Newton believed that the scriptures had been altered. This was not just a statement of desperation.
Rather, there was substance to his claims.
Giberson continues:
He [Newton] became repelled by what he perceived as the false religion that
surrounded him – an idolatrous faith that worshiped Christ as God, when he
was but a mediator between God and man.
Newton was forced to keep his views at least partially veiled. The Unitarian
position, (belief in the One God), however, began to make certain advances
in the American colonies. Such notable people as Benjamin Franklin and
Thomas Jefferson were Unitarian. Jefferson, himself, refers to Trinity as:
“…an unintelligible proposition of Platonic mysticism that three are one,
and one is three; and yet one is not three and three are not one.” “I never
had sense enough to comprehend the Trinity, and it appeared to me that
comprehension must precede assent.”
Jefferson further believes that the “One God” movement would sweep the
nation if it was given the religious freedom the founding fathers
envisioned. In a letter written to James Smith, December 8, 1822 he says:
The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe, is now all but
ascendant in the Eastern States; it is dawning in the West and advancing
toward the South; and I confidently expect that the present generation will
see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States.