I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he [Christ] wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other.

—Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 12, 1803  {More}

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

—Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802  {More}

What an effort, my dear Sir, of bigotry in Politics & Religion have we gone through! The barbarians really flattered themselves they should be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance put everything into the hands of power & priestcraft.

—Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Priestley, March 21, 1801  {More}

That our civil rights have no dependance on our religious opinions, any more than on our opinions in physicks or geometry…

—A Bill for establishing Religious Freedom, 1786  {More}

We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious Worship place or Ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

—A Bill for establishing Religious Freedom, 1786  {More}

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.

—Thomas Jefferson to the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, 1 Jan. 1802  {More}

…the subject of religion, a subject on which I have ever been most scrupulously reserved. I have considered it as a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, & far less the public, had a right to intermeddle.

—Thomas Jefferson to Richard Rush, 31 May 1813  {More}

…I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus…

—Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson, 9 Jan. 1816  {More}

for it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be read.

—Thomas Jefferson to Margaret Bayard Smith, 6 Aug. 1816  {More}