Did President Lincoln Believe in God?

Fascinating. I wish I still had some of the Christian biographies I read on Abraham Lincoln as a young boy. Perhaps because Abe was honest, they figured he must have been a believer?

I think he may have come to faith in the Oval Office years, as was suggested in the article you mention. But Lincoln is hardly a spiritual hero.

I remember the angst I had when my bubble about Lincoln’s Christianity was burst. The assumption that Washington and Lincoln were great men of God, which blends patriotism with Christianity, can lead to a rude awakening when certain historical facts are encountered. Christian educators don’t need to reinvent people and edit their lives so that they are perfect saints in order for children to learn from them. I hope that newer and more accurate biographies are now in use.

Thanks for sharing that, Dave.

The article’s question - “Did Abraham Lincoln believe in God?” - is not irrelevant, but for our interests it is at best inadequate. Belief in God does not make one a Christian.

In my experience, this is also the language in which so many of the discussions about founding fathers are cast; So-and-so founder talked about God, “the Creator”, or prayer, therefore he was a Christian. It seems that some, in their eagerness to find as many Christians as possible in our nation’s history, will take the slightest indication of theism as proof of genuine conversion. We ought to know better, and true Christian historians should look deeper.

This newfound letter is an interesting piece of evidence in the ongoing debate among historians. But as Christians, the question that should most interest us is: Did Lincoln repent of his sin trust in Christ as His only Lord and Savior? That is certainly the only question that matters to the man now.

The assumption that Washington and Lincoln were great men of God, which blends patriotism with Christianity, can lead to a rude awakening when certain historical facts are encountered.

It happens every time I drive by the http://gwmemorial.org/index.php] George Washington Masonic Memorial or visit Mount Vernon and see http://www.mountvernon.org/visit/plan/index.cfm/pid/807/ his distillery.

There is actually a story/legend that John Gano, founding pastor of First Baptist Church, NYC baptized Washington during the Revolutionary War. A college in Missouri has a painting of it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gano).

John Gano (who was pastor of First Baptist Church, NYC) and George Washington had a friendly relationship with one another. Gano admired Washington and Washington was especially appreciative of the Baptists (because they were so pro-revolution). The story of John Gano baptizing Washington is based on the affidavits of two of Gano’s grandchildren, that their grandfather baptized General Washington. The affidavits were made when the Gano Grandchildren were old people. Gano stood 5’6”. Washington was 6’3”. The painting of Gano baptizing Washington, curiously, portrays Gano a half-head taller than Washington.

Did it happen? Who knows? One cannot prove or disprove it, it seems. William Cathcart, one of the most important Baptist historians of the 19th Cent. says that Gano kept the story quiet because he was a Mason. The more you read, the worse the story gets. For me, I would rather leave it alone. ;-)

[RPittman]

“I love Mr. Lincoln dearly, almost worship him, but that can’t blind me. He’s the purest politician I ever saw, and the justest man.”

Sometimes, it is difficult to see objectively the folk heroes because of the myths that folks have made them. As his friend and contemporary has observed, Lincoln was the consummate politician. This fits with Lincoln’s other actions including the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a desperate political ploy to save his hide in the coming election and to keep England out of the war. It was politically astute and it worked. However, Lincoln’s commitment to abolition was tame and expendable as he stated that he was willing to free NOT one slave to save the Union. So, is it any wonder that Lincoln talked religious during a time of war when religious fervor was high and it was politically desirable to do so? Politicians routinely do it today. Why should Lincoln be any different? So, what’s new?

That is something that I can agree with. To be bipartisan, I will go ahead and add in Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who were both good Baptists when it was convenient for them to be so …