A Religious Mystery

                 Many people throughout history have sought to find the truth behind Thomas Jefferson’s religious beliefs. Nobody knows for sure exactly what his defined religion was, but I believe this was all a part of his mischievous plan. Jefferson once said, “I am of a sect by myself”, meaning he has his own personal believes and doesn’t care to share them because religion should only be shared between a man and his God.  Historians trying to figure out this mystery have argued that he might have been a Unitarian, a Deist, or a Christian. However, after reading bits of “The Mid of Thomas Jefferson” by Peter S. Onuf, I believe the Thomas Jefferson was neither of those. Jefferson strongly believed in the freedom to follow your own conscience and not be forced to believe something that doesn’t necessarily make sense to you. He especially didn’t like the idea of a priest. Jefferson believed the priests of our world were clouding the reasonable part of religion and leaving people without the strength to actually think for themselves. In a letter to John Adams, Jefferson wrote, “If we could live without an order of priests, we could then moralize for ourselves”.  I believe that Jefferson had his own spiritual beliefs that in some ways may have reflected multiple real religions, but at the same time had their major differences which he made up on his own. He was an extremely intelligent man who knew a lot about many things, however he was also a man who remained true to his spiritual beliefs and he didn’t want anyone to solve his religious mystery.