Happy birthday John Q. Adams! “This young fellow, who was possessed of most violent passions, which he with great difficulty can command, and of unbounded ambition, which he conceals perhaps, even to himself, has been seduced into that bigoted, illiberal system of religion, which, by professing vainly to follow purely the dictates of the Testament, in vain contradicts the whole doctrine of the New Testament, and destroys all the boundaries between good and evil, between right and wrong. But, like all the followers of that sect, his practise is at open variance with his theory. When I observe into what inconsistent absurdities those persons run who make speculative, metaphysical religion a matter of importance, I am fully determined never to puzzle myself in the mazes of religious discussion, to content myself with practising the dictates of God and reason so far as I can judge for myself, . . .” " —John Q. Adams, diary entry, Life in a New England Town, 1787-1788, cited by Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of our Presidents
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:11:05 +0000
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