What absolute malarkey, you make Stuttaford’s point better than he did! Neither of those draws Jefferson into your camp in the least.

In the first quotation, Jefferson is not saying that faith in the supernatural is crucial to a citizenry’s liberties. He’s saying that a citizenry’s retention of its liberties hinges on its conviction that those liberties are inalienable and therefore not something government has any legitimate power to grant, or deny.

In the second quotation, Jefferson is, quite rightly, being incredibly patronizing and cynical. He’s merely saying that no sizable society can function without religion; he’s not praising religion, he’s correctly gauging the magnitude of people’s incapacity/ mediocrity! And to boot, he’s patently admitting he attends church just to throw the people a bone along these lines.