Whatever you say, Rig. I'm sure we can be sure of sober objectivity on this topic from somebody who has advocated that religion be "stamped out".




And, speaking to the posters who perhaps are not quite in Rig's category on this topic:

By the way, it's not even clear that Jefferson, one of the patron saints of secularism in the US, rejected the idea of God.

His writings are like the Bible in that you can find justification for any number of positions.

For instance:

"Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone."

NB: not "Nature" and myself or "Providence" and myself--words which also crop up elsewhere.

And again:

"I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man"--which seems rather clearly to accept the idea of God and intellectual vigor at the same time.

Anybody who assumes that "God" in the writings of Jefferson and other "Founding Fathers" is just shorthand for other phenomena has a lot of proving to do.

The ability of 21st century secularists to read the minds of 18th century writers mentioning God is really quite remarkable.