Thomas Jefferson and His Belief on Church and State

The view of Christianity in American history varies depending on the period one is viewing. In the early colonial settlements of America, many were coming to escape religious tyranny in England. However, this view became debatable when the United States was being created. The reason is that some of the Founders were considered Diests. Thomas Jefferson was one of those who was considered a Diest. This is due to the famous letter written to the Dansbury Baptist about the “Separation of Church and State.” It was this letter that upset people in religious circles. Driesbach notes, “Such is the case with the graphic phrase “wall of separation between church and state,” which for more than half a century has profoundly influenced church-state law, policy, and discourse.” Despite this one statement, Jefferson, in his correspondence, mentions the church and the issues he saw between the church and state. This will focus on one such letter and give an interpretation of what Jefferson was talking about.

Jefferson was a man who looked at history and took in the problems he saw other governments experience. This look may have given him the insight to declare that the church and state should have no ties to one another. In Jefferson’s letter to Samuel Kercheval (February 19, 1810) states,


“Nothing can be more exactly and seriously true than what is stated; that but a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State; that the purest system of morals ever before preached to man, has been adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions, into a mere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that rational men not being able to swallow their impious heresies, in order to force them down their throats, they raise the hue and cry of infidelity, why they themselves are the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the real doctrines of Jesus, and do in fact constitute the real Anti-Christ.”


This is a hefty and complicated quote from Jefferson, but it may give the reader insight into the man and his beliefs. Jefferson is most likely referring to Jesus Christ in this comment. Jefferson is saying upon his death, and it was not long after that his words and teachings were distorted. Jesus’s moral principles were twisted into a tool that oppressed the people, and those who benefitted were the powerful within the Church and State. Looking at how Jefferson refers to Jesus as a reformer, one can assume that Jefferson did not see Jesus as the Son of God. Looking through the lens of history, Jefferson and his statement are not incorrect either. Jefferson only wanted to protect the people from the two systems uniting as one, such as what happened in England with the Church. Jefferson did not want to have a government that interfered with the church, nor did he want the church to interfere with the government. Hence, his “wall of separation of church and state” statement was meant only to protect the people from what he saw throughout history.


Daniel Driesbach, Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation Between Church and State. (New York City, New York, New York University, 2002) 27.

Jefferson, Thomas, and Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies, from the papers of Thomas Jefferson, 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926 (accessed February 3, 2024). 138. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0104461104/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=75aa6e01&pg=141.

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