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George Washington Pays Homage to YahwehBy Simon Schama | American History | 7 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post Ultimately, the separation of church and political rights across the United States involved a long drawn out process, with states like Massachusetts and Connecticut aggressively patrolling religion and public morals long after the passage of the First Amendment in 1791. Ironically, Virginia was slow to ratify the First Amendment because it offered only “inadequate” protection against the dominance of a single sect. But throughout the 19th century, those still excluded from public office—especially Jews and Catholics—could sue under the terms of the First Amendment and often won. As for President Jefferson, he was happily unrepentant, knowing that the Virginia statute gave encouragement to those elsewhere in the country who would now campaign for their states to follow its example. He was especially happy to receive, on New Year’s Day morning 1802, from the Massachusetts Baptist preacher John Leland, a gift of a 1,200-pound, bright red Cheshire cheese, made by the grateful farmers of Cheshire, Mass. That afternoon, a sated and happy Jefferson penned a letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Conn., also engaged in bringing the spirit and letter of the Virginia statute to their state. “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God,” the president wrote that he contemplated the First Amendment with “sovereign reverence” establishing as it did “a wall of separation between church and state.” In his first draft of the letter (for Jefferson seldom dispatched anything in a single draft) he had written “eternal” before “wall.” But Jefferson knew full well that even, or especially, in the United States, nothing was eternal. Subscribe Today
Simon Schama has written 14 books, including Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution, which won a 2007 National Book Critics’ Circle Award. A four-part series based on The American Future: A History will soon air on PBS. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
            Tags: American History, Historical Figures, Religion
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7 Comments to “George Washington Pays Homage to Yahweh”
IT IS GOOD TO SEE THAT WASHINGTON RECOGNIZED A
HIGHER POWER. YAHWEH IS THE JEWISH PRONUN-
CIATION OF JEHOVAH FOUND IN THE KING JAMES
VERSION BIBLE AT PSALM 83:18 AND THREE OTHER
PLACES.
By George Tobias on Apr 8, 2009 at 8:05 pm
If we can only get the religious zealots out of the government and from trying to impose their will on others we would really be doing something to honor Washington and all the other brave patriots who gave their lives for the idea of not only freedom of religion but also freedom from religion.
By Mike R on May 1, 2009 at 9:01 am
To speak of the founders of America as wanting “not only freedom of religion but also freedom from religion” is so far from the truth that the one promoting the idea should be ashamed to post it on a historical web site. Consider the following quote from James Madison:
“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. BEFORE ANY MAN CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A MEMBER OF CIVIL SOCIETY, HE MUST BE CONSIDERED AS A SUBJECT OF THE GOVERNOUR OF THE UNIVERSE: And if a member of Civil Society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal Sovereign…” (emphasis added)
To me this surely sounds a lot more “religiously zealous” than anything I’ve ever heard out of Washington DC in my lifetime!
By Phil Hoff on May 13, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Washington was a member and vestryman for 30 years of the Truro Episcopal church near his home in Virginia.
By Jim on Jun 5, 2009 at 12:13 pm
AMERICA – Prayer is the only thing that will save us now!
Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not Obama
By J. C. nowles on Jul 8, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Washington, like many people in colonial America, belonged to the Anglican church and was a vestryman in it. But in early America, particularly in pre-revolutionary America, you had to belong to the dominant church if you wanted to have influence in society, as is illustrated by the following taken from Old Chruches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, by Bishop William Meade, I, p 191. “Even Mr. Jefferson, and George Wythe, who did not conceal their disbelief in Christianity, took their parts in the duties of vestrymen, the one at Williamsburg, the other at Albermarle; for they wished to be men of influence.”
Excerpt from http://www.deism.com/washington.htm
By D. Baney on Jul 30, 2009 at 9:30 pm
The accepted real name of the creator in the original Hebrew langauge used by the ancient Israelites is Yahweh; not the english translation of Jehovah. King James Version is a weak politically perverted translation of the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Thomas Jefferson recognized Saul know later as Paul, as a heritic. Those books in the New Testament should not be read or followed. See also: http://www.jesusneverexisted.com, http://www.wyattmuseum.com and http://www.templeinstitute.com
By Private on Sep 20, 2009 at 1:48 pm