Was Thomas Jefferson a Christian?
In a recent meeting, a brief debate arose about the religiosity and beliefs of one of our most revered Founders—Thomas Jefferson. Yours truly got to thinking about our American Civic Mythos and it prompted me to get the keyboard clacking away to examine an oft-overlooked concept by Catholics—that of reconciling our faith and patriotism. Because, truth be told, our faith and many Enlightenment ideals do NOT mesh. Once again, we are called to choose a side. Or, are we?
In our American civic mythology, Thomas Jefferson is lionized as a great champion of liberty, religious freedom, and enlightened governance. Some Catholics—even those striving for orthodoxy—are tempted to view him as a model of Christian political thought. However, an objective examination of his writings, personal theology, and political philosophy reveals that Jefferson was absolutely NOT Christian in any theological or orthodox sense, but rather an Enlightenment Deist deeply shaped by the rationalism of his age—a rationalism that we, as Catholics, must reject.
While we, as Catholics, should acknowledge his recognition of Divine Providence and his contributions to political liberty, we must also guard against Americanism—the heresy condemned by Pope Leo XIII—which elevates civic ideals above the truths of the Catholic faith and fosters religious indifference.
I. Jefferson’s Religious Beliefs: A Self-Professed Departure from Christianity
Jefferson’s own words are the most damning evidence against any claim that he was a Christian. In his 1820 letter to William Short, he explicitly rejected the divinity of Christ:
“I am of a sect by myself, as far as I know. I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, but not of the corruptions of His teaching by the pseudo-Christians… The immaculate conception of Jesus, His deification, the creation of the world by Him, His miraculous powers, His resurrection and visible ascension, His corporeal presence in the Eucharist… are all ascribing to Him attributes of which the Founder of Christianity never professed himself, and which I am persuaded He never claimed.”¹ [emphasis added]
Here, Jefferson employs the rhetorical trick of claiming to be a “true Christian” while redefining Christianity in purely moral and rationalist terms, stripped of its supernatural essence.
In another letter to John Adams, he dismissed the Trinity:
“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus… will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”²
This is outright heresy from a Catholic or even Protestant perspective, denying the central dogma of the Incarnation. For Jefferson, Christ was NOT GOD incarnate. Without this belief, one cannot claim the mantle of Catholicism or any of the untrue responses to it.
II. Jefferson as an Enlightenment Deist
Jefferson’s intellectual framework was built on Enlightenment philosophy—Lockean natural rights theory, Voltaire’s skepticism of clerical authority, and a materialist suspicion of revealed religion. His belief in God was impersonal and moralistic, in line with Deism, which posits a Creator but denies divine revelation and supernatural intervention.
Jefferson compiled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (commonly called the Jefferson Bible) in which he literally cut out all supernatural events from the Gospels—miracles, the resurrection, and any claims of divinity—leaving only ethical teachings.³ This was not a work of a Christian disciple, but of a rationalist moral philosopher typical of the age.
III. Catholic Teaching on the Danger of Religious Indifference
The temptation for Catholics to praise Jefferson without qualification stems partly from the Americanist error condemned by Pope Leo XIII in Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae (1899). Americanism, as condemned, elevates civic freedom over divine truth, encourages a purely natural morality detached from revelation, and promotes religious indifferentism—the idea that all religions are equally valid paths to God. Spoiler: They’re not. Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus.
Jefferson’s advocacy of religious liberty was political, not theological. In his Notes on the State of Virginia, he wrote:
“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.”⁴
While this reflects a toleration useful in a pluralistic society, it is at odds with the Catholic teaching that religious error harms souls even when it does not harm material property. Pope Pius IX, in the Syllabus of Errors, condemned the proposition that “every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.”⁵ In short, as Catholics, we DO NOT accept that one can be any religion. There is one true faith—ours.
IV. Why Catholics Should Not Hold Jefferson as a Christian Model
Doctrinal Rejection – Jefferson denied the Trinity, Incarnation, Divinity, Resurrection, and Eucharist. By Catholic and most heretical Protestant definitions, this excludes him entirely from Christian faith.
Relativistic Religious Philosophy – His belief that religion is merely a matter of private opinion undermines the Church’s teaching on objective Truth and the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation.
Anti-Catholic Sympathies – Jefferson supported the French Revolution in its early stages, praising its anticlerical elements. In an 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, he famously wrote: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”⁶ Among those “tyrants” the revolutionaries especially counted bishops and the Pope. Remember, they converted Notre Dame Cathedral to the Temple of Reason. The French Revolution thoroughly corrupted the Eldest Daughter of the Church. France had been closely aligned with the Catholic Church following the conversion of King Clovis in A.D. 496. 1300 years of Christ’s Church was replaced with man’s “reason.” Was France improved?
V. What Catholics Should Praise in Jefferson
It is not unjust to acknowledge Jefferson’s virtues:
His recognition of Divine Providence in the Declaration of Independence: “…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” and appealing to “the Supreme Judge of the world” for the rectitude of intentions.⁷
His insistence on limiting governmental power over conscience—something that protects the Church in a pluralistic nation.
But such praise must be qualified. Jefferson’s Providence was the Deist watchmaker, not the Triune God of Christianity. His defense of liberty was rooted in Enlightenment anthropology, not in the Catholic understanding of man’s dignity as imago Dei ordered to supernatural beatitude.
VI. Catholic Guardrails Against Americanism
Catholics should draw three lessons when discussing Jefferson:
Distinguish Political Virtues from Theological Truth – Political leadership and legal achievements cannot be mistaken for sanctity or orthodoxy.
Avoid Religious Indifference – Respect for civic religious liberty does not mean accepting all religions as equally true.
Ground Praise in Catholic Terms – When acknowledging Jefferson’s contributions, frame them within Catholic moral theology, recognizing where they align with truth and where they diverge.
Pope Leo XIII warned that uncritical adoption of American civic ideals risks subordinating divine revelation to democratic consensus.⁸ This is precisely the danger in making Jefferson a “Christian” hero—doing so subtly reshapes Christianity into Jeffersonian moralism.
VII. Separating Judeo-Christian Ethics and Catholic Christianity
In a previous article we examined the development of Judeo-Christian Ethics influenced by the Enlightenment and its reflection in the founding of the United States. HOWEVER—we should remember that while the United States founding was clearly based in Judeo-Christian values, it was heavily influenced by Enlightenment thought that was heavily at odds with, and hostile to, religious conviction.
Thomas Jefferson was no Christian in the Catholic sense—or even in a broadly orthodox Protestant sense. He was an Enlightenment Deist who admired the moral example of Jesus while rejecting His divine nature and miracles. Expanding to the full Committee of Five responsible for the drafting of the Declaration, we can see a slight hand of Divine Providence at work. The most famous—Jefferson, John Adams and Ben Franklin are remembered NOT for their religious piety but as civic statesman. Adams was a Congregationalist who denied Trinitarianism, Franklin rejected religious conviction entirely save prayer and God and Jefferson has been examined. HOWEVER—the two forgotten members Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston—while in error theologically—brought strong religious convictions to the final draft of the Declaration.
As a reminder, Jefferson’s draft stated:
“…that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable…”
which became:
“…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
This revision acknowledging the Creator as opposed to His creation being the source of unalienable rights both recognized AND elevated God above man. This was the work of Roger Sherman’s unflinching commitment to Judeo-Christian ideals over Enlightenment ideals.
Catholics may acknowledge Jefferson’s recognition of Providence and his role in securing political liberties, but must avoid the Americanist temptation to conflate those civic virtues with Christian orthodoxy. And, it should not be forgotten that it was likely Sherman and Livingston’s influence and moderation of Jefferson’s more fervent Enlightenment tendencies coupled with Franklin’s diplomacy and Adams’ pragmatism. It was this combination that produced our Declaration. Its greatest flaw is the lack of Catholic influence…
The Church teaches that political liberty is good only when ordered to the truth of Christ. The Committee’s political philosophy offered lessons in prudence, but Jefferson’s theology offers only a cautionary tale against the seductions of Enlightenment rationalism and religious indifferentism.
Endnotes
Thomas Jefferson to William Short, April 13, 1820, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, ed. H.A. Washington, vol. 7 (Washington: Taylor & Maury, 1854), 210–211.
Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1823, The Adams-Jefferson Letters, ed. Lester J. Cappon (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1959), 594.
Thomas Jefferson, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, Smithsonian Edition (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904).
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII, 1782.
Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, proposition 15, December 8, 1864.
Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, November 13, 1787, Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 12.
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
Pope Leo XIII, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae, January 22, 1899.