October 7, 2002
Another Jefferson letter sparks interest
___ELKTON, Md. (ABP)--The discovery last May in Elkton, Md., of an original letter from President Thomas Jefferson to the Delaware Baptist Association is creating a stir.
___The letter, valued at $700,000, predates by six months Jefferson's famous letter in 1801 to Baptists in Danbury, Conn., in which he introduced the metaphor of the "wall of separation" between church and state.
___In the letter to Delaware Baptists, one of several composed by Jefferson thanking Baptist groups that had congratulated him on his election as president, Jefferson credits the "Almighty Ruler" for "happy consequences of our revolution." He goes on to list "the establishment here of liberty, equality, of social rights, exclusion of unequal privileges civil and religious and of the usurping domination of one sect over another."
___Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the letter gives new insight into Jefferson's thinking, which he said "is not nearly as radical as the liberals try to make it."
___"That is not a secular vision," Land told the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware news journal Baptist Life.
___But Loyd Allen, a church history professor at McAfee School of Theology, says anyone thinking the letter reveals Jefferson as a "closet Christian" is going to be disappointed. In an article for EthicsDaily.com, Allen said other writings by Jefferson rejected the divinity of Christ and denied the miracles, resurrection and the atonement.
___"Some contemporary Christians apparently cannot comprehend how born-again Baptist Christians in (the) early 19th century ... could--after the election of a non-orthodox, non-Trinitarian, non-Bible-accepting, deist president--willingly praise that president because he vouched for the freedom of all consciences, believer and non-believer alike."
___That, Allen said, points to "the loss of wise Jefferson's clear vision of the importance of a wall of separation between church and state."
Send this story to a friend
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook