Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
There is nothing in history to parallel the influence of Jesus Christ.
Jefferson was a deist but had little love for the organized religions and did not consider the Bible as the revealed word of God.
Some of the founding fathers were deeply religious men while others were not so. Some varied in their believes at different times of their lives, and a number were not very favorable towards orthodox religion. At the time, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches were persecuting other religions throughout Europe and people were still being killed for their “heretical” beliefs. Most important to some of them, kings and other monarchs whom they abhorred, all at the time claimed the Divine Right of Kings and the established churches were the most important support for monarchs. At the time most organized religions were opposed to freedom of conscience and certainly opponents of separation of church and state. American churches tended to take on American values but were never given the chance to dominate the American government they way many religions had in Europe and the rest of the world.
Jefferson was a great admirer of the philosophy of Jesus (the diamonds), but was very negative about the organized Christian churches (the dunghills).
While many scientists are not religious, many other are, But very few would agree with this fundamentalist point of view. Almost none would inject Christ or other religious concepts into any scientific writings or lectures.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
