“I stand at the altar of Almighty God, with hatred against any form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
–Thomas Jefferson, etched into the ceiling of the Jefferson Memorial.
Recently, my wife and I had the distinct privilege of taking our children on a vacation to Washington D.C. Inspired by the history, deeply moved by the monuments, humbled by the sacrifices made by so many to secure our freedoms, we will never forget the experience. In the Jefferson Memorial, we stood amazed at the grandeur and profundity of the place and its significance—for our country and for all of us who are privileged to be Americans. These passionate ideas springing from the pen of Thomas Jefferson set ablaze not only the hearts of our founding fathers, but also inspired other nations as well with the life-changing vision of true freedom for all people. We soaked in the gravity of these words while in the rotunda of the Monument.
Upon entering the gift shop in the basement of the Memorial, however, I overheard a discussion between two people that made my heart sink. They both agreed that they had discovered the most glaring example of tyranny over the mind—religion! In their view, it is religion that is the most cruel form of tyranny over the mind of man, and that Jefferson was standing passionately against organized religion; that it is religion that is the great evil and opponent of freedom and its oppressive nature that makes separation of church and state a necessity in the mind of Thomas Jefferson. The discussion, I believe, reveals much about our culture today.
On the one hand, the current feeling in our culture is that religion is oppressive. I know this to be true in some forms of its expression. Throughout history, religious fervor can be expressed in ways that stifle joy, inquiry, and heart freedom. Judgmental attitudes, arbitrary rules applied without grace, and unforgiving attitudes have made the religious experience of some a tyranny over the mind and heart. However, this is not the sole sin of religious institutions. Over the years, I have seen oppression and tyranny take many forms, both secular and religious. Educational institutions, political entities, corporations, governments—all of them can become tyrannical. Indeed, Thomas Jefferson would have opposed religious tyranny—but not religious tyranny alone.
On the other hand, I have experienced forms of religious expression that are wonderfully freeing, empowering, inspiring, and life-changing for the good of others. I have found the message of Jesus Christ to be freeing in this way. Jefferson realized that religious belief, properly expressed, is a great fountain of good. His own heart was stirred by a belief in God that gave substance to his passions. Notice in the above quote his reference to standing at the “altar of Almighty God.” Further, consider the following quotes from Jefferson:
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”
–Notes on the State of Virginia, etched in the Jefferson Memorial.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”
–The Declaration of Independence.
For Jefferson, his belief in God, though expressed differently than my own, was central to his belief in personal freedoms and rights. Thomas Jefferson was a staunch Deist, who believed in a distant, impersonal, and uninvolved God. Jefferson was very much a child of the Enlightenment view of God. Nonetheless, to say Jefferson was unreligious or antireligious would be a mockery of his personal beliefs. His convictions about personal, universal freedoms and rights were anchored in the concept of their being installed by our Creator. The divine origin of these rights is what made them unalterable and self-evident for Jefferson. In other words, it was as though Jefferson was warning, “No person or government should mess with what God Almighty has created in the heart of humanity.” I am NOT saying that we should require all people to have a belief in God (such a posture would be the tyranny against which Jefferson warned). What I AM saying is that freedom to worship God and respect for such religious belief are the overflow of Jefferson’s ideal.
Thomas Jefferson was deeply passionate about freedom. But it was not freedom from religion, but freedom for religion. His goal was not to eradicate religion. One need only consider figures like William Wilberforce in England or Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. to know that positive religious belief motivated some profound and good changes in the world. The reason Thomas Jefferson wanted religion and state to be separate was to protect religion from state coercion or control. Indeed, I too passionately stand against all forms of tyranny, religious or otherwise. But let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater where religious belief is concerned (thinking religious belief is inherently oppressive), rather let us show respect for passionate religious belief expressed in love as a harbinger of profound human advancement.
