This is a video recording of my presentation to the Central Ohio chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, March 12, 2024.
“Picking Jefferson’s Pocket: Notes for the Wall”
Description:
During the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson wrote “Notes on the State of Virginia” (1781). The chapter on “Religion” remains as relevant today as in those days of risky and radical change. With an emphasis on religious tolerance, reason, free inquiry and common sense, this freethinking founder hands us practical wisdom for our mental pockets today. His handy “rule of thumb” for inclusion of diverse beliefs in America, can help us maintain and sustain (patch and protect) the essential wall of separation between religion and government, the wall that is crumbling before our eyes.
Passcode: bj!Zs$s2
Friendly Freethinker 
Central Ohio to Chris. I follow you in The Columbus Dispatch, and I will watch this talk on Jefferson soon, but I just wondered if you have seen the Paul Simon, Stephen Colbert, interview where they both end up professing their return to a belief in God. Very recent. I would be interested in your thoughts on it. I had a very mixed reaction to it.
Thanks for calling my attention to this interesting interview, Greg. Their comments toward the end about a creator made sense–feeling the need to direct a feeling of gratitude to someone somewhere. I’m not sure either one is speaking of the “biblical god,” more of a deistic creator. Personally, I have no problem with those kinds of beliefs, though I don’t share them.
I saw the televised version of the interview, but I also saw on line an Extended Version that I have watched part of.