Mr. Jefferson

This semester I am taking American Political Tradition, and it is defnitely my favorite class. We get to read original documents and study topics such as the framing of the Constitution, religious freedom, constitutional interpretation, and Supreme Court cases. I actually want to do my reading in the class and get excited about going to class in the morning! It is also a unique class, because we meet in one of the pavilions on the lawn, and I have to say, it is so cool to be at Mr. Jefferson's University, reading his documents, and meeting in one of the rooms he originally built and where the first students met at UVA.

Another great aspect of this class is we get guest speakers from other colleges come in and speak on the topics we are studying. While we were studying the founders and religious freedom, a guest speaker came to talk about the founders' intent and how in reality, it is difficult to understand their intent, especially since they all had different opinions - specifically Jefferson, Madison, and Washington's views on religious freedoms.

I realized that I actually do not know much about Jefferson and his beliefs, and when the guest speaker told us, I was really surprised to find out that unfortunately, Jefferson did not always practice what he preached. It is common knowledge that he was a big advocate for separation of church and state, but it seems that he advocated freedom FROM religion instead of freedom OF religion.

While in his Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom he said that an individual should not be discriminated for his religious beliefs, he discriminated against religion himself by wanting to exclude the clergy from being able to be elected to the legislature.

Jefferson also decided to one day read through the Bible and cut out sections of Scripture he didn't agree with - calling it the Jefferson Bible. But religion is not about taking the bits and pieces you are comfortable with and the ones that fit easily into your life - it is about completely believing in it, even when it forces you to step outside of your comfort zone or when it challenges your previous opinions.

This side of Jefferson is definitely not the one we always envision when we think of our Founding Father who eloquently penned the Declaration of Independence and founded the first secular university, our dear old UVA.

But I think it teaches us an important lesson: too often we over glorify leaders from the past, making them out to be wiser and of better character than our leaders today. The truth is, men were just as fallible as they are today - and I believe we need to remember this when we study them.

And that's my two cents.