U.VA. and Judge Jones' "true religion" speech

I have many times noted that Judge Jones showed extreme prejudice against the Dover defendants by saying in a Dickinson College commencement speech that his Kitzmiller v. Dover decision was based on his notion that the Founders based the establishment clause upon a belief that organized religions -- and any religious beliefs not based on "free, rational inquiry" -- are not "true" religions. He said,

. . . this much is very clear. The Founders believed that true religion was not something handed down by a church or contained in a Bible, but was to be found through free, rational inquiry. At bottom then, this core set of beliefs led the Founders, who constantly engaged and questioned things, to secure their idea of religious freedom by barring any alliance between church and state.

Judge Jones' above statement implies that he is inclined to go out of his way to attack anything that he could possibly conceive of as representing "false" religion -- e.g., intelligent design.

The phrases "free, rational inquiry" and "constantly engaged and questioned things" bring Thomas Jefferson to the minds of a lot of people. The early history of the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, gives insight into how Jefferson's thinking compared to the thinking of his contemporaries. A webpage of the University of Virginia's website says,

The University of Virginia was founded as a secular university, with no religious affiliation or denominational identity. In contrast, Georgia, UNC, South Carolina, Vermont, Blount College (which became the University of Tennessee), and others chartered as state universities had denominational sponsorship.

Chapel attendance was not required of students at the University of Virginia. Other universities, public and private, required their students to attend church services. In fact, Harvard did not do away with the chapel requirement until late in the 19th century.

Another webpage of the U.VA. website says,

For Jefferson, the college experience should take place within an "academical village," a place where shared learning infused daily life. Plans were developed for ten Pavilions—stately faculty homes with living quarters upstairs and classrooms downstairs—attached to two rows of student rooms and connected by an inward-facing colonnade.

At the head of the shared lawn would stand the library (not, as in most other colleges and universities of the time, a chapel), . . . .

Also, when Jones gave his "true" religion speech, he was standing behind the Dickinson College seal, which was designed by USA Founders Benjamin Rush and John Dickinson and which has a picture of an open bible and the college motto, "religion and learning, the bulwark of liberty," in Latin.

So even if Judge Jones' statement about "true" religion represents the views of Thomas Jefferson, it is doubtful that this statement represents the views of the Founders in general.

Anyway, IMO judges' establishment-clause decisions should be based on the plain meaning of that clause and not on the judges' notions of what the Founders thought.
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