Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another.
Interpretation
This quote criticizes the divisive effects of religious doctrines on humanity and emphasizes the violence they can incite.
Thomas Jefferson expresses a strong disdain for organized religion, particularly the divisions and hatred that arise from Christian creeds and doctrines. He suggests that instead of promoting peace and unity, these belief systems have historically turned society into a chaotic and violent battleground, where sects of followers conflict with one another, contributing to a culture of hatred and slaughter. Jefferson's words serve as a caution against the dangers of dogma and the consequences of fanaticism.
In practice
During a discussion on the impact of religion on society, this quote could highlight the paradox of faith leading to conflict.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
βWe must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
Those who persevere in sin are those who are held in abhorrence by God, but those who abandon the ways of sin are loved by the Lord.
A lie preserved in stained glass doesn't make it more true.
A lot of the stuff about white-supremacist groups was very family-friendly: 'We just love our people.' One the surface, you go, 'Gee, what's wrong with loving your people?' But when you love your people to the exclusion of everything else that's remotely different, that's when you get into trouble.
Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
I know that's the sort of thing people say and I really hate it when people say the sort of things people say. I always think, 'You don't mean that, you just think it sounds good.
Fixity is always momentary. But how can it always be so? If it were, it would not be momentary - or would not be fixity.
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