> 1. One list of quotations features a "snapshot" of the original letter to
> Benjamin Rush, which reveals that Jefferson used the lowercase "g" for the
> word god in the famous passage which now graces his memorial.
>
> Unfortunately, many prestigious sources cite this passage using an uppercase
> "G" instead of the lowercase "g" which President Jefferson used in his
> original (conforming to what I strongly suspect was a Deistic view of the
> Deity, probably even bordering on the pantheistic thinking of Baruch
> Spinoza).
>
> Notwithstanding that snapshot of the original, the site still receives very harsh
> criticism when they use this quotation (as the President wrote it) in other
> writings.
>
> Perhaps the time has come when it would no longer be considered slanderous
> or blasphemous for a reference source to present this quotation (and several
> others using this word) as it came from the pen of its author?
>
>
> 2. It has become increasingly popular for members of a specific religious
> sect to make public claims that various American heroes were pious members
> of that sect. They have even gone as far as to forge phony quotations,
> putting words of piety into the mouths of our Founders and others! More than
> one volume exists just to refute claims of "deathbed conversions" of various
> heroes of humanity.
>
> I don't see why this is even important: Hey! Let the Roman Catholics have
> President Kennedy and let the Evangelical Christians have Jimmy Carter (two
> other heroes of mine). I will not try to harm the dignity of those sect by
> usurping from them the very heroes which grew out of their ranks! But why
> does this one sect wish to take from we Freethinkers and other
> non-Christians the heroes who grew out of our ranks!?
>
> My question is this: Since this sect has virtually unlimited resources with
> which to spread this falsehood, what can we do to try to counter it? As I
> said, the question itself is almost superfluous, but it seems that most of
> what we do hear about the religious beliefs of the Presidents and other
> American heroes happens to be falsehood emanating from this one sect! Is
> there anything we can do or that is being done to bring a more accurate
> picture of the private beliefs of our Founders to public light, thus helping
> us (and particularly our children) come to a clearer understanding of the
> thinking that went into the founding of our great nation?

I agree with you that Jefferson had a non-traditional concept of God
(forgive my own preference for the capital; I am a believer, though not a
religionist -- more-or-less like Jefferson himself).  Nevertheless, I do not
think too much stock can be put in Jefferson's use of the lower case "g" in
the famous quotation.  He frequently did not begin a sentence with a
capital, and his punctuation, spelling, and general usage was about as
non-standard as his belief in God.  Almost every edition of Jefferson's
writings, even the currently in progress and super-authentic "Papers," does
considerable editing of Jefferson's manuscripts, including supplying
capitals where appropriate.  The Lipscomb and Bergh "Memorial Edition" uses
"God" in the Rush letter.  But I notice that Merrill Peterson uses "god" in
his Library of America volume, although I noticed also that in the title, he
used "God."  Peterson also tended to make his edition conform more closely
to Jefferson's manuscript in other respects, often using Jefferson's "&"
where others use "and."  Because of Jefferson's own variation in usage, I
doubt if many reference sources will make an issue of changing "G" to "g."
My own online collection tends to take the Memorial Edition as its standard,
and I feel inclined to leave that as is.

One would, I think, be on much safer ground by examining the ideas about
God and religion that Jefferson expressed.  Unfortunately, most collections
of what Jefferson wrote on religion seem organized to make the collector's
point, not necessarily Jefferson's.  I wish someone (I don't have time,
myself) would make a collection of Jefferson's writings on religion similar
to the collection I attempted to make on Politics & Government, i.e.,
include everything -- every principle -- that he wrote, and THEN put it
all together and let the organization of it come out of the material itself.
Only then, I believe, will we have a fair and accurate idea of what
Jefferson really believed.

You are quite right, though, about the way today's religionists try to claim
Jefferson as one of their own, and even put words in his mouth to prove it.
I have lately been accosted with the pseudo quotation, "The Bible is the
cornerstone of liberty, etc." which to me doesn't even make good sense,
especially since Jefferson compared his making of what we now call the
Jefferson Bible to taking diamonds out of a dunghill.  Shall we then say, "A
dunghill, with a few diamonds thrown in, is the cornerstone of liberty"?

As you perhaps have noticed, I have many Jefferson-related online resources
besides the quotations website, and in many places I attempt to refute the
false quotations that are being circulated.  I'm not sure that I can do much
more than that.  One possibility might be the complete "Thomas Jefferson
on God and Religion" website I suggested above.  In conjunction with that,
one could have a series of essays that discuss Jefferson's religious
beliefs, including the attempted distortions of today's religionists.  I am
pretty well loaded up with projects right now myself, but that might be
something I could consider "when I get caught up." ;-)