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A question for Thomas Jefferson...
Thomas Jefferson has always been my favorite character from history. When I was a kid it was for the rather simple reason that his name had a "Jeff" in it. But later it was out of a very deep respect for and agreement with many of his ideas and opinions. When he called upon me to ask my question I decided to play devil's advocate (no pun intended...) and to ask a rather tongue-in-cheek question regarding his support for the freedom of religion and for the separation of church and state; an issue that is very dear to me.
Q: Mr. Jefferson, earlier you expressed your support for freedom of religion.Surely you don't mean that people should be free to practice non-Christian religions or worse yet to practice no religion at all. Do we really want non-Christians or atheists or heathens running free among us?
A: Sir, my advice as I made earlier is that we do unto others as we desire them to do unto ourselves. I advocate this advice among people of reason, for the Almighty has given us reason at birth as he has given us an instinct to ask questions, to investigate. Should we fear to investigate indeed the realms of science and the frontiers of science? Is that to deny the existence of the Almighty the magnificent creator that desires us to do good? I think the element of reason is given to us for a purpose and that is for a general recognition that we are of the family of man and may hold our communion with our maker freely of various, and happily various different opinions in that. I have always countered sir that whenever people of reason gather together to discuss religion they will find more to agree upon than they ever find to disagree over. So I have no fear sir.
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