p. 5 | RELIGIOUS OPINION AND GOVERNMENT by Thomas Jefferson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 30, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 26.

RELIGIOUS OPINION AND GOVERNMENT.

By Thomas Jefferson

OPINION is something with which the government has nothing to do. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It is error alone which needs the support of government; truth can stand by itself. Millions of innocent men, women, and children since the introduction of Christianity have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced an inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect?—To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites.—Thomas Jefferson.