Posted on 03/27/2010 7:04:16 AM PDT by pinochet
As I said, Jefferson rejected Jesus’ divinity (and hence the virgin birth-—typical of an enlightenment rationalist)
AND sought to make a book of the morals of Jesus...without the miraculous (what he in your quote called, “a digest of his moral doctrines, extracted in his own words from the Evangelists, and leaving out everything relative to his personal history and character.”)
Clearly Jefferson, according to his own words was not a Christian, in any orthodox sense—but, he didn’t formally leave the Church either.
None of that makes him a full blown Deist either, however.
The second link doesn’t seem to work.
Just because someone doesn’t believe rights come from God doesn’t automatically mean they believe they come from big brother.
Look, if you want to believe that your rights come out of your bedroom closet, or from a drive through window, that's fine by me. My points were (and continue to be) that:
1. Our founders believe they came from God, as expressed in the DOI. That's indisputable, and to maintain otherwise is to hold a belief at variance with that of our founders. That, by the way is not a value judgment..you may in fact be more correct about the source of our rights than our founders, but you're still at variance with them...
..and...
2. It's my personal opinion that the reason we find ourselves in the position we do is that we've collectively as a society come to regard our rights as something considerably less than sacred, allowing them to be trampled with far less objection than if we regarded them as gifts of Divine Providence (as our Founders did).
You are absolutely right. So sorry, both links won’t work. Here are the correct ones:
http://usabig.com/iindv/articles_stand/objectivism/three_books.php
http://usabig.com/atnmst/jrnl_ii.php?art=84
Hank
It is difficult to believe in a multiplicity of gods, One God is sufficient to me. That’s why I disagree with “Organized Religion”. I don’t like someone trying to tell me what I should believe and how I should go about it. Atheists insist that I believe exactly what they believe so they are the same as other organized religions. BUT! Politics is a different game. Yes I would (and have in the past) vote for a conservative Jewish politician...if he was honestly conservative.
I agree with you, because a person’s religion should not make any difference with regard to his honesty and integrity, though it does in some cases, unfortunately.
I am curious about this, and am not quite sue what you meant by it.
“Atheists insist that I believe exactly what they believe so they are the same as other organized religions.”
Are you saying Atheists claim you do believe what they believe or that you ought to believe what they believe?
I do not believe in God, but I not only do not mind if others do, I think atheism might actually be wrong for some people who seem to need that kind of belief. Too many atheists are actually quite ignorant, and just as “evangelical” as many religious are. Ethics, for example, is a difficult philosophical discipline, one that I think many people would have trouble with. If they derive their sense of values, principles, and purpose from a belief in God, I would rather that than have them abandon their beliefs and lose all sense of value, principles and purpose.
Hank
“Morality is comes from God. So by definition an atheists can not be moral.”
That is absolutely BS.
This kind of absolute pap gives religion a very bad name.
Morality can not be defined by the individual.
The matters of legislation are of the earthly variety.
What if he sweared on Jefferson Bible?
It’s really funny you say that. I can debate the pro-life position for hours, without bringing up the supernatural.
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