Not all legends about America's founders are false. Young George Washington didn't really chop down the cherry tree, and Betsy Ross probably didn't design the first Stars and Stripes. We teach these myths as part of our country's origin story, initiating young Americans into the symbols and rituals of the republic.
But Thomas Jefferson really did redact the New Testament with a razor and glue, to make a Bible that was more to his liking. Hacking away miracles, Jesus's divinity and the resurrection itself, he fashioned a radically rationalist scripture for a more enlightened age.
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