/2011

Atheism is a belief system, therefore a religion. It takes great faith, for instance, to believe that something as complicated as a living being exists strictly by chance.

It is very easy to prove that God the Father, and Jesus His Son, both created the universe, exist, and have incredible plans for the end of the sixth day. Which is very soon, BTW.

True Christian beliefs are not based on hearsay. This is not to say that most believers are saved, A Real Christian has been chosen by God. This consists of a low percentage of believers. If you are not chosen, you have nothing credible to say about Christianity.

I do not share my parents' beliefs.

I have no magic God. I have been given a gift that you cannot imagine and I am very appreciative of that gift. You would want this gift of life overwhelmingly, if you understood it.

Reality is ridiculous only to those who are not familiar with it.

[Truth Only]

01:12 AM on 11/08/2011

@Mr Ruthless:

'God as the Creator must be replaced in the mind of the atheist."
Any proof to your claim?

Yes. The creation exists, doesn't it?

"This replacemen­­t requires great faith and trust in a scenario that I know (but you do not yet know) does not exist." "One would need to be very religious to maintain these beliefs."
Lying for jesus never gets old for people like you.

Truth never gets old for the Creator, nor for the chosen. But it does for those who are perishing. You have some huge choices to make.

[Matthew Breslin]

03:42 PM on 11/04/2011

I think a distinction needs to be made here between one believing in God and one being a Christian. Christians do not own God. God is a concept believed in by many different faiths. One can believe in God and say that Christianity is wrong, or false, or pure fantasy. This is not denying the existence of God, merely pointing out that the Christian approach to God (i.e., Jesus and the Bible) are incorrect, false, and misleading. One can believe in God, doing the right thing, being good to others, being honest, being charitable, telling the truth, not murdering or stealing, and never once enter a church or profess a belief in the tenets of Christianity.

[Truth Only]

06:06 PM on 11/04/2011

There is one God, and there are many gods. God and His Son created the universe, including you. He is to be praised. He has an amazing gift for each of us. But we have to open it. I have opened mine and it's more than amazing.

[Bodine666]

08:37 PM on 11/04/2011

The universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Everybody knows that.

[jbzee]

11:41 AM on 11/06/2011

Again, puh-leeze. Stop prozelitizing.

[oreste718]

06:15 PM on 11/06/2011

You are right about saying there are many gods but our God, the Christian God was the only One who said there wont be any other gods before him and regarding being saved, Jesus was the only One who took it upon himself to spread God's words and introduce it. No one else had the authority to say they're the saviour of the world. No one else waas qualified to be that perfect final sacrife for our sins. Only Christ and the world was never the same.

[Cyn de Harven]

03:37 PM on 11/28/2011

How do you know he's the only "One" who said that?

Have you researched other religions?

[simon Bar]

03:29 PM on 11/04/2011

GOD SAID IT , I BELIEVE IT, END OF STORY.
Have you seen this slogan around the USA while driving in your car. This is why Atheists have to speak out on this very, very slippery slope of having a Pat Robertson/Billy Graham/Orel Roberts type Country.
Thank god for the blue states.
The biillboard should have and could have been an excellent quote from a famous free-thinker. Bad mistake.....