Student Question
How does Notes on the State of Virginia exhibit deism?
Quick answer:
In query 17 of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, the author emphasizes the secular nature of American government based on the deist principle that God does not intervene in human affairs. Politics, therefore, can be conducted according to reason alone, rather than being based on scripture.
Query 17 of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia deals specifically with religion. In this section, the author makes the famous statement that
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
The argument here is not for polytheism or atheism, or even specifically for deism, but for a secular government compatible with deism. The deist position is generally encapsulated in the proposition that there is a transcendent God but that God is not immanent. This is to say, God takes no part in human affairs. Deism is therefore politically compatible with secularism and, indeed, with atheism, since the deist believes that there is no point in fighting over the interpretations of God's will to be...
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found in scripture. Instead, people should use their reason to establish the correct path, a point which Jefferson makes later in the same section:
Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only.
It is true that Jefferson occasionally makes references to religion in which he appears to take the ideas of God and divine justice more seriously. Writing on the subject of slavery, he says,
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.
However, this could be interpreted as a figure of speech, reflecting the perversity of the institution, rather than a literal expression of the fear of God. In any case, many slave-owners in Jefferson's time used the Bible as justification for owning slaves. A general sense that slaveholding is unnatural and worthy of retribution is certainly compatible with deism.