Religious Quotes collected by Robert Waxman

Religious Quotes collected by Robert Waxman

Thomas Jefferson

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 is it men cannot be made to believe!

-Thomas Jefferson to Richard Henry Lee, April 22, 1786.

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination.

-Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography

I concur with you strictly in your opinion of the comparative merits of atheism and demonism, and really see nothing but the latter in the being worshipped by many who think themselves Christians.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Richard Price, Jan. 8, 1789

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789

They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: and enough, too, in their opinion.

-Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802

History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.

-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.

The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.

-Thomas Jefferson on The Gospels, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814

If we did a good act merely from love of God and a belief that it is pleasing to Him, whence arises the morality of the Atheist?

Their virtue, then, must have had some other foundation than the love of God.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814

You say you are a Calvinist. I am not. I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Ezra Stiles Ely, June 25, 1819

As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurian. I consider the genuine doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greece and Rome have left us.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Short, Oct. 31, 1819

Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being.

-Thomas Jefferson on Jesus, letter to William Short, April 13, 1820

To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise: but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, and Stewart. At what age of the Christian church this heresy of immaterialism, this masked atheism, crept in, I do not know. But heresy it certainly is.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, Aug. 15, 1820

Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822.

I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Daemonism. If ever man worshipped a false god, he did.

-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it, and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams.

-Thomas Jefferson on The Book of Revelation, letter to General Alexander Smyth, Jan. 17, 1825

Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom

"SECTION I. Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to exalt it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness; and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminals who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.

"SECTION II. We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

"SECTION III. And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right."

FREEMASONRY AND RELIGION

Freemasonry does not pretend to take the place of religion or serve as a substitute for the religious beliefs of its members. It does, however, require that each member believe in a Supreme Being, a future existence, and the brotherhood of man. How he interprets or elaborates these fundamentals is left to the individual’s private judgment and religious faith. Freemasonry expects each person to follow his own faith, and “to place his duty to God…above all other duties.” In the beginnings of Masonic ritual in the early 1700s, God was treated in Christian terms.

In English and American Freemasonry, Christian references were removed from the ritual to enable men of different faiths to take part without compromising their own beliefs. This is practical tolerance. This tolerance is one of our great strengths because it enables men of all faiths to meet in ordinary friendship. Without interfering in the way each Brother practices his religion, it shows how much they have in common. The requirement of a belief in the Supreme Being and the fact that Masonic ritual contains frequent prayers, does not make Freemasonry a religion. Freemasonry offers no sacraments. Freemasonry does not deal with the ultimate that religion offers: salvation. If a man wants spiritual peace, he must go to his house of worship. If he wants salvation, he must seek it in practicing his religion. Freemasonry may teach or encourage men to do 2better. But Freemasonry does not deal in religion. Religions have doctrines.

Freemasons are forbidden to discuss religion in their lodges; therefore no Masonic doctrinal system is possible. A belief in the Supreme Being is required, but Masonry does not attempt to prescribe how the belief is to be exercised or practiced. There is no Masonic God. A Freemason who prays to the Great Architect of the Universe knows that his own belief will translate and direct that prayer to the God he worships. Prayer alone does not make a religion. In understanding the relationship between religion and Freemasonry, we must understand what we mean by religion. One definition of religion is “a system of faith in and worship of a Divine Being.” There are obligations in religion, which are different from those of Freemasonry. These broader obligations are set by religious leaders for their congregations: Their aim is to “impart knowledge of God and faith in his revealed will.”

Freemasonry as defined in our ritual is very different from the obligations required of a religion. We learn in the First Degree Charge that “Freemasonry is an institution having for its foundation the practice of the social and moral virtues.” The emphasis on morality is obvious, but so is the lack of a required system of worship. The relationship between Masonry and God and Masonry and Religion is clearly laid out several times in Masonic ritual. For example, in the First Degree Master’s Lecture, we are admonished to have faith in God, hope of 3 immortality, and charity for all mankind. We are charged to regard the Volume of the Sacred Law as the great light in our profession and are told that in the Bible we will learn the duties we owe to God.

In describing those duties, the Masonic ritual does not prescribe a formal system of worship. In the Second Degree, we are taught that through Speculative Masonry the contemplative Mason views with reverence and admiration the glorious works of the Creation. But the ritual never requires the candidate to conform to a specific dogma. The Brotherhood of Man is a fundamental tenet of Freemasonry. All the great religions of the world teach the Brotherhood of Man as a basic tenet of faith, but the BASIS upon which they set it forth differs for each religion and for Masonry. Buddhism, for example, bases the doctrine of Brotherhood on the belief that all men are so entangled in the sufferings of life that they must be Brothers out of sympathy—a Brotherhood of Understanding.

Confucianism based the doctrine of Brotherhood on the sense of common task in developing mankind—a Brotherhood of Service. Christianity bases the truth of Brotherhood on the truth of the Fatherhood of God. There is a deep and beautiful truth in each of these religions. Masonry has attempted to picture the truth of the Brotherhood of Man by using a system of symbols and allegory that can unite men of every country, sect, and opinion in fellowship and love. In doing this, Freemasonry is an example to 4others of what can be accomplished when men and women put aside what might divide them in favor of what unites them in achieving a greater good.

James Anderson wrote the first Masonic Book of Constitutions, published in 1723, not long after the founding of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. His first principle on the relation of religion and Freemasonry illustrated a change of attitude from previous years: “A Mason is obliged by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law…and if he rightly understands the Craft, he will never be a Stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine, nor act against conscience. In ancient Times the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian usages of each country where they traveled or worked. But Masonry being found in all Nations, even of diverse Religions, they are now only charged to adhere to that Religion in which all men agree (leaving each Brother to his own particular opinions); that is, to be Good Men and True, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Names, Religions, or Persuasions they may be distinguished.” Freemasonry teaches morality—it encourages men to try to be better, to discipline themselves, and to consider their relations with others.

Religions also encourage morality, but they refer questions of morality and ethics to God. Freemasonry deals with morality at the ground level; religion takes it upwards. 5Masonry does not seek to reform men. It seeks to bind better men, those who are already good and true, in closer bonds of fellowship and love, and to perfect the work already begun in making those better men into good men. The ancient Greeks taught that the goal of life was to achieve the Good—to live the good life, to be good men. To be a good man was to be what a man is supposed to be and how he should live his daily life. The ancient Greek philosophers had many answers for what is means to be a good man.

Freemasonry is our modern answer to this question. Freemasonry teaches that to be good men we must first believe in a Supreme Being, for if there is no God then all things are permitted. Freemasonry teaches men to be honest and honorable in dealing with other men and women, and not to act against what they know in their hearts and minds to be the right thing to do. We obligate ourselves not to cheat or defraud another person in our business dealings. Because all men are our brothers and members of the human family, we know that we can trust each other with our innermost secrets and to keep them in confidence. We are taught to sympathize with the misfortunes of others, to listen with a friendly ear to the hearts of the unhappy, and restore peace to the troubled minds of our families and friends. And these are but a few of ways in which Freemasonry works to make better men good, and good men even better.

Religion is a man’s personal guide to living the good and moral life for himself and his family. Freemasonry brings together men of all religions 6with those who simply believe in a Supreme Being, to work with harmony to improve our local communities, our state and our nation. The tenets of Freemasonry reinforce and support the Divine and Moral Laws taught in our churches and synagogues. Freemasonry is our modern working tool for each of us to apply the principles of brotherly love, relief and truth to solving the problems that face us in today’s world—public education, homelessness, ethics in government, and the list goes on. United in Freemasonry, men who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance are enabled to work to change the world.