Thomas Jefferson Religious Freedom Analysis

Thomas Jefferson can be seen as many men: a revolutionary whose signature is proudly displayed on the Declaration of Independence, a slave owner who disagreed with slavery, or the enemy of religion. In his life he fought for people’s individual rights and happiness, his most vicious being the one fought to pass the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It took almost ten years to pass, and cost him any esteem the church once held for him, he was able to take away a great portion of power the elite had held within the church. The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom earned him the title “enemy of religion” because with it he threatened those who gained power through the alliance of the church and state by questioning their authoritative ability to force individual opinion. The Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom was written in 1777, in it Jefferson calls for the end of “All attempts to influence religious belief by temporal punishments...” He believed that the …show more content…
His ideas were centered towards allowing more freedom for the individual to development and discuss their opinions without risk of punishment. In promoting truth and natural debate he hoped that those who turn religious influence in their favor would be exposed, and those who would otherwise be turned away once again realize their mistakes. Jefferson wrote, “...errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.” Of course who would be at the worst disadvantage if people were allowed to question the policies and lessons they were forced to live with? The institution who held all the power, and traditionally when the power is questioned there is a problem with the structure or the people who are in charge. Those with the power and the influence from the church are the same people who accused him of being the enemy of religion, in truth a more accurate name would be the enemy of