Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States

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. (Virginia was the first state to end tax support of churches.) 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)

George Washington – Deist; Episcopalian (VA)
- The religious views of George Washington are a matter of some controversy. There is strong evidence that he (like many of the Founding Fathers) was a Deist - believing in Divine Providence, but not believing in divine intervention in the world after the initial design. Before the revolution, when the Episcopal Church was still the state religion in Virginia, he served as a vestryman (lay officer) for his local church. He spoke often of the value of religion in general, and he sometimes accompanied his wife to Christian church services. However, there is no record of his ever becoming a communicant in any Christian church and he would regularly leave services 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." Various prayers said to have been composed by him in his later life are highly edited. He did not ask for any clergy on his deathbed, though one was available. His funeral services were those of the Freemasons.
John Adams – Unitarian (MA)
- The Adamses were originally members of Congregational churches in New England. Unlike Presbyterian churches in Virginia, without higher courts to ensure doctrinal uniformity, Congregationalists became more diverse than other Reformed churches. Congregationalist churches, especially in New England, gradually gave way under the influences of Arminianism, Deism Unitarianism, and (later) Transcendentalism, and moved away from Calvinism and its doctrine of Predestination. By 1800, all but one Congregationalist church in Boston had Unitarian preachers teaching the strict unity of God, the subordinate nature of Christ, and salvation by character. Harvard University, founded by Congregationalists, itself became a source of Unitarian training.
Thomas Jefferson – Deist; Episcopalian (VA)
- 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.
James Madison – Deist; Episcopalian (VA)
- Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance was written in opposition to a 1786 bill, introduced into the General Assembly of Virginia, to levy a general assessment for the support of religions. The assessment bill was tabled, and in its place the legislature enacted Jefferson's Bill for Religious Liberty.
James Monroe – Deist; Episcopalian (VA)
John Quincy Adams – Unitarian (MA)
Andrew Jackson – Presbyterian (NC/SC)
- became a communicant some years after retiring the presidency
Martin Van Buren – Dutch Reformed (NY)
William Henry Harrison – Episcopalian possibly (VA)
- 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
John Tyler – Deist; Episcopalian (VA)
James Knox Polk – Presbyterian; Methodist (NC/TN)
- Raised a Presbyterian, Polk had never been baptized due to an early family argument with the local Presbyterian minister in rural North Carolina. Polk's father and grandfather were Deists, and the minister refused to baptize James unless his father affirmed Christianity, which he would not do. 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 less than 4 months after leaving the Presidency, he summoned the man who had converted him years before, the Rev. John B. McFerrin, who then baptized Polk as a Methodist.
Zachary Taylor – Episcopalian (VA)
Millard Fillmore – Unitarian (NY)
- In the early 1830s, he worked to overturn the New York test law that required all witnesses in New York courts to swear an oath affirming their belief in God and the hereafter.
Franklin Pierce – Episcopalian (NH)
- 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.
James Buchanan – Presbyterian (PA)
- raised a Presbyterian, he joined its church after he retired the presidency
Abraham Lincoln – Deist; possibly Christian (KY/IN/IL)
- For much of his life, Lincoln was undoubtedly Deist (see [1], [2]). In his younger days he openly challenged orthodox religions, but as he matured he kept his Deist views more to himself, and would sometimes attend Presbyterian services with his wife. He loved to read the Bible, and even quoted from it, but he almost never made reference to Jesus, and is not known to have ever indicated a belief in the divinity of Jesus.
- A number of pastors claimed a late conversion for Lincoln, but these are hard to substantiate. One notable claim is that of an unnamed Illinois clergyman who recalls asking Lincoln, "Mr. President, do you love Jesus?" After a long pause, Lincoln is said to have replied, "When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus." (This story is recounted in Osborn H. Oldroyd, ed., The Lincoln Memorial Album—Immortelles (New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., 1882, p. 366); and in William J. Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, The Christian (Eaton & Mains, New York, NY and Jennings & Graham, Cincinnati, OH, 1913, p. 172). See a discussion of this story in Paul F. Boller & John George, They Never Said It, (Oxford Univ. Press, 1989, p. 91).) Other pastors date a conversion following the death of his son Eddie in 1850, and also following the death of his son Willie in 1862.
Andrew Johnson – none (NC/TN)
- 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.)
Ulysses S. Grant – none known (OH)
- 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.
Rutherford B. Hayes – none (OH)
- 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)
James Garfield – Disciples of Christ (OH)
- In his early adulthood, Garfield sometimes preached and held revival meetings.
Chester A. Arthur – Episcopalian (VT/NY)
Grover Cleveland – Presbyterian (NJ/NY)
Benjamin Harrison – Presbyterian (OH/IN)
- Harrison became a church elder, and taught Sunday school
- Franklin Steiner, in his book The Religious Beliefs Of Our Presidents[3], categorized Harrison as the first President who was unquestionably a communicant in an orthodox Church at the time he was elected
Grover Cleveland – Presbyterian (NJ/NY)
- During his second (non-consecutive) term, Cleveland included mention of Jesus Christ in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, something no other President had ever done.
William McKinley – Methodist (OH)
- McKinley believed the U.S. government had a duty to help spread Christianity and Western civilization to the rest of the world.
Theodore Roosevelt – Dutch Reformed (NY)
- 1908: opposed putting In God We Trust on coins as sacrilegious
William Howard Taft – Unitarian (OH)
Woodrow Wilson – Presbyterian (VA/GA/NJ)
Warren G. Harding – Baptist (OH)
Calvin Coolidge – Congregationalist (VT/MA)
Herbert Hoover – Quaker (IA/OR/CA)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Episcopalian (NY)
Harry S. Truman – Baptist (MO)
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Presbyterian, Jehovah's Witness (TX/KS/PA)
- Brought up Jehovah's Witness, Eisenhower abandoned that before joining the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. (See [4], [5], and [6].) He was baptized, confirmed, and became a communicant in the Presbyterian church in a single ceremony 1953 February 1, just weeks after his first inauguration. He is the only president known to be baptized, or to be confirmed, or to become a communicant while in office. Eisenhower was instrumental in the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and the 1956 adoption of "In God We Trust" as the motto of the USA, and its 1957 introduction on paper currency. The chapel at his presidential library is intentionally inter-denominational.
John F. Kennedy – Roman Catholic (MA)
Lyndon Johnson – Disciples of Christ (TX)
Richard Nixon – raised as a Quaker (CA)
Gerald R. Ford – Episcopalian (NE/MI)
Jimmy Carter – Baptist (GA)
- In 2000, Carter left the Southern Baptist Convention, disagreeing over the role of women in society. See [7]
Ronald Reagan – Disciples of Christ (IL/CA)
George H. W. Bush – Episcopalian (MA/CT/TX)
Bill Clinton – Baptist (AR)
George W. Bush – Methodist (CT/TX)