Atanu Dey On India's Development

Thomas Jefferson on Christianity

September 16, 2009 by Atanu Dey | 6 Comments

Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) had this to say about Christianity –

“There is one notable thing about our Christianity: bad, bloody, merciless, money-grabbing and predatory as it is – in our country particularly, and in all other Christian countries in a somewhat modified degree… Ours is a terrible religion. The fleets of the world could swim in spacious comfort in the innocent blood it has spilt …The gospel history of Jesus consists of fabrications,superstitions and fanaticism… I consider the book of Revelation, the ravings of a maniac…. Due to Christianity, millions of innocent men, women and children have been burnt alive as witches.”

Postscript: Pankaj Narula has cast doubts in a comment below on the authenticity of the quote. It appears to be a composite quote. I will do a follow up on this post in a short while. I regret the error.

  • pankajnarula

    Atanu – them internets say this quote is from Mark Twain – http://atheisme.free.fr/Quotes/Twain.htm

  • http://admin hoopyfrood
  • http://www.deeshaa.org Atanu Dey

    Pankaj, thanks for the link. I now see that the quote I posted is a composite quote. It has bits from Jefferson and bits from Twain.

    I found this source, Jefferson on Christianity which quotes Jefferson:

    “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.”

    Also this bit:

    “It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it (i.e. the Book of Revelations), and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherence of our own nightly dreams.”

  • Jayant N

    “Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.”
    - Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)

    Wonder what these politicians in India would have done to Mark Twain!!

  • Jayant N

    The Mark Twain quote above was meant to comment “It’s a joke, you stupid cretins” post. Sorry..
    Re. TJ – Nevermind who said what when..the validity of the thought still holds true today.

  • http://digestingveda.blogspot.com/ Digesting VEDA

    Dear all,

    There is Christian or American prefixed to Yoga, Gita, Bharatanatyam, Carnatic Music etc., There’s this excellent example of Digestion of Veda itself. Please see

    http://digestingveda.blogspot.com/

    “American Veda” rejoices how Dharma has been digested by Americans with the original sources made to disappear. The Tiger digesting the Deer remains the Tiger, in fact stronger, but the Deer turns into a pile of shit. This has happened to many civilizations that were also similarly “assimilated” into Christianity and the west – but they now live in museums!