# The Bogus "Jefferson Prayer." **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803 "2025-04-08T20:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/1 "2025-04-08T20:41:41Z")
Rep. Mike Johnson, on Congress’s opening day, read what he said was a prayer written by Thomas Jefferson. He was mistaken. The prayer has also been attributed to George Washington, who also long dead before that prayer was written. Rev. George Lyman Locke wrote it in **1882**. After a lot of arm-twisting, it was added to the Book of Common Prayer in **1928**. In the current **1979** version of the BCP, it is called “For Our Country,” while still not saying who wrote it. Meanwhile, in **1921** 3 newspapers in Louisiana printed the prayer, claiming it was written by George Washington. In **1922,** 20 more papers in 10 states made the same bogus claim, and the rumor was off to the races. The Prayer: “For Our Country” Prayer Composed by George Washington Almighty God, who has given us this good land for our heritage, we humbly beseech Thee that we may always be a people mindful of Thy favor, and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom, in Thy name, we entrust the authority of government, and that there be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. --Amen. Washington and Jefferson were not Christians, but Deists. Jefferson kept a copy of the Muslim Qoran. There is a lot of Christian Nationalism going around these days, and bogus history to go with it. My source material is an article by Brian Kaylor in _Church & State_ magazine, Feb., 2025 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/2 "2025-04-08T21:17:22Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Washington and Jefferson were not Christians, but Deists Jefferson drafted a New Testament that excised anything that offended rationality. So no miracles, no supernatural stuff, just philosophy and moral teachings. > **[Jefferson Bible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible)** > > The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible, is one of two religious works constructed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson compiled the manuscripts but never published them. The first, The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1804, but no copies exist today. The second, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1820 by cutting and pasting, with a razor and glue, numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the ... Jefferson would have deeply offended most of the Bible-botherers who have an unbalanced fetish with the Judeo-Christian identity of the founding fathers. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/3 "2025-04-08T21:49:22Z")
Jefferson’s religious beliefs were difficult to define, even for him. He once said he was in a “sect by himself”; although he was certainly heavily influenced by deistic thinkers, there is no record of him ever self-identifying as a deist, and he did at least sometimes call himself a Unitarian. He felt Jesus was responsible for “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man”, but didn’t believe he had any superpowers. He did believe in some sort of God, and in his second inaugural address identified said God as the one “Who led Israel of old”. He regularly attended church services during his Presidency. OTOH, he declined requests to serve as “godparent” to his friends’ children because he didn’t believe in the Trinity. As for the prayer, except for the last sentence fragment about Jesus, it would be unexceptional in a Unitarian setting and I doubt Jefferson would have a problem with it, other than it being long and boring and written in an affectedly archaic English. Here is an authentic example of Jefferson’s religious writings, and I giggle to imagine Mike Johnson trying to read this aloud: > No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its advances towards rational Christianity. When we shall have done away the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three; when we shall have knocked down the artificial scaffolding, reared to mask from view the simple structure of Jesus; when, in short, we shall have unlearned everything which has been taught since His day, and got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples; and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from His lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian. I know that the case you cite, of Dr. Drake, has been a common one. The religion-builders have so distorted and deformed the doctrines of Jesus, so muffled them in mysticisms, fancies and falsehoods, have caricatured them into forms so monstrous and inconceivable, as to shock reasonable thinkers, to revolt them against the whole, and drive them rashly to pronounce its Founder an impostor. Had there never been a commentator, there never would have been an infidel. … I have little doubt that the whole of our country will soon be rallied to the unity of the Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also.[[79]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Thomas_Jefferson#cite_note-79) (all information cited is from [this Wikipedia article)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Thomas_Jefferson#) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/4 "2025-04-09T11:14:44Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Jefferson drafted a New Testament that excised anything that offended rationality. So no miracles, no supernatural stuff, just philosophy and moral teachings. The Smithsonian gift shop currently sells a copy of the Jefferson Bible that photoreproduces the original (right down to the glued-in paper strip that contains a line too long to fit). It’s bound in leatherette stamped in gold that perfectly imitates Jefferson’s own copy. I bought mine a few years ago. Not only does it have Jefferson’s sections from the four evangelists, razor-bladed out and glued in proper sequence on the pages, it has them in four languages – English, Latin, Greek, and French (Jefferson was a polyglot) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/5 "2025-04-09T14:40:51Z")
Even aside from its not being Jefferson, it seems to me that Johnson is actively aiding and abetting the reverse of this part: > [@AskNott](#): > > Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Hey, Johnson! Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogancy, defend our liberties and the multitudes brought hither! Switch parties and fight MAGA! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/6 "2025-04-09T16:10:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > > [@gnoitall](#): > > > > Jefferson drafted a New Testament that excised anything that offended rationality. So no miracles, no supernatural stuff, just philosophy and moral teachings. > > The Smithsonian gift shop currently sells a copy of the Jefferson Bible that photoreproduces the original (right down to the glued-in paper strip that contains a line too long to fit). It’s bound in leatherette stamped in gold that perfectly imitates Jefferson’s own copy. I bought mine a few years ago. Not only does it have Jefferson’s sections from the four evangelists, razor-bladed out and glued in proper sequence on the pages, it has them in four languages – English, Latin, Greek, and French (Jefferson was a polyglot) How long before that book is removed from the gift shop? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/7 "2025-04-09T16:35:59Z")
How long until there isn’t a Smithsonian? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/8 "2025-04-09T18:18:29Z")
Oh, they’ll keep a “Smithsonian.” Just like they’ll keep having “elections” in the “United States of America”. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bogus-jefferson-prayer/1016803/9 "2025-04-10T11:18:38Z")
‘Arrogancy’? What the fuck is wrong with the word ‘arrogance’, you pompous nineteenth century bastard? And why should multitudes be brought hither when we’re gonna deport them all anyway?