[340]

Religion
Main article: Religious views of Thomas Jefferson
The Jefferson Bible featuring only the words of Jesus from the evangelists, in parallel Greek, Latin, French and English
Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart in 1805
Baptized in his youth, Jefferson became a governing member of his local Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, which he later attended with his daughters.[341] Jefferson, however, spurned Biblical views of Christianity.[342] Influenced by Deist authors during his college years, Jefferson abandoned orthodox Christianity after his review of New Testament teachings.[343][344]  Jefferson has sometimes been portrayed as a follower of the liberal religious strand of Deism that values reason over revelation.[345] Nonetheless, in 1803, Jefferson asserted, "I am Christian, in the only sense in which [Jesus] wished any one to be."[224]
Jefferson later defined being a Christian as one who followed the simple teachings of Jesus. Influenced by Joseph Priestley,[345] Jefferson selected New Testament passages of Jesus' teachings into a private work he called The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, known today as the Jefferson Bible, never published during his lifetime.