https://www.deseret.com/faith/2025/01/06/house-speaker-mike-johnson-jefferson-prayer/

House Speaker Mike Johnson read a prayer he attributed to Thomas Jefferson and claimed he recited it everyday of his presidency and every day after he left until his death.

The problem is, that’s unlikely.

“The Jefferson Foundation calls out the prayer on its website, noting that, although it’s often associated with Jefferson, it’s unlikely he was the true source of the words.

“Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Jefferson would have composed or delivered a public prayer of this sort. He considered religion a private matter, and when asked to recommend a national day of fasting and prayer, replied, ‘I consider the government of the US. as interdicted by the constitution from intermedling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises,’” the Foundation’s website says.”

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2025/01/06/house-speaker-mike-johnson-jefferson-prayer/

Jefferson grew drugs at his mansion in Monticello. Opium poppy flowers were still grown in the garden on the Jefferson estate until the early 1990s, when they were uprooted at the demand of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Nobody raises a fuss about that.

Jefferson's role in government is clear but subject to misinterpretation. It's no wonder that people of a few different views cite him because, without details, he holds certain positive vibes in history; he was instrumental in writing the Declaration of Independence and the Louisiana Purchase, But he ran a plantation with slaves.

I think M. Beschloss would give a well-informed, well-balanced account of his life & heritage (if he hasn't already).

Also, different folks give different slack to long-ago persons, such as the 'fact'(? I haven't confirmed) that G. Washington owned slaves.

with polarization, there are few folks without strident opinions/views/comments.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2025 09:37PM by GNPE.

I see no reason to throw early leaders under the bus, but rather to learn & make corrections as appropriate; However, that doesn't apply to deniers.

I expect the government to lie. We get to choose which lies to complain about and which ones to let slide.

Wait until you hear about the lies from corporations and religion too!

Jefferson produced a work he titled "The life and morals of Jesus of Nazareth" commonly called the Jefferson Bible.

Basically he literally cut and pasted parts of the gospels from various bibles and pasted them together.

He left out any reference to the supernatural, angels, miracles etc.

A bunch of religious types (and some nonreligious) want to make the founding fathers into people having their version of beliefs and views. So, they cherry pick and make stuff up.
They think it substantiates what they are doing because, hey, God and these important guys agree with them.

When they are at church, most people aren't going to fact check or care about plagiarism. Spewing that kind of stuff from the Capitol is going to get some scrutiny.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A bunch of religious types (and some nonreligious)
> want to make the founding fathers into people
> having their version of beliefs and views. So,
> they cherry pick and make stuff up.
> They think it substantiates what they are doing
> because, hey, God and these important guys agree
> with them.
>
> When they are at church, most people aren't going
> to fact check or care about plagiarism. Spewing
> that kind of stuff from the Capitol is going to
> get some scrutiny.

The problem is that the people the representative is trying to reach with this lie are not very likely to either 1) scrutinize it; and/or 2) believe those (historians and others) who know better.

That's true, unfortunately.