It is not unusual for a quote to be paraphrased. To paraphrase is to say something over in other words. There is nothing wrong with this so long as it is not claimed as a direct quote. On this page we have shared several memes which we liked but which were paraphrases. We do share them with the genuine quote for comparison. But there is a difference between a paraphrase and a misquote. To demonstrate let us look at a favorite misquote of Thomas Jefferson by the anti religious. This one also demonstrates the misinterpretation of quotes of which certain groups are fond.
“I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth.”
From this quote, we are to believe that Jefferson thought Christianity is nothing but superstition. But remember cherry picking? What else does Jefferson have to say on Christianity?
“To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other.”
~ Letter to Benjamin Rush (April 12, 1803)
“No historical fact is better established, than that the doctrine of one God, pure and uncompounded, was that of the early ages of Christianity … Nor was the unity of the Supreme Being ousted from the Christian creed by the force of reason, but by the sword of civil government, wielded at the will of the fanatic Athanasius.”
~ Letter to James Smith (1822)
"I thank you, Sir, for the copy you were so kind as to send me of the revd. Mr. Bancroft's Unitarian sermons. I have read them with great satisfaction, and always rejoice in efforts to restore us to primitive Christianity, in all the simplicity in which it came from the lips of Jesus. Had it never been sophisticated by the subtleties of Commentators, nor paraphrased into meanings totally foreign to its character, it would at this day have been the religion of the whole civilized world. But the metaphysical abstractions of Athanasius, and the maniac ravings of Calvin, tinctured plentifully with the foggy dreams of Plato, have so loaded it with absurdities and incomprehensibilities, as to drive into infidelity men who had not time, patience, or opportunity to strip it of it's meretricious trappings[.]"
~ Letter to John Davis (January 18, 1824)
"Now, which of these is the true and charitable Christian? He who believes and acts on the simple doctrines of Jesus? Or the impious dogmatists, as Athanasius and Calvin? Verily I say these are the false shepherds foretold as to enter not by the door into the sheepfold, but to climb up some other way. They are mere usurpers of the Christian name, teaching a counter-religion made up of the deliria of crazy imaginations, as foreign from Christianity as is that of Mahomet. Their blasphemies have driven thinking men into infidelity, who have too hastily rejected the supposed author himself, with the horrors so falsely imputed to him. Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as they came from his lips, the whole civilized world would now have been Christian. I rejoice that in this blessed country of free inquiry and belief, which has surrendered its creed and conscience to neither kings nor priests, the genuine doctrine of one only God is reviving, and I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die an Unitarian."
~ Letter to Benjamin Waterhouse (June 26, 1822)
[Note: the early 19th century Unitarians should not be confused with the modern Unitarian Universalists.]
Now, from these quotes we can see that Jefferson did not think Christianity was a superstition. So where did this quote come from? An article from the Thomas Jefferson Cyclopedia states that no document shows any such words from Jefferson, not added nor taken out of context. But they note that there is a similarity to words written in Jefferson's book, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVII:
“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 private as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desireable? 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. Difference of opinion is advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the office of a Censor morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions of people. That these profess probably a thousand different systems of religion.”
So the quote we first shared took a tiny portion of an essay and rewrote the entire idea behind. Thomas Jefferson did not call Christianity a superstition. He did not call it a fable and a myth. What he was arguing for was freedom of religion, the right of each man and woman to make up their own minds and not be forced to worship or remain silent as some official in the government might command.
Those who have an agenda like to enlist famous men and women to argue their points. This is the logical fallacy of appeal to authority – the idea that an argument is true because of who made it rather than the facts and reason upon which it rests. The Founders are often enlisted to support lies. That is why it is so important to trace quotes to their source and not just believe something because a meme has a picture of someone famous on it.