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Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States

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This is a list of the religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States. For better or worse, the particular religious affiliations of U.S. Presidents can affect their electability, shape their visions of society and how they want to lead it, and positively or negatively shape their stances on policy matters.

For example, a contributing factor to Alfred E. Smith's defeat in the presidential election of 1928 was his Roman Catholic faith. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy faced accusations that as a Catholic president he would do as Pope John XXIII would tell him to do.

Some people who were president changed their beliefs during their lives. George Washington, for example, gravitated from conventional Christianity more towards Deism as he aged.

Evangelical Christians and religious Americans in general have a stake in the perceived religiosity of past Presidents and are disinclined to believe that there may have been atheist or agnostic Presidents, especially amongst the hallowed Founding Fathers. In general, it's difficult to define with any certainty the faiths of Presidents, because as with all religious beliefs, no one can truly be sure what relationship exists between a man and his God, gods or godlessness.

List of Presidential religious affiliations (by President)

  1. George WashingtonDeist; Episcopalian
    • According to his own journals Washington rarely attended church, going to Sunday services a handful of times each year. And the rector of the Episcopal chuch Washington attended while president, Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, replied to someone who asked about Washington's religious beliefs long after Washington had died: "Sir, Washington was a Deist."
  2. John AdamsUnitarian
  3. Thomas JeffersonDeist; Episcopalian
    • Though a member of the Episcopal Church, his beliefs were primarily Deist, and are considered very close to Unitarian. The Famous UUs website says:
      Like many others of his time (he died just one year after the founding of institutional Unitarianism in America), Jefferson was a Unitarian in theology, though not in church membership. He never joined a Unitarian congregation: there were none near his home in Virginia during his lifetime. He regularly attended Joseph Priestley's Pennsylvania church when he was nearby, and said that Priestley's theology was his own, and there is no doubt Priestley should be identified as Unitarian. Jefferson remained a member of the Episcopal congregation near his home, but removed himself from those available to become godparents, because he was not sufficiently in agreement with the trinitarian theology.
  4. James MadisonDeist; Episcopalian
  5. James MonroeDeist; Episcopalian
  6. John Quincy AdamsUnitarian
  7. Andrew JacksonPresbyterian (shortly before he died)
  8. Martin Van BurenDutch Reformed
  9. William Henry HarrisonEpiscopalian
  10. John TylerDeist; Episcopalian
  11. James Knox PolkPresbyterian
  12. Zachary TaylorEpiscopalian
  13. Millard FillmoreUnitarian
  14. Franklin PierceEpiscopalian
  15. James BuchananPresbyterian
  16. Abraham Lincoln – Uncertain, possibly Deist; see [1], also (2)
  17. Andrew Johnsonnone, but Christian
  18. Ulysses S. GrantMethodist
  19. Rutherford B. Hayesnone, but Christian
  20. James GarfieldDisciples of Christ
  21. Chester A. ArthurEpiscopalian
  22. Grover ClevelandPresbyterian
  23. Benjamin HarrisonPresbyterian
  24. Grover ClevelandPresbyterian
  25. William McKinleyMethodist
  26. Theodore RooseveltDutch Reformed
  27. William Howard TaftUnitarian
  28. Woodrow WilsonPresbyterian
  29. Warren G. HardingBaptist
  30. Calvin CoolidgeCongregationalist
  31. Herbert HooverQuaker
  32. Franklin Delano RooseveltEpiscopalian
  33. Harry S. TrumanBaptist
  34. Dwight D. EisenhowerPresbyterian, Jehovah's Witness
    • Eisenhower was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness as an child. Eisenhower left the Jehovah's Witnesses when he was an adult. see [2], [3], and [4].
  35. John F. KennedyRoman Catholic
  36. Lyndon JohnsonDisciples of Christ
  37. Richard Nixon – raised as a Quaker
  38. Gerald R. FordEpiscopalian
  39. Jimmy CarterBaptist
  40. Ronald ReaganDisciples of Christ
  41. George H. W. BushEpiscopalian
  42. Bill ClintonBaptist
  43. George W. BushMethodist

List of Presidential religious affiliations (by religion)

Baptist

Congregationalist

Deist

Disciples of Christ

Dutch Reformed

Episcopalian

Methodist

Presbyterian

Quaker

Roman Catholic

Jehovah's Witnesses

Unitarian

Presidents without affiliation

Further reading

  • Steiner, Franklin, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents: From Washington to F.D.R., Prometheus Books/The Freethought Library, July 1995. ISBN 0879759755

Presidential trivia lists