Thomas Jefferson – Earthly Religion

Our Founder and Our Flounder

June 29, 2026
Byron Carrier

"These are the times that try men's souls," Paine wrote then, and it's true again. Thomas Paine probably won't be highlighted in the ceremonies around the 250th, but he should be. As we try to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country's founding, let's remember this founding father, especially in light of our current embarrassing and dangerous plight. His nickname was Common Sense. His plain-talk pamphlet "Common Sense," published just six months prior to the 4th of July, 1776, sparked the momentum of sporadic rebellions…

May 30, 2019
Byron Carrier

Burned at the StakeNew York City, 1741 Worse than the Salem Witch Trials were the reactive trials and horrid executions of slaves in New York city in 1741. Oh, how thoughts can be twisted to justify unjust cruelty! I got attracted to this topic and author when finishing up my talks on Thomas Jefferson. Slavery was far more varied and widespread than I had known. While reading an article by Jill Lepore, professor of History at Harvard, I was so attracted to her easily-readable, comma-laden…

May 22, 2019
Byron Carrier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9526P6UlcJY&t=26s A video of my presentationThe text version is available below Thomas Jefferson Then and Now I am honored to speak to the Jefferson Center here in the State of Jefferson, entertained by Jefferson Public Radio – on the topic Jefferson Then and Now. The Jefferson Center takes its name from Thomas Jefferson. Among many ideals associated with him, we are especially drawn to the ideals of curiosity, reason, inquiry, learning, and freedom of thought. Jefferson opposed intellectual or moral authoritarianism of any kind, advocating…

January 20, 2019
Byron Carrier

Sure, Thomas Jefferson was the sort of man who appreciated the French and their women, but in this case, the “broad” refers to a wide, flat ancient river. Lets review the river and the man towards our honoring both by living up to who we could yet be. I've left the cold of an Oregon winter for the cold of North Carolina's western mountains. I'm five miles out of Marshall, NC, former Madison County seat, now home to about 400 residents supporting three cafes, two…

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The dream of an Earthly Religion…

Earthly: our precious natural earth which allows us our bodies, lives, cultures and future.

Religion: from the old root words religare and religio, meaning “to bind back to the root and be whole again.” This does not assume we need to believe in God or the Bible. Rather, we should be well-related with our own bodies, each other, natural life, and natural existence as it actually is. If there is connection with divinity or God, it is in and through our bodies and beings that we relate primarily, not via scriptures, traditions, rituals, or supposed religious authorities. In short, by religion we mean “relating well with reality.”

The emphasis here is on the earthly. It is not an afterlife or an instead-of-life that interests us. Living well here on earth together does.

While we take our religious perspective and work seriously, we don’t want it to be stuffy. Too often, religions can be alien to the human condition rather than affirming of it. They can be demeaning and demoralizing, dull and bossy, ponderously pretentious. We lean more towards the fun and sexy, natural and lively, human and humane, thoughtful and pertinent.

Reality: the obvious and inescapable stuff of physical existence. We intend to enjoy and tend our lives in these bodies, for our time, in our cultures, for our singular and interrelated ecosystem. There may be more, but there is AT LEAST THIS of which we are born, in which we live, and into which we will die.

God or no-God is not the point; Earth is. Both believers and non-believers are welcome here, for we all share a common source, opportunity, and responsibility: life as it is and could be. This ranges from simply improving one’s own life to your helping save and restore Eden’s, not just to “sustain” it, but veering it to thrive as never before. If you value your life, each other’s, and Earth’s – welcome!

Learn more…

Our Founder and Our Flounder

New York Burning – a Review

Thomas Jefferson Then and Now

The French Broad, Thomas Jefferson, and a Holy Hope