Thomas Jefferson Said What?

"There's so much wrong with this picture it's hard to know where to start."

The Backyard Skeptics in Costa Mesa, CA put this billboard up recently. The quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson is dubious. There is no evidence or documentation that he said this, or wrote any letter of any kind to the person this quote is typically associated with. Let's see, does that make it a myth or a fable?

I realize Jefferson was not a Christian. He was a Deist, and as such believed that the world and humanity were created by a Supreme Being or God, intentionally and intelligently. Why a group of Atheists would put anything he said on a billboard is curious. Whatever ambiguities there are about what Jefferson said or didn't say, clearly he was not an atheist, and would not agree with them today. Seems like if atheists are going to go to the expense of putting up billboards, they should at least put one of their own quotes up there rather than quoting someone who obviously disagrees with them.

The quote itself seems to challenge the intellectual integrity of believing in Christ. Fair enough. Sometimes I challenge Christians for the same thing. God gave us brains and He expects us to use them. But since the quote is disingenuous, and blatantly violates the very concept of intellectual integrity, what is their point again? In Christian circles, that is called hypocrisy, and is considered a bad thing.

Whether the quote has anything to do with Jefferson, clearly the guys that put up the billboard believe it, and therefore believe that there is not one redeeming feature of Christianity. Well, they might look a little harder. Shall I see if I can help the poor bastards?

Their own contention is that God is not necessary in order to perceive, desire and do good. The implication is that goodness, mercy, grace, compassion, forgiveness, redemption, destiny and purpose can all be realized within the confines of humanity without adding God to the equation at all. If that's true, then the benefit of escalating these things to the level of Deity should be self evident, shouldn't it? Christianity does this better than any other worldview on the planet. What's their contention again?

Atheists never promote the benefits of atheism. They just criticize the benefits of faith in God. Without the concept of God, there would be no meaning to atheism at all. So their very identity is a benefit to Christianity, isn't it? To say that there is no redeeming value to Christianity is moronic.

Christianity is almost always criticized based on its credibility. It is also subject to criticism based on the way it is expressed through mainstream religion. But almost nobody criticizes it based on the benefits it offers or the concepts it promotes and represents.

So my conclusions about the billboard so proudly displayed by the Backyard Skeptics are as follows:

If indeed the myth is true and the Thomas Jefferson quote is accurate, he was probably drunk at the time and not thinking straight. Overall, the man was not that big of an idiot.

Second, whether or not Christians have any intellectual integrity, the Backyard Skeptics surely don't. Nobody needs Christ more than those who are proud of things they should be ashamed of.

Finally, the whole incident affirms the meaning of California. Just as the literal translation of 'Oklahoma' is 'Land of the Red Man', the literal translation of 'California' is 'Land of Morons With Money'.