Religion and Education Summary

Thomas Jefferson had a unique perspective on religion for his time. He “put his faith in his religion” (Onuf). Although he did not want to make his religious beliefs known, he did believe that there should be “a wall of separation between church and state” (Onuf), he believed that he was a “true Christian” and he believed that his ideas would grow and spread throughout the nation.

            When Jefferson refers to the “wall of separation between church and state” he means that people should not be judged by their religious beliefs or non-beliefs. This is part of the reason that he never made his religious views officially public. For example, when he ran for President of the United States he was especially protective of his beliefs because he did not want citizens to vote for him because he was or was not a Christian. However, if Jefferson were to classify his religion he would call himself a “true Christian”. In saying this, Jefferson believed that his take on Christianity was the correct one. He eliminated parts of the bible that he did not think were true, such as the virgin birth and the miracles performed by Jesus, essentially created the “Jefferson Bible”. He once told a man named Peter Carr “to avoid religion until ‘your reason’ is sufficiently ‘mature’” (Onuf).Jefferson believed that his take on Christianity would eventually grow to be one of the most accepted religions around the world. Even though there were priests in Jefferson’s day that did not accept his theory and even called him “infidel”, he still believed that people would brake away from the “priestly” church and begin to use their reason with their religion as Jefferson did.

            Although Jefferson’s ideas did not spread like he hoped they would, he was very successful with his theory on the “wall of separation between church and state”. In fact, he was so successful with this theory that it is still used today and is still believed to be a vital piece of our government.