“I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”
Jefferson wrote those words for use in his second inaugural address given in 1805. For many who seem to hate religion, or Christianity in general, Jefferson is their favorite Founder (him, or Thomas Paine). While it seems clear to most historians that Jefferson was not a Christian, his writing of the need for God’s direction and guidance is telling. At the very least, it is Jefferson’s admission that for most of the citizens, their Christianity and the Christian foundation of the country was very important. The statement could also telling about how Jefferson may have privately thought about God, or at least the idea of God. Regardless, as we seem to have entered a stage in our national history that is post-Christian, or even anti-Christian, it does us good to re-read the prayer of a President who is usually shown to be equally non-Christian. Obviously he wasn’t anti-Christian, and was clearly aware of the then almost 200 year history of English-speaking European residents on the Eastern seaboard…a history that had a foundation in the Christian faith.