This seems like a good spot for a reminder that Thomas Jefferson edited his own copy of the bible to remove all of the magical/religious elements and left only the philosophical lessons.
Anyway to get a copy of this?
I really want to emphasize that Jefferson was not a good guy, not morally good at all, definitely raped his slave Sally Hemmings who was probably younger than 15 when it started but at least 15 (Jefferson was in his 40s). Prevented her from fleeing his rape house when he took her to France by promising he’d free her whole family and her when they got back, and then didn’t (because he wanted to keep raping her, probably). Oh and also, her brother went to France with them and learned French cooking for Jefferson, and the ice cream recipe he used for Jefferson is still served to this day at Mt Rushmore as Thomas Jefferson’s ice cream. Even though it’s not his.
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/8/11389556/thomas-jefferson-sally-hemings-book
This is not a man with a good moral backbone. For reference, literally no other founder did anything like this. Sure, many cheated - with adults who weren’t their personal child slaves. This is extremely disturbing, and before anyone goes to defend him, really ask yourself why you’re empathizing with Jefferson here and not poor Sally.
There are better philosophers out there.
Wow you got me, I’m actually a racing racist and pedo just because I mentioned that one of the most prominent founding fathers was not terribly religious (??)
What a terribly bad faith interpretation of their comment. Theyre making the point that while it’s neat that Jefferson de-religioned the bible, and left the philosophy, Jefferson himself wasn’t exactly an ethical paragon and that should be remembered. It wasn’t an attack against you.
They replied to me, and it had nothing to do with the topic at hand (the founding fathers’ religious beliefs). It’s like barging into a conversation about the autobahn yelling GUYS, HITLER WAS REALLY BAD! I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT!
I mean, the broader thread has been talking about the philosophy and such included in the Jefferson bible. Seems pretty reasonable to put a note on a link to the thing just for the edification of anyone that checks it out.
Its more akin to being adjacent to a conversation about the history of the autobahn, and being the one to say “so for anyone who’s not aware, the autobahn was largely built by the Nazis”
It wasn’t an attack on you, just context for those who weren’t aware.
