It was the abuses within religions that Jefferson despised, not religion, itself. And even though he questioned some of religion’s supernatural elements, he was mindful of its value toward the maintenance of morality within society, and within government. To forbid its efficacy upon the very institution that wields power over the people would have been unwise. While he strongly upheld the First Amendment’s directive in prohibiting a national denomination, he never meant to bar Christianity in general from being a political and governmental influence. Jefferson was a champion of liberty in all things … especially the freedom of man to think for himself. To see the Court-sanctioned censorship of Christianity in the public square today and the accompanying demise of morality and decency that has come with it …. would have been as offensive to Jefferson’s sense of liberty, morality and equality as the religious disparities and abuses of his time. It would have been especially repellent in the light of the fact that today’s censorships have come down from the courts against the will of the majority of Americans! His prophetic fear of judicial tyranny over the will of the people was evident in these statements:

“The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the Judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.” #16

“You seem . . . to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. . . . [A]nd their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal.” #17

Abraham Lincoln was one of many American leaders who concurred with this healthy suspicion toward the Judiciary that has unfortunately become obsolete in today’s system:

“I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court. . . . At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made . . . the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having . . . resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.” #18 -Lincoln’s Inaugural Address

The Judiciary was intended to be the least powerful branch of the government, particularly because it was an unelected branch, and its sole purpose was to interpret laws as they were originally written, not to twist old laws into new laws as they deem fit. Lawmaking must be left in the hands of the legislative branch… the branch elected by and therefore subject to the people.