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i am jumping on board freethinkers two quarters too late, but i have finished the most recent Q1 of 06 reading and wanted to tackle this book next. here are some of my thoughts for chapter 1:

i don't think jacoby stresses enough the fact that the freethinkers featured in this chapter were religious men, or at least men that believed in a god or higher power. i know it was mentioned at one point that jefferson is debated these days by both extremes as either being more agnostic or heavily religious but in fact was moderate. the fact was the nation was founded by politicians that were religious and believed in god, they just had the sense to put aside god and religion and found the country based on man and society.

delving further into that topic by veering off slightly, it is interesting to note that the majority religions were against the omission of god and similar secular examples of the founding documents but minority religions were for eliminating religious wording from the documents. then jacoby elludes to the fact that as religions gained in stregnth, they began to oppose the seperation. interesting perspective that an organized religions' opinions changed based on their strength as an organization. political posturing from day one in the country that still survives today. agreeing to certain measures only when it suits the organizations needs instead of based on a foundation of belief, wow. that is sad but is what i have come to expect from most organizations, of religious nature or not. that is simply the nature of man kind to look out for itself by twisting the nature of the arguement to it's own benefit at any given point in time.

fantastic opening to the book. i have long sought to read more about jefferson but now i am 100% committed to learning more about this man's life.