Thomas Jefferson on Calvinism

Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to John Adams (both men were early US presidents) ...

I can never join Calvin in addressing his god. He was indeed an Atheist, which I can never be; or rather his religion was Daemonism. If ever man worshipped a false god, he did. The being described in his 5 points is not the god whom you and I acknowledge and adore, the Creator and benevolent and governor of the world, but a daemon of malignant spirit. It would be more pardonable to believe in no god at all, than to blaspheme him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin. 1

Regarding the intelligence of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the US Declaration of Independence, US President Kennedy said at a dinner honoring Nobel prize winners ...

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. 2

• 1From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 11 April 1823. Founders Online. National Archives. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/98-01-02-3446
• 2https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1856