Thomas Jefferson's chapter on Religion in his "Notes on the State of Virginia" present us with a rich treasure of wisdom and a keen insight into human nature.
He discusses the history of religion in Virginia and mentions that there were still oppressive laws on the books concerning religious conduct even after the convention of May 1776. The Anglican Clergy received their salaries from the government. Rejecting the Aglican Church was considered heresy and was punishable by death. In 1705 a law was enacted that stated if a person brought up in the Christian religion denied the being or God or the doctrine of the trinity, or asserted that there are more gods than one, or denies that the Christian religion is true, or that the Bible is not of divine origin would have hell to pay. First offense: loss of the right to hold civil employment, and denial of the ability to serve in the military. Second offense: loss of the right to sue, to receive any gift or legacy, loss of the right custody and guardianship of their very own children, disallowed to be an executor or administrator and 3 years imprisonment without bail.
He concludes this section by saying, "This is a summary view of that religious slavery, under which a people have been willing to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment of their civil freedom."
In otherwords, "People have died to have liberty, and yet they still allow themselves to be abused by the Church."
Ironically enough, his next words while directed towards civil government apply equally to religious task-masters. So dubbies reading this, pay close attention to what he says and then compare them with what your own religious task-masters tell you.
"But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. 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. If it be said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied upon, [just like the WTS says virtually anything ex-dubs say cannot be trusted, simply because they disagree with the WTS] reject it then, and be the stigma on him.
"Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a true man. If may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against terror... They are the natural enemies of terror, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry, Christianity could not have been introduced. Had not free inquiry been indulged, at the era of the reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged."
Regarding the Church's past enforced beliefs in such things as a flat earth which the sun revolves around and men who paid the price for stating that the earth was round and that it rotated and revolved around the sun, and the Church's later retraction of its own nonsense, Jefferson states:
"Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passion, by private as well as public reasons.
Next, he destroys the WTS myth that total uniformity is a good thing, even if it takes punishment and coercion to get it:
"And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature.... there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and stretching the lattet. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity."
"What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should wish to see the 999 wandering sects gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we cannot effect this by force. Reason and pursuation are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves?"
Indeed.
To you little dubbies who still aren't to lazy to let others do your own thinking: are you listening?
Farkel