Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president has ever openly identified as an atheist, Thomas Jefferson, [2] Abraham Lincoln, [3] [4] and William Howard Taft [5] were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns; in addition, a survey during the presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious, despite his professed Christian affiliation. [6] Trump supporters have also circulated conspiracy theories that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Conversely, other presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office. [7]
Almost all of the presidents can be characterized as Christians, at least by upbringing, though some were unaffiliated with any specific religious body. Mainline Protestants predominate, with Episcopalians and Presbyterians being the most prevalent. John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic president and Joe Biden, the incumbent president, is the second. There have been at least four nontrinitarian presidents.
Most presidents have been formal members of a particular church or religious body, and a specific affiliation can be assigned to every president from James A. Garfield on. For many earlier presidents, formal church membership was forestalled until they left office, and in several cases a president never joined any church. Conversely, though every president from George Washington to John Quincy Adams can be definitely assigned membership in an Anglican or Unitarian body, the significance of these affiliations is often downplayed as unrepresentative of their true beliefs.[ citation needed]
The pattern of religious adherence has changed dramatically over the course of United States history, so that the pattern of presidential affiliations is quite unrepresentative of modern membership numbers. For example, Episcopalians are extraordinarily well represented among the presidents compared to a current membership of about 2% of the population; this is partly because the Church of England, from which the Episcopal Church is derived, was the established church in some of the British Colonies (such as New York and Virginia) before the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church has been much larger previously, with its decline in membership occurring only in more recent decades. [8] The first seven presidents listed as Episcopalians were all from Virginia. Unitarians are also overrepresented, reflecting the importance of those colonial churches. Conversely, Baptists are underrepresented, a reflection of their quite recent expansion in numbers; the list includes only two Catholic presidents including the current president, although they are currently the largest single denomination. There have been no Adventist, Anabaptist, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Latter Day Saint, or Pentecostal presidents.
While many presidents did not formally join a church until quite late in life, there is a genre of tales of deathbed conversions. Biographers usually doubt these, though the baptism of James K. Polk is well documented. [9]
The inner beliefs of the presidents are much more difficult to establish than church membership. While some presidents have been relatively open about religion, many have been reticent to the point of complete obscurity. Researchers have tried to draw conclusions from patterns of churchgoing or religious references in political speeches. When explicit statements are absent, it is difficult to assess whether the presidents in question were irreligious, were unorthodox in their beliefs, or simply believed that religion was not a matter for public revelation.[ citation needed]
On the other hand, there are several presidents who considered themselves aligned with a particular church, but who withheld from formal affiliation for a time. James Buchanan, for instance, held himself allied with the Presbyterian church, but refrained from joining it until he left office. [10]
Some presidents changed their beliefs and affiliation at some point in their lives; synthesis of statements and membership from different periods can be misleading.[ citation needed]
Deism was a religious philosophy in common currency in colonial times, and some Founding Fathers (most notably Thomas Paine, who was an explicit proponent of it, and Benjamin Franklin, who spoke of it in his Autobiography) are identified more or less with this system. Thomas Jefferson became a deist in later life, and Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Tyler are often identified as having some degree of deistic beliefs. [11]
Four presidents are affiliated with Unitarian churches, and a fifth (Jefferson) was an exponent of ideas now commonly associated with Unitarianism. Unitarians fall outside of Trinitarian Christianity, and the question arises as to the degree to which the presidents themselves held Christian precepts. The information is generally available in the statements of the presidents themselves; for example, John Quincy Adams left detailed statements of his beliefs. William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, is noted to have said in a letter to a friend, "I am interested in the spread of Christian civilization, but to go into a dogmatic discussion of creed I will not do whether I am defeated or not. ... If the American electorate is so narrow as not to elect a Unitarian, well and good. I can stand it." [12]
Two presidents were Quakers ( Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon) and information about their religion is harder to come by. Quakerism is, by its nature, not circumscribed by doctrines, but even so it is hard to determine whether either Hoover or Nixon had much adherence even to Quaker practice. For instance, it is common among Quakers to refuse to swear oaths; however, recordings show that Nixon did swear the oath of office in the conventional manner in all cases, and while the matter is clouded for Hoover, there is newspaper and circumstantial evidence that he did likewise.[ citation needed] While Abraham Lincoln never officially joined a church, there has been some research indicating that he may have had Quaker leanings. During his time in office, he had numerous meetings with Quakers and had investigated a supposed Quaker ancestry. [13]
The only other president with any association with a definitely non-Trinitarian body is Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose parents moved from the River Brethren to the antecedents of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Eisenhower himself was baptized in the Presbyterian church shortly after assuming the presidency, the only president thus far to undergo such a rite while in office; and his attendance at West Point was in sharp opposition to the tenets of the groups to which his parents belonged. [14] [15]
There are some presidents for whom there is little evidence as to the importance of religion in their lives. For example, almost no evidence exists for Monroe's personal religious beliefs, though this may be the result of the destruction of most of his personal correspondence, in which religious sentiments may have been recorded. As with claims of deism, these identifications are not without controversy. No president has declared himself to be atheist. [16]
St. John's Episcopal Church (built 1815–1816) just across Lafayette Square and north of the White House, is the church nearest to the White House, and its services have been attended at least once by nearly every president since James Madison (1809–1817). [17] Another Episcopal church, Washington National Cathedral, chartered by Congress in 1893, has hosted many funeral and memorial services of presidents and other dignitaries, as well as the site of interfaith presidential prayer services after their inaugurations, and the burial place of Woodrow Wilson. [18]
Throughout history governmental proclamations often include religious language. In at least two cases, presidents saw fit to issue denials that they were atheists. At the same time, this was tempered, especially in early years, by a strong commitment to disestablishment. Several presidents especially stand out as exponents of this. Consideration of this has become increasingly contentious as topics such as civil rights and human sexuality have increasingly put churches at odds with each other and with the government. [19]
For each president, the formal affiliation at the time of his presidency is listed first, with other affiliations listed after. Further explanation follows if needed, as well as notable detail.
Like many others of his time (he died just one year after the founding of institutional Unitarianism in America), Jefferson was a Unitarian in theology, though not in church membership. He never joined a Unitarian congregation: there were none near his home in Virginia during his lifetime. He regularly attended Joseph Priestley's Pennsylvania church when he was nearby, and said that Priestley's theology was his own, and there is no doubt Priestley should be identified as Unitarian. Jefferson remained a member of the Episcopal congregation near his home, but removed himself from those available to become godparents, because he was not sufficiently in agreement with the Trinitarian theology. His work, the Jefferson Bible, was Unitarian in theology ...
In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798–99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry & reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other. [37]
You are right in supposing, in one of yours, that I had not read much of Priestley's Predestination, his No-soul system, or his controversy with Horsley. but I have read his Corruptions of Christianity, & Early opinions of Jesus, over and over again; and I rest on them, and on Middleton's writings, especially his letters from Rome, and to Waterland, as the basis of my own faith. these writings have never been answered, nor can be answered, by quoting historical proofs, as they have done. for these facts therefore I cling to their learning, so much superior to my own. [38]
Religion | # | Branch | # | Further branch | # | Denomination | # |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian | 43 | Protestant | 37 | Anglican | 11 | Episcopalian | 11 |
Calvinist | 10 | Presbyterian | 4 | ||||
Southern Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
United Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
Dutch Reformed | 2 | ||||||
Congregationalist | 1 | ||||||
Methodist | 4 | Methodist Episcopalian | 3 | ||||
United Methodist | 1 | ||||||
Baptist | 4 | No specific denomination | 1 | ||||
Northern Baptist | 1 | ||||||
Southern Baptist | 2 | ||||||
Restorationist | 2 | Churches of Christ | 1 | ||||
Disciples of Christ | 1 | ||||||
Quaker | 2 | ||||||
Nondenominational | 4 | ||||||
Nontrinitarian | 4 | Unitarian | 4 | No specific denomination | 2 | ||
Unitarian | 2 | ||||||
Catholic | 2 | Roman Catholic | 2 | ||||
None specified | 2 | ||||||
Total individuals [133] | 45 [a] |
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Word reached Washington to-day that the report is being energetically circulated that Secretary Taft is an atheist, and the Secretary's friends are indignant.
On his deathbed Polk was baptized into the Methodist church.
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Religion: Christian* "The Truth about Barack's Faith" (PDF). Obama for America. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2012. * Miller, Lisa (July 18, 2008). "Finding his faith". Newsweek. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
He is now a Christian, having been baptized in the early 1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.* Barakat, Matthew (November 17, 2008). "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized; D.C. churches have started extending invitations to Obama and his family". NBC News. Associated Press. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
The United Church of Christ, the denomination from which Obama resigned when he left Wright's church, issued a written invitation to join a UCC denomination in Washington and resume his connections to the church.* "Barack Obama, long time UCC member, inaugurated forty-fourth U.S. President". United Church of Christ. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States.* Sullivan, Amy (June 29, 2009). "The Obama's find a church home – away from home". Time. New York. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
instead of joining a congregation in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush's footsteps and make his primary place of worship Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David.* Kornblut, Anne E. (February 4, 2010). "Obama's spirituality is largely private, but it's influential, advisers say". The Washington Post. p. A6. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
Obama prays privately ... And when he takes his family to Camp David on the weekends, a Navy chaplain ministers to them, with the daughters attending a form of Sunday school there.
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The president never espoused a particular religion, but attended Methodist Church with his wife Lucy.
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... the sentiments of sympathy and Christian charity by virtue of which we are one united people.
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Herbert Hoover, in taking the oath of office March 4, will swear – not affirm – with one hand on an old family Quaker Bible, that contains the date of his own birth.
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Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States.
Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president has ever openly identified as an atheist, Thomas Jefferson, [2] Abraham Lincoln, [3] [4] and William Howard Taft [5] were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns; in addition, a survey during the presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious, despite his professed Christian affiliation. [6] Trump supporters have also circulated conspiracy theories that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Conversely, other presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, have used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office. [7]
Almost all of the presidents can be characterized as Christians, at least by upbringing, though some were unaffiliated with any specific religious body. Mainline Protestants predominate, with Episcopalians and Presbyterians being the most prevalent. John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic president and Joe Biden, the incumbent president, is the second. There have been at least four nontrinitarian presidents.
Most presidents have been formal members of a particular church or religious body, and a specific affiliation can be assigned to every president from James A. Garfield on. For many earlier presidents, formal church membership was forestalled until they left office, and in several cases a president never joined any church. Conversely, though every president from George Washington to John Quincy Adams can be definitely assigned membership in an Anglican or Unitarian body, the significance of these affiliations is often downplayed as unrepresentative of their true beliefs.[ citation needed]
The pattern of religious adherence has changed dramatically over the course of United States history, so that the pattern of presidential affiliations is quite unrepresentative of modern membership numbers. For example, Episcopalians are extraordinarily well represented among the presidents compared to a current membership of about 2% of the population; this is partly because the Church of England, from which the Episcopal Church is derived, was the established church in some of the British Colonies (such as New York and Virginia) before the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church has been much larger previously, with its decline in membership occurring only in more recent decades. [8] The first seven presidents listed as Episcopalians were all from Virginia. Unitarians are also overrepresented, reflecting the importance of those colonial churches. Conversely, Baptists are underrepresented, a reflection of their quite recent expansion in numbers; the list includes only two Catholic presidents including the current president, although they are currently the largest single denomination. There have been no Adventist, Anabaptist, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Latter Day Saint, or Pentecostal presidents.
While many presidents did not formally join a church until quite late in life, there is a genre of tales of deathbed conversions. Biographers usually doubt these, though the baptism of James K. Polk is well documented. [9]
The inner beliefs of the presidents are much more difficult to establish than church membership. While some presidents have been relatively open about religion, many have been reticent to the point of complete obscurity. Researchers have tried to draw conclusions from patterns of churchgoing or religious references in political speeches. When explicit statements are absent, it is difficult to assess whether the presidents in question were irreligious, were unorthodox in their beliefs, or simply believed that religion was not a matter for public revelation.[ citation needed]
On the other hand, there are several presidents who considered themselves aligned with a particular church, but who withheld from formal affiliation for a time. James Buchanan, for instance, held himself allied with the Presbyterian church, but refrained from joining it until he left office. [10]
Some presidents changed their beliefs and affiliation at some point in their lives; synthesis of statements and membership from different periods can be misleading.[ citation needed]
Deism was a religious philosophy in common currency in colonial times, and some Founding Fathers (most notably Thomas Paine, who was an explicit proponent of it, and Benjamin Franklin, who spoke of it in his Autobiography) are identified more or less with this system. Thomas Jefferson became a deist in later life, and Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Tyler are often identified as having some degree of deistic beliefs. [11]
Four presidents are affiliated with Unitarian churches, and a fifth (Jefferson) was an exponent of ideas now commonly associated with Unitarianism. Unitarians fall outside of Trinitarian Christianity, and the question arises as to the degree to which the presidents themselves held Christian precepts. The information is generally available in the statements of the presidents themselves; for example, John Quincy Adams left detailed statements of his beliefs. William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, is noted to have said in a letter to a friend, "I am interested in the spread of Christian civilization, but to go into a dogmatic discussion of creed I will not do whether I am defeated or not. ... If the American electorate is so narrow as not to elect a Unitarian, well and good. I can stand it." [12]
Two presidents were Quakers ( Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon) and information about their religion is harder to come by. Quakerism is, by its nature, not circumscribed by doctrines, but even so it is hard to determine whether either Hoover or Nixon had much adherence even to Quaker practice. For instance, it is common among Quakers to refuse to swear oaths; however, recordings show that Nixon did swear the oath of office in the conventional manner in all cases, and while the matter is clouded for Hoover, there is newspaper and circumstantial evidence that he did likewise.[ citation needed] While Abraham Lincoln never officially joined a church, there has been some research indicating that he may have had Quaker leanings. During his time in office, he had numerous meetings with Quakers and had investigated a supposed Quaker ancestry. [13]
The only other president with any association with a definitely non-Trinitarian body is Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose parents moved from the River Brethren to the antecedents of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Eisenhower himself was baptized in the Presbyterian church shortly after assuming the presidency, the only president thus far to undergo such a rite while in office; and his attendance at West Point was in sharp opposition to the tenets of the groups to which his parents belonged. [14] [15]
There are some presidents for whom there is little evidence as to the importance of religion in their lives. For example, almost no evidence exists for Monroe's personal religious beliefs, though this may be the result of the destruction of most of his personal correspondence, in which religious sentiments may have been recorded. As with claims of deism, these identifications are not without controversy. No president has declared himself to be atheist. [16]
St. John's Episcopal Church (built 1815–1816) just across Lafayette Square and north of the White House, is the church nearest to the White House, and its services have been attended at least once by nearly every president since James Madison (1809–1817). [17] Another Episcopal church, Washington National Cathedral, chartered by Congress in 1893, has hosted many funeral and memorial services of presidents and other dignitaries, as well as the site of interfaith presidential prayer services after their inaugurations, and the burial place of Woodrow Wilson. [18]
Throughout history governmental proclamations often include religious language. In at least two cases, presidents saw fit to issue denials that they were atheists. At the same time, this was tempered, especially in early years, by a strong commitment to disestablishment. Several presidents especially stand out as exponents of this. Consideration of this has become increasingly contentious as topics such as civil rights and human sexuality have increasingly put churches at odds with each other and with the government. [19]
For each president, the formal affiliation at the time of his presidency is listed first, with other affiliations listed after. Further explanation follows if needed, as well as notable detail.
Like many others of his time (he died just one year after the founding of institutional Unitarianism in America), Jefferson was a Unitarian in theology, though not in church membership. He never joined a Unitarian congregation: there were none near his home in Virginia during his lifetime. He regularly attended Joseph Priestley's Pennsylvania church when he was nearby, and said that Priestley's theology was his own, and there is no doubt Priestley should be identified as Unitarian. Jefferson remained a member of the Episcopal congregation near his home, but removed himself from those available to become godparents, because he was not sufficiently in agreement with the Trinitarian theology. His work, the Jefferson Bible, was Unitarian in theology ...
In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798–99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry & reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other. [37]
You are right in supposing, in one of yours, that I had not read much of Priestley's Predestination, his No-soul system, or his controversy with Horsley. but I have read his Corruptions of Christianity, & Early opinions of Jesus, over and over again; and I rest on them, and on Middleton's writings, especially his letters from Rome, and to Waterland, as the basis of my own faith. these writings have never been answered, nor can be answered, by quoting historical proofs, as they have done. for these facts therefore I cling to their learning, so much superior to my own. [38]
Religion | # | Branch | # | Further branch | # | Denomination | # |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christian | 43 | Protestant | 37 | Anglican | 11 | Episcopalian | 11 |
Calvinist | 10 | Presbyterian | 4 | ||||
Southern Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
United Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
Presbyterian | 1 | ||||||
Dutch Reformed | 2 | ||||||
Congregationalist | 1 | ||||||
Methodist | 4 | Methodist Episcopalian | 3 | ||||
United Methodist | 1 | ||||||
Baptist | 4 | No specific denomination | 1 | ||||
Northern Baptist | 1 | ||||||
Southern Baptist | 2 | ||||||
Restorationist | 2 | Churches of Christ | 1 | ||||
Disciples of Christ | 1 | ||||||
Quaker | 2 | ||||||
Nondenominational | 4 | ||||||
Nontrinitarian | 4 | Unitarian | 4 | No specific denomination | 2 | ||
Unitarian | 2 | ||||||
Catholic | 2 | Roman Catholic | 2 | ||||
None specified | 2 | ||||||
Total individuals [133] | 45 [a] |
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Word reached Washington to-day that the report is being energetically circulated that Secretary Taft is an atheist, and the Secretary's friends are indignant.
On his deathbed Polk was baptized into the Methodist church.
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Religion: Christian* "The Truth about Barack's Faith" (PDF). Obama for America. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2012. * Miller, Lisa (July 18, 2008). "Finding his faith". Newsweek. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
He is now a Christian, having been baptized in the early 1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.* Barakat, Matthew (November 17, 2008). "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized; D.C. churches have started extending invitations to Obama and his family". NBC News. Associated Press. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
The United Church of Christ, the denomination from which Obama resigned when he left Wright's church, issued a written invitation to join a UCC denomination in Washington and resume his connections to the church.* "Barack Obama, long time UCC member, inaugurated forty-fourth U.S. President". United Church of Christ. January 20, 2009. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States.* Sullivan, Amy (June 29, 2009). "The Obama's find a church home – away from home". Time. New York. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
instead of joining a congregation in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush's footsteps and make his primary place of worship Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David.* Kornblut, Anne E. (February 4, 2010). "Obama's spirituality is largely private, but it's influential, advisers say". The Washington Post. p. A6. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
Obama prays privately ... And when he takes his family to Camp David on the weekends, a Navy chaplain ministers to them, with the daughters attending a form of Sunday school there.
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The president never espoused a particular religion, but attended Methodist Church with his wife Lucy.
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... the sentiments of sympathy and Christian charity by virtue of which we are one united people.
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Herbert Hoover, in taking the oath of office March 4, will swear – not affirm – with one hand on an old family Quaker Bible, that contains the date of his own birth.
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Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States.