Misrepresenting our Founding Fathers (to include other notable free-thinkers)

[Bad Writer]

I've found myself in few uncomfortable situations where people quote mine the Founding Fathers to justify some of their views on modern politics. However, in many cases, sometimes these quotes are completely out-of-place/out-of-context, and sometimes they're just downright fabricated.

Take this CNN article I just read about Thomas Jefferson and see for yourself how the debate on guns has brought our "paradoxical" 200-year old man to the forefront of the discussion when, in many cases, he should not be included at all.

Jefferson and Guns

Research is very important in representing yourself well in an argument, and knowing how to do a simple Google search on the internet can mean the difference between, for example, advocating for gay rights and downright squashing them beneath your ignorant foot.

[Napoléon]

The fact that anyone quotes anyone else from 200 fucking years ago to somehow try and justify their own views is pretty laughable in my opinion.

For example, I've heard some people quote the 'founding fathers' to support their own views of freedom, yet many of these people from 200 years ago kept slaves. Seems a tad contradictory. IMO we're living in a very different world to what the founding fathers were back then, so quoting them as though they have any say/authority on matters of today is usually misguided and irrelevant.

[Bad Writer]

The fact that anyone quotes anyone else from 200 fucking years ago to somehow try and justify their own views is pretty laughable in my opinion.

For example, I've heard some people quote the 'founding fathers' to support their own views of freedom, yet many of these people from 200 years ago kept slaves. Seems a tad contradictory. IMO we're living in a very different world to what the founding fathers were back then, so quoting them as though they have any say/authority on matters of today is usually misguided and irrelevant.

According to this article, Jefferson only toted a gun around on his walks to keep a slave revolution from breaking out.

[Minimalist]

Invented quotes and mis-attributed quotes are the stock in trade for fundie assholes who are seeking to show that the Deists who wrote the Constitution were good evangelical xtians and that fucking jesus hand-delivered the constitution to them.

One of them, David Barton (sorry, Rahul...yet another Texas asswipe!) has made a cottage industry out of re-writing history to put a jesus face on it.

[Bad Writer]

I think there was a story about an actual asswipe that had Jesus' face on it after it was used.

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Okay, I couldn't find the story, but the dog's jesus ass was the next best thing!

[Rahul]

No too long ago religious fucktards decided to alter Texas's education system to minimize Jefferson in our schools. Don't want to teach the kids things like the Jefferson Bible.

The Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson in the latter years of his life by cutting and pasting (literally with scissors and glue) numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels which contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages indicating Jesus was divine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

[Bad Writer]

The Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was a book constructed by Thomas Jefferson in the latter years of his life by cutting and pasting (literally with scissors and glue) numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition is especially notable for its exclusion of all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels which contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages indicating Jesus was divine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

I had forgotten about this! Thanks for the reminder! It's a good telling of what kind of man Jefferson was in his latter years.

[Angrboda]

The following is a powerpoint presentation given by a member of one of my critical thinking clubs. It contains many useful quotes and other information.

(3 MB)

[Bad Writer]

I loved all the quotes in the Powerpoint. It's quite clear that not only were the majority of the Founding Fathers Deists, but they advocated strongly for the Separation of Church and State. Thomas Jefferson may have been a practicing Christian later on in his life, but isn't that also the time when he created the Jefferson Bible? How interesting...

[Minimalist]

No, late on in his life he had figured out that xtiantiy was total shit.

"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. "

Source: Letter of Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, April 11, 1823.

Jefferson died in 1826 at the age of 83 so, he was 80 when he wrote this to Adams.