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Diversity of thought.. Thomas Jefferson:
Thomas Jefferson Had no official affiliations, but his beliefs were primarily Deist. Like many others of his time (he died just one year after the founding of institutional Unitarianism). Jefferson was a Unitarian in theology (and we have him listed as such), though not in church membership. He never joined a Unitarian congregation: there were none near his home in Virginia during his lifetime. He regularly attended Johnathan Priestley's Pennsylvania church when he was nearby, and said that Priestley's theology was his own, and there is no doubt Priestley should be identified as Unitarian.
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." - Thomas Jefferson
The United States was born with the Declaration of Independence (1776). The document was drafted by Thomas Jefferson (a distinctly anti-Christian Deist) between June 11 and June 28.
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Christians often recite those portions of the Declaration of Independence which refer to the "Creator", and yet they seem to forget the fact that the document begins with a passage that refers to Nature's God. Christians will claim that the use of words such as "Creator" is a sign that Christian ideology and ideals were in the hearts and minds of the founders. Such thoughts are nothing more than delusion. The drafter of the Declaration of Independence was staunchly Deist and was dismissive of Christianity in all its forms.
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world,
and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming
feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Woods
"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are
servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal
for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of
a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason
than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787]
You don't get much more Unitarian than that.
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