God in the White House

From Washington to Obama -- the presidents' religious beliefs and their impact on politics

 George Washington                                                               1789-1797

  

 

The religious beliefs of the first president of the United States of America have been the subject of debate since he held office.
Washington's faith has been categorized at times as evangelical Christianity, deist, Free Masonry and mainline Protestant Christianity. Washington himself was raised in, married in and became a vestryman in the Episcopal Church (the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion). However, he rarely took communion and attended church sporadically.
Evangelical Christians have claimed that Washington accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior, though there isn't evidence of this specific belief aside from Washington's rare mention of the figure of Christ, often in relation to morality, in public speeches.
Though also sometimes labeled a deist, Washington doesn't fit the definition of a deist as a person who sees God as similar to a clockmaker, a being who created the world and set life into motion, watching over events on earth without interfering. Washington believed in a God who responded to prayer and human need. Of his experiences in the battlefield, Washington reported, "By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."
Though this debate is kept alive due to the fact that Washington did not reveal belief or nonbelief in his diaries, keeping what he saw as his personal life strictly private, there is little room for debate about Washington's commitment to religious liberty and his belief in the link between religion and morality. His experience leading the Continental Army and the fledgling nation helped shape his opinion that religious intolerance and bigotry led to dangerous divisions where unity was needed.
Of the link between religion and morality, Washington states in his Farewell Address, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Regardless of his personal religious beliefs, Washington, like other statesmen responsible for crafting the new nation, struggled with the question of how to impart a morality and virtue to a diverse people. In Washington's mind, that unifying virtue was central to creating a responsible and successful democracy