Will the Real
George Washington Please Stand up?
By Gary S. Smith, PhD
Grove City College
US
Even
before he died in December 1799, a battle began
over the nature and significance of George Washington’s
faith. Was the father of our country a deist,
a Unitarian, a lukewarm Christian, or a fervent
evangelical? Popular paintings depict Washington
praying in the snow at Valley Forge during the
Revolutionary War and ascending to heaven after
his death. Few of the varied aspects of the Virginian’s
life have caused as much contention as his religious
beliefs and habits. Moreover, no other president
has had his religious life so distorted by folklore.
Given Washington ’s immense contributions
to the American republic, semi-divine status,
and importance to American civil religion, this
intense debate is not surprising. Moreover, Washington
is an important figure in a second heated dispute
over whether the United States was founded as
a Christian nation.
After his death, Washington was elevated to sainthood
and portrayed as God’s instrument. In life
and death, he has been seen as “the deliverer
of America ,” the American Moses, and even
a demigod. In their funeral sermons, Federalist
clergy effusively praised Washington as a devout
Christian who liberated God’s chosen people
from British oppression. A spate of books published
in the nineteenth century to promote Washington
’s piety feature stories of him arranging
communion services before battles, retreating
into the woods during military encampments to
pray, and inspiring parishioners in country churches
by his zealous worship.
Three new books have recently joined this debate.
In Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers,
Brooke Allen concludes that Washington was probably
a deist. She argues that in his extensive correspondence
Washington rarely mentioned Christianity and never
mentioned “a savior or redeemer.”
Unlike Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin,
Washington did not even refer to Jesus as a great
moral teacher. Although Washington offered substantial
advice to his stepchildren and nephews on moral
subjects, he said nothing about religion. Moreover,
Washington expressed no hope of eternal life,
and on his deathbed did not call for a minister
or pray.
Despite Allen’s claims, Peter Lillbach fills
the 1169 pages of George Washington’s Sacred
Fire with quotations from Washington about religious
matters and detailed analysis of his beliefs and
practices. Following in the footsteps of other
evangelicals, Lillbach calls the first president
“an orthodox, Trinity-affirming believer
in Jesus Christ” who believed in Christ’s
atonement for sinners and bodily resurrection.
To refute “modern skeptics” who “have
read into Washington their own unbelief,”
Lillbach emphasizes his “exemplary prayer
life,” extensive knowledge of Scripture,
work as an Anglican vestryman, and repeated calls
for public and private piety.
Similarly, Michael and Jana Novak contend in Washington’s
God that Washington “was a serious Christian,
perceived to be so by many close to him.”
They add that “ Washington easily met the
standards for being considered an Anglican in
good standing”—“baptism, acceptance
of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds”
and somewhat regular church attendance. The Novaks
stress that Washington served as a godfather for
eight children, faithfully attended vestry meetings,
often led projects to improve the church, and
swore his oath of office as president on the Bible
even though he was not required to do so.
They also rebut the major objections to Washington
being a Christian: he never took communion after
the Revolutionary War began; he stood rather than
knelt during prayers; “he refused to declare
his specific beliefs” publicly; he very
rarely mentioned Jesus in public or in private
correspondence or the Christian names for God;
“his death seemed more Stoic than Christian”;
and “his view of Providence” seemed
similar to the Greek or Roman view of fate.
After examining the relevant sources on Washington’s
religious views and practices for my book Faith
and the Presidency, several factors convince me,
that judged by the standards of his day, Washington
was fairly religious. As a commander-in-chief
of the Continental Army, he recruited chaplains
for his troops, required his soldiers to attend
Sunday worship, and held thanksgiving services
after victories. Arguably no president has stressed
the role of divine providence in American history
more than Washington . Throughout his life, he
appealed to “an all-powerful Providence
” to protect and guide him and the nation.
Washington maintained that God was all-powerful,
infinitely wise, just, all-good, and inscrutable.
He frequently professed belief in the power of
prayer, and while president, he attended church
almost every Sunday. He did not, however, ever
clearly state what he believed about Jesus’
deity.
I conclude therefore that Washington ’s
faith is better explained by the label “theistic
rationalism” than by deism, Unitarianism,
or Christianity. This theoretical construct combines
elements of natural religion, Christianity, and
rationalism, with rationalism predominating. It
holds that God is unitary and active in the world
and asserts that revelation complements reason.
Since he directs human affairs, prayer is effectual.
Because deists deny God’s active involvement
in the world, the value of prayer, and the Bible
as God’s revelation, the concept of theistic
rationalism better describes Washington ’s
views than does the term deist, Unitarian, or
Christian.
Scholars and ordinary Americans will undoubtedly
continue to debate the precise nature of Washington
’s faith, and its eclectic character does
not help resolve the debate over America ’s
Christian origins. Clearly, however, his faith
became deeper as a result of his trying and sometimes
traumatic experiences as commander-in-chief and
as the nation’s first president, and it
significantly affected his understanding of life
and his duties in both roles.
(Gary Scott Smith is a professor of history at
Grove City College and the author of Faith and
the Presidency from George Washington to George
W. Bush ( Oxford University Press). Contact Smith
at gsmith@gcc.edu.)
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