“I’m “offended” that you would misquote Benjamin Franklin, so...I’m not sure whether it’s worse that you made his quote pedestrian or that you didn’t credit him. At least you didn’t do both. :-)”
Quite so. And apparently I failed to even see the quote marks around what I said as if I were quoting Frfanklin’s exact words or merely paraphrasing them. But it would seem you saw the quotes so I suppose I owe you an apology. Yes, I suppose.
Well here’s another for you and, so I fulfill your high standards, this one is an exact quote. One you would do well to reflect on.
“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
What a sad and pointless "paraphrase"...to change one word, removing the wit while keeping the meaning.
Well here’s another for you and, so I fulfill your high standards, this one is an exact quote. One you would do well to reflect on.
“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
Yes, I am quite familiar with that--I carried that work around with me on my trusty Clié for re-reading on flights or slow moments (though recently my "trusty" Clié is no longer trustworthy...) :-(
Anyway, I am familiar enough with that passage to remember the context. Mr. Jefferson isn't saying we should hold our tongue, but is saying that the "religiously incorrect" should not be automatically barred from testimony. What he says we should do, instead, is to loose our inquiry upon those religious beliefs, as the truth can be obtained by questioning and reasoning, not by just accepting or rejecting "questionable beliefs" out of hand.
Rational questioning does not contradict his oft-stated position that a man's relgion is between himself and his Maker...Jefferson was speaking of questioning the religion, not any man's belief in it.
Still, I don't wish to be rude to anyone, and I realize upon re-reading my post that it could easily be seen as offensive, despite its focus on facts.* I don't want that to come across.
*As much as I thought Gov. Huckabee's comment was malicious but not directly wrong, I now see that it might have been unintentional.