Inquiry and reason as virtuous, I would have to agree with Jefferson. Better than the hubris and demagogy displayed by those whom espouse faith as their driving force and the will of a Deus they know naught of save what is proselytized and indoctrinated into their thoughts by an unknown puppet master. Caesar once said in his own words that fear and jingoism are that which can be used to control the mob.

I think this quote could use a proper citation :) Thomas Jefferson: Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)

I think this quote needs a proper citation! Notes on the State of Virginia: ch 17 You can read the context of this quote in its true light :) http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JEFFERSON/ch17.html Hearing about the vicious Acts passed prior to the 1700s is just truly sad. If religious sects cannot learn to behave themselves and tolerate one another, we will always have persecution and intolerance which ends up with innocent people dead over nothing more than their beliefs or their life philosophies. William Butler Yeats, in 1937, still echoed a sentiment similar to the concept Jefferson was trying to convey in governing practices: "Once you attempt legislation upon religious grounds, you open the way for every kind of intolerance and religious persecution."