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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. Jefferson, Lincoln, and several other presidents were accused of being infidels during election campaigns -- and at other times.

The closest church to the White House has been attended at least once by nearly every president since Madison. St. John's Episcopal Church, just across Lafayette Square north of the White House, and built after the War of 1812, is one of about five sometimes referred to as "the Church of the Presidents".

Episcopalians are extraordinarily well represented among the Presidents. This is in part due to the Episcopal Church being the state religion in some states (such as Virginia) before their Constitutions were changed (1786 for Virginia). Before the American Revolution, the Episcopal Church was the American branch of the Anglican Church of England. The first seven presidents listed below with Episcopalian affiliation, were also the first seven from Virginia, and five of those were among the six Presidents most closely identified with Deism.

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 agnostic or even non-Christian Presidents, especially amongst the hallowed Founding Fathers. With regard to Christianity, at issue, to a certain extent, is "What counts as belonging to a church?" Must one be a communicant to belong, or is baptism or attendance sufficient? Are Unitarians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and independents who generally hold Jesus in high regard, but do not believe he was divine, to be counted as Christians or not?

Numerous Presidents changed their affiliations during their lives. George Washington, for example, gravitated from conventional Christianity more towards Deism as he aged. Many, of course, are interested not only in the affiliations of the Presidents, but also in their inner beliefs. Some presidents, such as Madison and Monroe, were extremely reluctant to discuss their own religious views at all. In general, it's difficult to define with any certainty the faiths of Presidents, because no one can truly be sure what relationship exists between a person and his deity -- or lack thereof.

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 with his wife each year, but regularly leaving before communion - with the other non-communicants. When Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia mentioned in a weekly sermon that those in elevated stations set an unhappy example by leaving at communion, Washington ceased attending at all on communion Sundays. Long after Washington died, asked about Washington's beliefs, Abercrombie replied: "Sir, Washington was a Deist."
  2. John AdamsUnitarian
  3. Thomas JeffersonDeist; Episcopalian
    • Though a vestryman (lay officer) of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, 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
    • became a communicant some years after retiring the presidency
  8. Martin Van BurenDutch Reformed
  9. William Henry HarrisonEpiscopalian
    • bought a Bible day after his inauguration, died just 1 month later; rector at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC said Harrison planned to soon become a communicant
  10. John TylerDeist; Episcopalian
  11. James Knox PolkPresbyterian; Methodist
    • Raised a Presbyterian, Polk had never been baptized due to an early family argument with the local Presbyterian minister in rural North Carolina. At age thirty-eight, Polk had a religious conversion to Methodism at a camp meeting, and thereafter he thought of himself as a Methodist. Out of respect for his mother and wife, however, he continued to attend Presbyterian services. But whenever his wife was out of town, or too ill to attend church, Polk worshiped at the local Methodist chapel. On his deathbed, he summoned the man who had converted him years before, the Reverend John B. McFerrin, who at last baptized Polk as a Methodist.
  12. Zachary TaylorEpiscopalian
  13. Millard FillmoreUnitarian
  14. Franklin PierceEpiscopalian
    • 1853 inauguration: affirmed instead of swearing the oath; did not kiss Bible
    • 1861: 4 years after retiring the presidency, he was baptized, confirmed, and became a regular communicant in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Concord, NH.
  15. James BuchananPresbyterian
    • raised a Presbyterian, he joined its church after he retired the presidency
  16. Abraham LincolnDeist (see [1]), though a number of pastors claimed a late conversion
  17. Andrew Johnsonnone
    • Some sources refer to Johnson having Baptist parents. He accompanied his wife to Methodist services sometimes, belonged to no church himself, and sometimes attended Catholic services - remarking favorably it had no reserved seating. Accused of being an infidel, he replied: "As for my religion, it is the doctrine of the Bible, as taught and practiced by Jesus Christ." (See The Age of Hate, 1930, by G.F. Milton, p. 80.)
  18. Ulysses S. Grantnone known
    • Grant was never baptized into any church, though he accompanied his wife to Methodist services. Many sources list his religious affiliation as Methodist based on a Methodist minister's account of a deathbed conversion. He did leave a note for his wife in which he hoped to meet her again in a better world.
  19. Rutherford B. Hayesnone
    • In his 1890 May 17 diary entry, he states: "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 and to help do Christian work." (page 435)
  20. James GarfieldDisciples of Christ
  21. Chester A. ArthurEpiscopalian
  22. Grover ClevelandPresbyterian
  23. Benjamin HarrisonPresbyterian
  24. Grover ClevelandPresbyterian
    • During his second (non-consecutive) term, Cleveland included mention of Jesus Christ in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, something no other President had ever done.
  25. William McKinleyMethodist
  26. Theodore RooseveltDutch Reformed
    • 1908: opposed putting In God We Trust on coins as sacriligious
  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
  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 - the first 7 listed below were all from Virginia, where the Episcopal Church was the state church until 1786.

Methodist

Presbyterian

Quaker

Roman Catholic

Jehovah's Witnesses

Unitarian - Unitarian Universalism is the religion generally associated today with those whose ideology developed from Deism.

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