RIGHTS OF MAN
TO WORSHIP
[I]t is only by abridging the authority of States that the liberty of Churches can be assured.
HIRST, FRANCIS W., Liberty and Tyranny
[I]t does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Notes on Virginia, Query 17
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his own.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Letter to H.G. Spafford, 1814
Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Notes on Virginia, Query 17
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.