Religious Affiliation of the PresidentsThroughout the centuries, 75% of the presidents of The United States have identified themselves as a form of Protestant denomination. Four presidents have been Baptist; three were Methodist, two Quakers, two Disciples of Christ, two Dutch Reform, three Christian, and one Catholic. Although the United States takes pride in religious freedom and engages in the separation of church and state, it's clear that many of their decisions were affected by their spiritual values. Only two presidents didn't identify as a particular religion: Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. The newest president, Donald Trump, has distinguished himself as a Presbyterian.
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Bibliography:
"The Religious Affiliations of U.S. Presidents." Pew Research Center, 15 Jan. 2009, www.pewforum.org/2009/01/15/ the-religious-affiliations-of-us-presidents/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2017. |
President Warren Harding (1924)Like Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt and Wilson, President Harding has frequently preached what might with perfect propriety be called a sermon. He delivered a stirring patriotic and religious address in Calvary Baptist church, Washington, one year after he had served as President... "If I were to utter a prayer for this Republic tonight, it would be to re-consecrate us in religious devotion and make us abidingly a God-fearing, God-loving people." The President also spoke out against religious intolerance which has cropped out in America. "I hold it to be a menace to the very liberties we boast and cherish. In spite of our complete divorcement of Church and State, quite in harmony with our religious freedom, there is an important relationship between church and nation, because no nation can survive if it ever forgets Almighty God." The author of The Religion of the Presidents analyzes Harding's opinion after his presidency. He address the United States current stance on the separation of church and state, but admits its presence in politics. It's unavoidable that decisions are and will be made solely on religious values. As much as the government is against the integration of church and state, it will never fully be diminished.
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Bibliography:
Hampton, William Judson, D.D. The Religion of the Presidents also Ancestry,
Education, Public Service, Religion, Etc., of Pres. Calvin Coolidge.
Somerville, New Jersey, 1925.
Hampton, William Judson, D.D. The Religion of the Presidents also Ancestry,
Education, Public Service, Religion, Etc., of Pres. Calvin Coolidge.
Somerville, New Jersey, 1925.