D*****r
发帖数: 6791 | 1 “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.”
（Jefferson's letter to his nephew, from Paris, August 10, 1787.）
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/jefferson_carr.html
其中关于宗教的段落摘录如下：
Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place,
divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion.
Indulge them in any other subject rather than that of religion. It is too
important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. On the other
hand, shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds
are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her
tribunal 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. You will naturally examine
first, the religion of your own country. Read the Bible, then as you would
read Livy or Tacitus. The facts which are within the ordinary course of
nature, you will believe on the authority of the writer, as you do those of
the same kind in Livy & Tacitus. The testimony of the writer weighs in their
favor, in one scale, and their not being against the laws of nature, does
not weigh against them. But those facts in the Bible which contradict the
laws of nature, must be examined with more care, and under a variety of
faces. Here you must recur to the pretensions of the writer to inspiration
from God. Examine upon what evidence his pretensions are founded, and
whether that evidence is so strong, as that its falsehood would be more
improbable than a change in the laws of nature, in the case he relates. For
example, in the book of Joshua, we are told, the sun stood still several
hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus, we should class it with
their showers of blood, speaking of statues, beasts, &c. But it is said,
that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly,
what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is
entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand,
you are astronomer enough to know how contrary it is to the law of nature
that a body revolving on its axis, as the earth does, should have stopped,
should not, by that sudden stoppage, have prostrated animals, trees,
buildings, and should after a certain time gave resumed its revolution, &
that without a second general prostration. Is this arrest of the earth's
motion, or the evidence which affirms it, most within the law of
probabilities? You will next read the New Testament. It is the history of a
personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions: 1, of
those who say he was begotten by God, born of a virgin, suspended & reversed
the laws of nature at will, & ascended bodily into heaven; and 2, of those
who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart,
enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to divinity, ended in
believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition, by being gibbeted,
according to the Roman law, which punished the first commission of that
offence by whipping, & the second by exile, or death in furea. See this law
in the Digest Lib. 48. tit. 19. §. 28. 3. & Lipsius Lib 2. de cruce. cap. 2
. These questions are examined in the books I have mentioned under the head
of religion, & several others. They will assist you in your inquiries, but
keep your reason firmly on the watch in reading them all.
Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences.
If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to
virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the
love of others which it will procure you. If you find reason to believe
there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under his eye, & that he
approves you, will be a vast additional incitement; if that there be a
future state, the hope of a happy existence in that increases the appetite
to deserve it; if that Jesus was also a God, you will be comforted by a
belief of his aid and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all
prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because
any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it.
Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are
answerable, not for the rightness, but uprightness of the decision. I forgot
to observe, when speaking of the New Testament, that you should read all
the histories of Christ, as well of those whom a council of ecclesiastics
have decided for us, to be Pseudo-evangelists, as those they named
Evangelists. Because these Pseudo-evangelists pretended to inspiration, as
much as the others, and you are to judge their pretensions by your own
reason, and not by the reason of those ecclesiastics. Most of these are lost
. There are some, however, still extant, collected by Fabricius, which I
will endeavor to get & send you. | P**********w
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