In Jefferson’s Albemarle County, there was a great deal of influence—more than realized today—of Presbyterians. Much of the education, including that which Jefferson received and that he was to provide for his children and grandchildren—was positively impacted by Presbyterians. In Albemarle County and environs different denominational groups grew up side …
[Photo by Jerry Newcombe in Paris—Was Jefferson influenced more by the anti-Christian French philosophy or by the biblical traditions in his native Virginia?] Many respected scholars have begun to refute long-standing beliefs that Deism and Enlightenment thought was highly influential in America, and that America’s Christian culture was only of …
One of the aggressive atheists in recent times is the late Christopher Hitchens, who wrote one of the best-selling atheist books, called god Is Not Great. He purposefully chose not to capitalize the g in God out of disrespect. Hitchens wrote a book about Thomas Jefferson and called him “The …
Our book, Doubting Thomas, strives to show that Jefferson was not a life-long skeptic, although he privately appeared to abandon core Christian doctrines later in life. Nonetheless, he is often presented as if he were always of a skeptical bent. Many scholars and writers of today and times past refer to …
I just saw for the second time the movie, “God’s Not Dead 2.” I recommend it. It deals with a court case where a public school teacher is put on trial by the ACLU for having the gall to mention Jesus (not in cursing)—when answering a student’s question in her …
Jefferson lived in an environment that was strongly pro-Christian. There were many revivals going on around the time of Jefferson. It was in the air he breathed in Virginia. Only God knows the ultimate state of Jefferson’s personal soul. But the key point is that Thomas Jefferson would not have …
Ideas have consequences. As we show in our book, Doubting Thomas, the Supreme Court in 1947 misread Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. They made that misinterpretation the key arbiter of church-state relations. This has not only done much to discriminate against the Christian religion, which helped play a …
On the Radio with Dr. Brown, Talking about Jefferson Posted by Jerry Newcombe on Mar – 11 – 2016 Dr. Michael Brown of www.askdrbrown.org interviewed Dr. Mark Beliles and me about our book on Thomas Jefferson, Doubting Thomas? The Religious Life and Legacy of Thomas Jefferson (Morgan James, 2015). For those who …
Misreading Jefferson leads to societal chaos. Secular humanists for decades now have changed the First Amendment, which guarantees religious freedom, into one what one law professor has called “a search and destroy mission” for any sneaky vestiges of religion in the public square. The battle over church and state seems …
Based on the research for our book, Doubting Thomas, research which is available to all, we recommend a few common sense measures. Stop the witchhunt against anything Christian in the public arena. It is a major misreading of history to say that Jefferson would have us censor things by the …