If you're like me, you feel that the basic Christian message of peace, love and understanding is noble enough but can't stomach the miracles and magic tricks that pepper the bible. Somehow we're supposed to believe that a fiction story about a boy wizard is evil incarnate but a middle eastern dude walking on water and coming back from the dead is accurate, literal history. Enter Thomas Jefferson. He basically felt the same way and took the New Testament and editted it into reality. He took out the mysticism and supernatural elements and put together "The Life and Morals of Jesus", known also as "The Jefferson Bible". It holds a clear, concise presentation of what the Christians profess without the razzle-dazzle golly-gosh-wow-look-at-that magic tricks that the more reasonable of us find so distasteful. I recommend heretics and faithful giving it a look over, and if any Christians read it, can you tell me why, if the basic message of peace, love and understanding is the truth, why does the message need all the magic tricks?
I believe Jefferson was a Unitarian. I've always hoped that this would be the kind of religion that would eventually become more widespread and finally eclipse fundamentalism and all of it's attendant idiocy. Maybe someday. If you like this, you really should read the books of Rev. John Shelby Spong. 95% of what he wrote will resonante with any atheist or secular humanist. He has worked quite hard to distill from Christianity the good ethical teaching and discard the superstition and nonsense.
I admire Jefferson's effort, but I think his aim was to extract what he thought were the words of Jesus, rather than the additions of lesser thinkers. This might still include mystical elements, I haven't read it. I think it's a mistake to think Jesus was just a moral philosopher, and that all the mystical shit was added later.
