The Jefferson Bible

Near the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson translated and edited a version of the New Testament Gospels that reflected his view of Jesus as a teacher of humanist morality. Jefferson cut out passages of Jesus' teachings, such as the Sermon on the Mount, and pasted them into a notebook, while leaving out stories of Jesus' miracles and resurrection. The Jefferson Bible was later printed and distributed to every U. S. senator. By examining Jefferson's version of the Gospels, we gain insight into his religious views shaped by the ideas he and other founding figures shared, drew from Enlightenment thinkers, and which formed the basis for our Constitutional separation of religion and government. Jefferson, Washington, Madison, and Franklin were known to be deists with a rational and moral interpretation of religion that was not derived from traditional Christian beliefs. So was our country established as a Christian nation?