George Washington: A Man of Christian Faith or a Deist?

 

George Washington: A Man of Christian Faith or a Deist?

 

So much has been written about the faith of our founding fathers. Were they Christians or did they ascribe to a form of Deism, which was prevalent during the 1700’s?  T. Adams Upchurch writes about in his book, Christian Nation?: The United States in Popular Perception and Historical Reality, “that the United States was not founded as a Christian nation in the legal sense, but it was certainly founded by professing Christians, albeit mostly liberal, enlightened, tolerant, forward-thinking Christians---not fundamentalists.”[1]  So where does Washington fall in this description of the founder father’s faith and relationship to Christ?

 Much has been written about George Washington and what many believe was his faith in God.

Most have seen the picture below of Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge.

 

 

Was this the real George Washington or was this the Washington that historians and others have wanted us to see and believe? As one takes a closer look at George Washington and his life, it is easy to see that he had many sides to what or who he believed in.

George Washington attended the Anglican Church all of his life and was baptized as an infant into the church.[2] Washington did attend services throughout his life and held positions in the church, but it was more sporadic than regularly attendance.

Washington used the word” God” many times in his public and personal speeches according to John C. Fitzpatrick in his volumes of “Writings of George Washington”.[3] However much of his controversy about his Christianity goes back to his lack of never referring to God as Jesus or Christ. He would use words such as “Providence”, a term used by Deist. It appears that from some of his private letters and public addresses that Washington held some of the doctrinal beliefs of the Deists.[4]

From my research, I believe that Washington held both the views of Christianity and Deism. As it was stated in Jeremiah Smith’s oration at Washington’s death, that “Washington practiced upon his belief- He publicly professed the religion in which he was educated; and his life affords the best evidence of the purity of his principles, and the sincerity of his faith. He had all the genuine mildness of Christianity with all its force. He was never ostentatious, nor ashamed of his Christian profession.”[5]

Maybe those who spoke of him at the end of his life knew of a Washington that had regained his childhood belief in God and Christianity.


[1] T. Adams Upchurch, Christian Nation? : The United States in Popular Perception and Historical Reality (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010), 147.

[2] Ron Chernow. Washington: A Life (Pulitzer Prize Winner) (New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2010)

[5] Jeremiah Smith. “An oration on the death of George Washington: delivered at Exeter, February 22, 1800” (Exeter, N.H.) From the Press of H. Ranlet (1880).

 

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