In a letter to the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pittsburg, PA, 12/9/1808:
I am much indebted; fellow citizens, for your friendly address of November 20th, and gratified by ts expressions of personal regard to myself. Having ever been an advocate for the freedom of religious opinion and exercise, from no person, certainly, was an abridgment of these sacred rights to be apprehended less than from myself.
In justice, too, our excellent Constitution, it ought to be observed, that is has not placed our religious rights under the power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights...
For that portion of your approbation which you are pleased to bestow on my conduct, I am truly thankful and I offer my sincere prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country from the difficulties impending over it.
From Jefferson and Madison on Separation of Church and State, by Lenni Brenner.
People who claim Jefferson was only pandering to the Baptists of Danbury have not studied Jefferson nearly enough.
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