'sovereign reverence'
Wondering how Jefferson would see our debate on Church and State today?
Thomas Jefferson’s role in writing in the Declaration of Independence, serving as third president of the nation, philosophising on the rights of individuals as opposed to the driven power of the state, and many other foundational concepts of our nation. He is, of course, controversial more recently for questions about the true nature of his relationship with Sally Hemings, widely accepted as bearing several children to him during her enslavement to him.
I am not a Jefferson scholar but came across this quotation today.
‘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.’1
Whatever your creed, religion, or beliefs, I hope you have celebrated today with joy, peace, and freedom to practice your beliefs. We must always protection this freedom on behalf of all individuals. I doubt he would have endorsed cherry-picking his concepts as he seemed an all or nothing guy. FIN
Letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT. (1 January 1802) retrieved at https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/thomas-jefferson-and-religious-freedom/