An examination of Hayes' diary -- which he kept from the age of 12 up to his death -- reveals a man grappling with religion. He reported on sermons and lectures he heard and philosophers and preachers he met. He writes about his Bible studies, his reaction to Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy and his faith in a supreme being.
"I find myself using the word Christian," he wrote of his religious views. "I am not a subscriber to any creed. I belong to no church. But in a sense, satisfactory to myself and believed by me to be important, I try to be a Christian, or rather I want to be a Christian and to help do Christian work."
His lack of affiliation with a church and professed doubts -- "the gloomy theology of the orthodox -- the Calvinists -- I do not, I cannot believe" -- did not keep him from searching for religious truth: "I by an oversight missed the Bible meeting in the Episcopal church last night. I am sorry. I wanted especially to attend. The religion of the Bible is the best in the world. I see the infinite value of religion. Let it be always encouraged. A world of superstition and folly have grown up around its forms and ceremonies. But the truth in it is one of the deep sentiments in human nature."
Though his wife, Lucy, is often described as a strict Methodist, she, too, seems to have believed that Christian actions were more important than adherence to specific doctrines. Hayes recalled a conversation Lucy had with a friend. She said: "All I can say is, I do want to do to others as I would wish them to do to me. This I always mean -- I always try to do. I think of it always." Hayes noted, "This was her religion -- treating all others according to the Golden Rule."
After attending what would be his final church service, Hayes wrote in his diary, "I am a Christian according to my conscience in belief, not of course in character and conduct, but in purpose and wish."
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