This is a dramatic reading of Query 17, Religion, from Thomas Jefferson’s only book-length publication, Notes on the State of Virginia. Jefferson wrote the work during the early 1780s in response to a series of questions from Frenchman Francois de Barbe Marbois. In addition to religion, the work discusses Virginia’s history, climate, products, population, and government. Jefferson also tackles European opinions of American arts and sciences, and addresses his own complicated attitudes toward slavery.