[allmendream]

The U.S.A. was a nation founded on the concept of the natural rights of man. As such men were free to place themselves under the authority of god as they saw fit. Jefferson’s letter was not an aberration, it was a sentiment of the spirit of the day, which was one of religious and civil liberty.

“Our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty” Samuel Adams

[elpadre]

I don’t disagree, but don’t see how your reply does anything more than slightly temper my remarks.

In my younger days, I read and commented of many of those early historical documents and what remains in this feeble memory bank of mine is what was posted.