The author of a controversial book debunking common beliefs about Thomas Jefferson says the man constantly cited for erecting a wall separating church and state would be appalled at the restricting of religious expression done in his name by American courts.
Wallbuilders Founder and President David Barton says getting Jefferson wrong on religious liberty and other issues has a profound impact on our nation and he contends that his critics are trying to undermine his work in order to facilitate the secularizing of our society.
Barton is author of “The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You’ve Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson,” which is now available in paperback.
While Jefferson is best known for serving as principal author of the Declaration of Independence and as our third president, he was a passionate defender of religious liberty. Barton says Jefferson would not recognize the current government efforts to stifle speech critical of alternative lifestyles or punish business owners for refusing to participate in same-sex weddings.
“Where we are today, Jefferson would be the first guy popping up on the other side saying what we are doing is wrong,” said Barton, who says the record is clear.
“He is so clear that the number one unalienable right government is to protect is the right of conscience. That is something he repeats over and over. He said it’s inconsistent with our constitutional laws to force tender consciences,” said Barton.
Barton uses the case of the Quakers as an example. Even after the Quakers opposed the revolution, Jefferson insisted on their right of conscience to be protected.
Social liberals often cite Jefferson for trying to remove religious expression from the public square, but Barton says the reins Jefferson wanted on the state were focused in a different direction.
“What we’ve had in Europe and Great Britain is a state-established denomination that tells what we have to be and it persecuted everyone that doesn’t agree and believe with the state. In those situations, you had no religious toleration, you had no freedom of conscience and you did have coercion,” said Barton.
Jefferson’s own experience with state established religion led to his authoring of the groundbreaking Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.
“Virginia has one state-established denomination, the Anglican denomination. He watched his friends who were Presbyterians and Quakers and Baptists and Methodists get fined and thrown in jail, beat and sometimes killed because the state-established denomination told them what they had to believe and how they had to practice their faith,” said Barton.
“The statute disestablishes the Anglican Church and puts everybody on equal footing,” said Barton.
That history runs contrary to the conventional wisdom that Jefferson is the inspiration for the “wall of separation of church and state” in his letter to baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, in 1802.
But Barton says liberal historians and and judges have blatantly miscontrued Jefferson’s message.
“That means the government is never going to get involved in stopping religious activities or beliefs,” said Barton. “Prior to 1947, the Supreme Court would quote all of that letter or large segments of it. After 1947, they’ve never quoted more than eight words out of that letter.”
He says the stunning history of court decisions involving Jefferson’s letter doesn’t stop there.
“Since [1947], there have been 4,000 cases go to the courts on first amendment religious expression. All 4,000 have quoted Jefferson but only 3,000 have actually quoted the first amendment. So Jefferson is quoted as an authority more often than the Constitution is on what you can and can’t do with religious expressions,” said Barton.
“As courts do not quote Jefferson’s full letter or his activities. They just use him as an authority and say, ‘Jefferson said there is s wall of separation so we can’t let a kid say ‘God’ at graduation.’ Jefferson would say, ‘What? Not in my name.'” said Barton.
The irony, says Barton, is that liberal court decisions have established a state religion in their efforts to make sure there isn’t one.
“There is no doubt the government has state-established religion on things like homosexual marriage, on things like abortion, because it does not allow any kind of religious toleration for beliefs other than its own,” said Barton.
In addition to separating fact from fiction about Jefferson, Barton has also been in the midst of a fierce debate about the merits of his book. In 2012, the hardcover version of “The Jefferson Lies” came under fire by critics identifying as conservatives. They claimed Barton falsely tried to paint Jefferson as a conventional Christian contrary to his usual portrayal as a deist who edited the bible to remove supernatural references.
Barton says the critics were way off and still are.
“In a long chapter, we show Jefferson was not in any way, shape, fashion or form an orthodox Christian. He questioned the divinity. He questioned the inspiration of scriptures, etc. But what we showed is that he was never anti-Christian, anti-Jesus or anti-religion,” said Barton.
Barton says his book is based on more than 10,000 original documents dated prior to 1812. He says it’s clear from Jefferson’s writings and actions that he was unwavering in his defense of religious freedom.
“Jefferson in office was not even close to a secularist. He’s the guy who helped facilitate church services starting every Sunday in the U.S. Capitol. He went there as president, eight years as president. He invited preachers to preach at the Capitol. By 1854, the largest church in the United States was the one that Jefferson helped facilitate in the U.S. Capitol,” said Barton.
Critics of Barton say their arguments were proven when publisher Thomas Nelson pulled “The Jefferson Lies” from its lineup. But Barton says that decision had nothing to do with which side was telling the truth.
“I had provided the publisher with two boxes of documentation of every claim we had in the book. The publisher never opened the documentation at all, never even called me. They just said they didn’t want the controversy. We’re bailing,” said Barton, who believes there’s a troubling premise behind the attacks on his scholarship.
“When a lot of these academics support the secularization of church and state we say, ‘Hey, you’re citing Jefferson on that. You can’t do that. Jefferson’s not the guy who secularized this. He’s the guy who put religious activities in so many public places. Then what you have to do is go after the person who makes Jefferson look different from what they portray him as,” said Barton.
Barton says this debate is about a whole lot more than his book and setting the record straight about the late 1800’s.
“Jefferson is the go-to guy on public policy today. If I can take Jefferson away from them, policy changes,” said Barton.
