Did Thomas Jefferson Advocate Banning the Bible from Schools and Government?
In 1789, Jefferson was our first Secretary of State under Washington and one of his first assignments was to oversee the Layout and Construction of Washington, DC. The plan for the city was approved by Jefferson in 1791, and in 1793 construction began on permanent federal buildings such as the White House and the Capitol. Work proceeded rapidly, and by 1795 the structure had progressed far enough that Secretary Jefferson approved a special activity in the Capitol that was still under construction.
City of Washington, June 19, It is with much pleasure we discover the rising consequence of our infant city. Public worship is now regularly administered at the Capitol, every Sunday morning at 11 o'clock, by Reverend Mr. Ralph. (Federal Orrery Boston, July 2, 1795, 2, Domestic Intelligence)
November 22, 1800, Congress moved into the Capitol. Two weeks later, with Theodore Sedgwick presiding in the House and VP Thomas Jefferson presiding over the Senate, Congress approved a plan whereby Christian church services would be held each Sunday in the Hall of the House of Representatives, the largest room in the Capitol.
US Congressman, Manasseh Cutler, who also attended church at the Capitol, affirmed that "Jefferson and his family have constantly attended public worship in the Hall."
Under President Jefferson, Sunday church services were also started at the War Department and the Treasury Department, which were two government buildings under his direct control. Therefore, on any given Sunday, worshippers could choose between attending church at the US Capitol, War Department and Treasury Department, all with the blessings and support of Jefferson. By 1867, the church in the Capitol had become the largest church in Washington.
Other Presidential actions of President Jefferson:
Writing a letter to Constitution signer and penman, Gouverneur Morris (then serving as US Senator) describing America as a Christian Nation... 1801.
Signing federal acts setting aside government lands so that missionaries might be established...1802, 03 and 04.
Directing the Secretary of War to give federal funds to a religious school established for Cherokees in Tennessee. 1803
Assuring a Christian school in the newly purchased Louisiana Territory that it would enjoy the patronage of the government." 1804
Renegotiating and deleting from a lengthy clause in the 1797 United States treaty with Tripoli the portion that had stated "the United States is in no sense founded on the Christian religion...." 1805
Passing "An Act for the Establishing the Government of the Armies" in which:
It is earnestly recommended to all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine service; and all officers who shall behave indecently or irreverently at any place of Divine worship, shall if commissioned officers, be brought before a general court martial, there to be publicly and severely reprimanded by the President (Jefferson): if non-commissioned officers or soldiers, every person so offending shall be fined... 1806
Declaring that religion is "deemed in other countries incompatible with good government, yet proved by our experience to be its best support." 1807
Closing presidential documents with the appellation, "In the year of our Lord Christ" 1801-1809.
In 1801, the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut wrote President Jefferson asking for assurance that the government would not interfere with the Christian Religion. "Our sentiments are uniformly on the side of religious liberty. . . that religion is at all times and places a matter between God and individuals, that no man ought to suffer in name, person or effects on account of his religious opinions; that the legitimate power of civil government extends no further than to punish the man who works evil to his neighbor. But sir, our constitution of government is not specific. . . Religion is considered as the first object of legislation and therefore what religious privileges we enjoy as favors granted and not as inalienable rights."
These ministers were troubled that their "religious privileges" were being guaranteed by the apparent generosity of government.
President Jefferson answered: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions; I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you, for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem."
In 1878, for the first time the US Supreme Court invoked the separation metaphor from Jefferson's letter when the Court affirmed that the purpose of separation was to protect rather than limit public religious expressions. . . the Court concluded:
"It (Jefferson's Letter) may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the Amendment thus secured. Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere (religious) opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order.
The rightful purposes of civil government are for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order. In this. . .is found the true distinction between what properly belongs to the Church and what to the State." Reynolds vs US, 1878
This was the universal understanding of the separation of Church and State---until the Court's landmark ruling in 1947 in Everson v. Board of Education in which it announced it would reverse this historic meaning. In that case the Court cited only Jefferson's eight-word separation metaphor, completely severing the phrase from its historical context and the rest of Jefferson's clearly worded letter, and then expressed for the first time that the phrase existed not to protect religion in the public square but to remove it.
The next year, in 1948, the Court repeated its rhetoric of the previous year declaring:
"The First Amendment has erected a wall between Church and State which must be kept high and impregnable." McCollum vs Board of Education, 1948
Courts have subsequently pushed that original misinterpretation of separation increasingly outward to the point where they have decided the First Amendment's injunction that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" now means:
"an individual student may not say a voluntary prayer at a football game, graduation, or any other school event
Cadets at military academies may not engage in offering voluntary prayers over their meals
a choir may not sing a religious song as part of a school concert
a school may not place a Bible in a classroom library
an individual student may not write a research paper on a religious topic, draw religious artwork in an art class, or carry his personal Bible onto school grounds."
Significantly, none of these activities pertains to "Congress making a law" which is the only body and the only activity proscribed by the First Amendment. But ignoring that succinct structure, the modern misapplication of the historic separation doctrine now routinely results in egregious decisions:
A state employee in Minnesota was barred from parking his car in the state parking lot because he had a religious sticker on his bumper.
A five-year-old kindergarten student in Saratoga Springs, New York was forbidden to say a prayer over her lunch and was scolded by a teacher for doing so.
A military honor guardsman was removed from his position for saying, "God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America" while presenting a folded flag to a family during a military funeral---a statement that the family requested be made at the funeral.
Senior citizens meeting at a community senior center in Balch Springs, Texas, were prohibited from praying over their own meals.
A library employee in Russellville, Kentucky, was barred from wearing a necklace because it had a small cross on it.
College students serving as residential assistants in Eu Claire, Wisconsin, were prohibited from holding Bible studies in their own private dorm rooms.
A third grader in Orono, Maine, who wore a T-shirt containing the words "Jesus Christ" was required to turn the shirt inside out so the words could not be seen.
A school official in St Louis, Missouri, caught an elementary student praying over his lunch; he lifted the student from his seat, reprimanded him in front of the other students, and took him to the principle, who ordered him to stop praying.
In cities in TX, IN, OH, GA, KA, MI, PA, CA, NE and elsewhere citizens were not permitted to hand out religious literature on public sidewalks or preach in public areas and were actually arrested or threatened with arrest for doing so.
And there are simply hundreds of similar examples.
All of the preceding text, quotes and court cases are excerpts that are carefully foot noted and referenced in the excellent book, "The Jefferson Lies" by David Barton of Wall Builders, Aledo, Texas. This book thoroughly exposes the many lies that have been published about Thomas Jefferson from his campaign for President in 1800 until the present time.
Following are a few of my comments concerning the continuous efforts of Godless men who have worked tirelessly during and since the founding of America to expunge from the record that America was founded by Bible believing Christians upon the Laws of our Creator as detailed in our Christian Bible.
America has been free and has prospered because we have been blessed by our Creator as we have followed and lived by his Bible. Our Creator’s Laws are wholesome, clean, pure equal and just toward all men.
The judges who began the effort in 1947 to exclude Bible Christianity from the institutions of government, schools and the Public Square should have been impeached by the Presidents and Congress who appointed them. All judges who have approved the murder of innocent Babies beginning in 1973 and those who ordered the endorsement of Sodomy by declaring third gender marriage legal in 2015 must be impeached, stripped of their government pensions and maybe Jailed.
How did the Judiciary take control of the making of Law from the Congress? It was done by the malfeasance of Congress and Presidents and the acceptance of presidence of court decisions, which means a judge can rule from left field against the Constitution and it becomes "settled law" as other judges use that new interpretation in their decisions.
We the People have elected Godless people who do not believe that the Bible was written by our Creator or that our Constitution is based on the Bible. Therefore, they have banned the Bible and our Creator from Schools, Government and the Public Domain.
Our Founding Fathers believed that all men will stand in Judgment before our righteous Creator Jesus Christ according to the Bible that was taught in our public schools system until Godless Judges banned the Bible and its Laws from government and the public domain.
There have been 100's of Cases where these black robed traitors of America have whittled away at our Virtuous and Free way of Life in America. Following is the record of Majority Opinions by the US Supreme Court and who appointed them for their remaining "Lifetime" on this Earth, only.
How did these judges get on the Supreme Court, 1947-48 (banning Bible Christianity in government), 1962 (banning Prayer in Schools), 1973 (declaring legal murder of unborn Babies) and 2015 (declaring legal and proper "third gender marriage") 1947-48 Court: 7 of the 9 Judges were appointed by FDR (D) and 2 by Truman (D); 1962 Court: Majority Black and Douglas by FDR (D), Warren and Brennan by (Eisenhower) (R), Clark by Truman (D), Douglas concurred by FDR (D); 1973 Court: Majority Blackmun by Nixon (R) Burger by Nixon (R) Douglas by FDR (D) Brennan by Eisenhower (R) Stewart by Eisenhower (R) Marshall by Johnson (D) Powell by Nixon (R); 2015 Majority Kennedy by Bush H W (R) Breyer by Clinton (D) Ginsburg by Clinton (D) Sotomayor by Obama (D) Kagan by Obama (D)
These judges voted to ban the Christian Bible from government with a convoluted reasoning that the First Amendment was written to keep our Creator out of government and education while allowing government to restrict the protections of Natural Laws that our Founders learned from our Creator Jesus Christ.
As we can see, from this record, both political parties are equally guilty of systematically destroying the US Constitution and most State Constitutions.
Is there any hope that America can again re-establish itself as a Nation of Equal and Just Laws where men can live in harmony while trusting their neighbors, government and business relationships?
Yes, there is hope. If we will get up off our apathetic and gullible back sides and stop the corruption in our institutions and personal lives. The answer is rather simple, but it will be very difficult.
The "Plan": form volunteer groups in every county across America, learn the facts of Creation and the FRAUD of Evolution and begin attending every School Board Meeting in our own County until we have Creation and the Bible back in our Schools.
Our Children have the right to know they are not "superior monkeys" and that murder, stealing, lying, promiscuity, nakedness, etc is not "Normal Behavior" for a Citizen of the United States of America.
Go to www.CreatorisLiberty.com for more details.
"The people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities. . . .If the next generation does not find us a great Nation. . .it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality, of the Nation do not aid in the controlling of the political forces." James Garfield, 20th President of the United States