Yet another Jefferson misquote

[theyounghistorian77]

When an Atheist group calling itself "Backyard Skeptics" last year decided to use a misquotation of Jefferson on their billboards, guess what happened? Bruce Gleason, the founder of "Backyard Skeptics" admitted his mistake but it went around the Christian blogosphere anyways as supposed evidence Atheists are really out there only to distort history to fit whatever suits their Atheist narrative (it even made itself onto one of VyckRo's videos). I wonder what the reaction will be this time from said Christians because now it's their side that have been caught misquoting Jefferson! The culprits this time are a Christian Group calling itself "ForAmerica" And this is the quotation they've been using:

The trouble with this quote:

monticello.org[/url]"]This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears some slight resemblance to a statement he made in a letter to John Norvell of June 14, 1807: "History, in general, only informs us what bad government is." However, the quotation as it appears above can definitely be attributed to John Sharp Williams in a speech about Jefferson, which has most likely been mistaken at some point for a direct quotation of Jefferson

Im wondering if ForAmerica will admit their mistake like the Atheist group did, but im not holding my breath that they will!

 

[Laurens]

Whilst I was out walking earlier I was thinking about starting a topic on miss-attributed quotations/outright misquotes, then I saw this.

I'm hoping that they will admit error when/if the word reaches them. I'd like to think that most misquotes are down to simple ignorance, or lack of being thorough when checking sources, however might this be an example of a deliberate misquote?

I guess a genuinely mistaken quote if intentionally left uncorrected once one has been informed of the mistake does become a deliberate misquote anyway... Time will tell with this one.

EDIT: Wooohoo 2000th post :mrgreen:

 

[Dragan Glas]

Greetings,

Well, Laurens, if you ever do start such a thread, I can offer the quote attributed to Edmund Burke, "For evil to prosper, it is only necessary that good men do nothing".

He never actually said this - it bears a slight resemblance to something he wrote, but not exactly.

Kindest regards,

James

 

[Laurens]

Greetings,

Well, Laurens, if you ever do start such a thread, I can offer the quote attributed to Edmund Burke, "For evil to prosper, it is only necessary that good men do nothing".

He never actually said this - it bears a slight resemblance to something he wrote, but not exactly.

Kindest regards,

James

The quote I had in mind for kicking off the proposed thread was 'Religion is the opiate of the masses' attributed to Marx - which as Christopher Hitchens used to insist upon pointing out, is not what he actually said...

I think I will start the topic, I apologise to theyounghistorian77 for the slight detour in this topic...

 

[theyounghistorian77]

I apologise to theyounghistorian77 for the slight detour in this topic...

Heh, no apologies needed.

----

I guess this thread can almost be incorporated into your thread in some way or another. For example REV. DR. Walter T Richardson reports here that Washington "said in one of his speeches" the following:

"It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are indispensable supporters."

Of course he doesn't and cannot tell us which exact speech he allegedly uttered those words because the quote simply does not exist!

 

[IBSpify]

I'm sorry to bring this slightly off topic again, but if someone does plan to make a thread about deliberate misquotings, or miss-attributed quotings, then one of the first ones would have to be.

Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe...Religion... [is] the basis and foundation of government."

Which can be found in David Barton's book "The Myth of Separation."

The footnote Barton gives as his source is valid:

The Papers of James Madison, Robert Rutland, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicage Press, 1973), Vol. VIII, pp 299, 304, June 20, 1785.

The first clue that something is wrong here is that these pages turn out to correspond to Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance, a document written in support of separation of church and state.

In SECTION 1, a little over halfway through it you will actually find the following sentence, "Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governour of the Universe..."

Now to find the rest of what was used to create the quote (from page 120 of Barton's book) we have to jump over to SECTION 15.

I will use underlines to indicate the words Barton selected to arrive at his newly created false quote:

SECTION 15, Because finally, 'the equal right of every citizen to the free exercise of his religion according to the dictates of conscience' is held by the same tenure with all his other rights. If we recur to its orgin, it is equally the gift of nature; if we weigh its importance, it cannot be less dear to us; if we consider the 'Declaration of those rights which pertain to the good people of Virginia, as the basis and foundation of government,' it is enumerated with equal solemnity, or rather studied emphasis.

Madison, in other words, was talking about individual's rights, of which the free exercise of his religion was one, as being the basis and foundation of government. He even refers to the Declaration of Rights that was part of the Virginia Constitution as his example.

Personal, individual rights is what Madison believed to be the basis and foundation of government, not religion itself. Whomever created this false quote knew what he said, knew what they wanted him to say in its place, and set out to create what they wanted him to say.

This was no accident or simple misunderstanding.