Religion was not morality, but a substitute or supplement. He wrote explicitly about this distinction: “On the dogmas of religion as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind.”34 (Note: what’s left of Jefferson’s personal library is now housed in the Library of Congress. It has been partially recreated after a fire, but is similarly organized.)
