Freedom of Conscience; T. Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson Freedom of Conscience THE ERROR seems not sufficiently eradicated that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have au thority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never sub mitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are inju rious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said his testimony in a court of jus tice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors but 116 will not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose rein to them, they will support the true re ligion by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their in vestigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only....

Were the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bod ies would be in such keeping as our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden as a med icine, and the potato as an article of food. Government is just as infalli ble, too, when it fixes systems in physics. Galileo was sent to the In quisition for affirming that the earth was a sphere; the government had declared it to be flat as a trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This error, however, at length prevailed; the earth became FREEDOM OF' CONSCIENCE 117 Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), first Secretary of State, second Vice President, and third President of the United States. Jefferson was born in Virginia and trained as a lawyer, but his interests were too broad and his talents too diverse to be con fined to a single profession. He was a linguist, mathematician, architect, inventor, essayist, planter, diplo mat, statesman, and one of the most prolific correspondents of all times.

Paul L. Ford published what be came the standard collection of his Writings in 9 volumes in the 18905. This selection is extracted from Notes on the State of Virginia (Phil adelphia: Prichard and Hall, 1788), pp.169-71. a globe, and Descartes declared it was whirled round its axis by a vor tex. The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that this was no question of civil jurisdic tion, or we should all have been in volved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices have been ex ploded, and the Newtonian princi pIe of gravitation is now more firmly established on the basis of reason, than it would be were the govern ment to step in and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by pri vate as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion?To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes then; and, as there is danger that the large men may beat the small, make us. all of a size by lopping the former and stretching the latter .... Reason and persua sion are the only practicable instru ments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it while we refuse it ourselves? @ The Economics and Politics of Discrimination George C. Leef IT is widely believed that capital ism, to the extent that it is still al lowed to function, is responsible for our problem of racial discrimina tion. Blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups are seen to be ((under utilized" by business, and therefore many people conclude that the cause must be that businessmen are guilty of racial discrimination. Having ar rived at this conclusion, the solution is simple and obvious: Merely com pel businesses to hire more individ uals from these groups. Mandate ((affirmative action" programs, ((goals" or quotas in hiring and pro motion, enforce these with a federal bureaucracy and the courts, and ev erything will be fair and equal. A closer examination will show, how ever, that racial discrimination, far Mr. Leef teaches economics and philosophy at Northwood Institute, Midland, Michigan.