WAS GEORGE WASHINGTON A CHRISTIAN?

      Like Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, George Washington was a member of the Church of England, which became the Anglican church. They were all members of the same church because the  Church of England was the state church in Virginia. Residents of the Commonwealth were required to support the church with their tax dollars, and no one was allowed to serve on the state legislature unless he was a member of the state-approved church. Four of our first five Presidents joined the Anglican church because they had to... but they probably would've joined it anyway because it appealed to the landed gentry. It was stately and proper. The liturgies were formal, many members had designated pews (some of which were boxed and even decorated); music was provided by an organ, interiors of the churches were ornate, worship services were orderly, and the preachers wore clerical garb. Like the mainline churches in our time, Washington’s church was much more comfortable with "order" than it was with "ardor"… and no one raised their hands in praise or shouted “amen” on their own volition. By and large, Anglicans stressed “doing” over feelings, and they were not impressed with stories of inward transformation and conversion.

      The Anglican church was reserved. It was intellectual. It was based on reason and its members shared a suspicion of emotional religious outbursts. All of these things were fine for a distinguished man like George Washington... who was always concerned about the impression he made on other and the way he conducted himself in public. Indeed, as a teen, he either wrote and copied 110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior that he used as a guide throughout his life. His rules included 1) Every action in public ought to have some sign of respect to those present; 2) In the presence of others… don’t sing to yourself with a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or your feet; 3) When you are in company, do not put your hands on any part of your body, not usually discovered; 4) Don’t shift yourself in the sight of others, nor gnaw your nails; 5) Don’t laugh to loudly or too much in public; 6) Avoid superfluous compliments, but where do, they should not be neglected; 7) Speak no evil of the absent... for it is unjust; 8) When you speak of God, let it be in serious reverence. Well, you can read the others on your own if you like. My point is simply that Washington would not have talked about the personal nature of his faith or made it his business to evangelize others.

      There is still an ongoing debate about whether America was founded as a Christian nation or not, and whether our Presidents were really Christians or not. Uncovering the truth of some of this is the purpose of this class… BUT it is fair, at the outset, to say that when we decide whether a certain person is a Christian or not… our opinion is heavily influenced by our own view of what it means to be “a Christian.” Is a Christian a person who lives in a Christian nation? Is he or she a person who belongs to a Christian church? Someone who attends a Christian church, if only on Christmas and Easter? Is a Christian a man or a woman who has confessed Christ with his or her tongue? Is it someone who has experienced a personal conversion experience… and speaks in tongues? Is a Christian someone, who like Francis of Assisi, actually gives all of his worldly possessions away and takes a vow of poverty? If we are too "judge" others, which the Bible warns against in the first place, we should at least take our own biases into account. For instance, when I was a pastor in Michigan, only one of our members passed away and she was a beautiful woman named Bonnie Bennett. Bonnie had been a longtime member of the Presbyterian Church and she loved the Lord… in a quiet but unequivocal way. She knew whose she was and she knew where she was going. There is no doubt in my mind. But one night I received a phone call from a friend of hers who had moved to Texas… and she wanted me to go over to Bonnie’s house… and lead her in the Sinner’s Prayer so that Bonnie would be saved! I told her that I had no doubt that Bonnie was safely in God’s hands… but she was persistent. Bonnier could not be saved because she had not a conversion experience… and she could not be a real Christian because she was a Presbyterian! 
      What do you think? How many tenets of our faith can you NOT believe and still be a Christian? What if I doubt the story about Moses floating in a little basket down the river… or the fact that Mother Mary was a virgin… or that Jesus Christ was bodily resurrected from the dead? What if I just can’t bring myself to accept the Doctrine of the Trinity… or that I am saved solely by Grace? Can I reject these things and still be a Christian... or is being a Christian just a matter of putting Christ's philosophy above all others? Keep your own views and biases in mind as we consider the faith of our Presidents, beginning with George Washington. For the purposes of this class, I will present evidence in favor of Washington being a Christian and evidence arguing against that proposition... before I ask you to vote yes or no.

Evidence supporting Washington’s Christianity

1.     He was baptized into the Church of England;

2.     He was a Anglican vestryman ( a church leader) for many years, making this pledge, along with Daniel McCarty (one of my wife’s relatives) on August 19, 1765: I do declare that I will be comformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, by law established.

3.     His pastor, Rev. Lee Massey, said, “I never knew so constant an attendee in church as Washington.”

4.     He was at the First Continental Congress for 7 Sundays and during this time period, he attended church 3 times: once each to an Anglican, Catholic, and Quaker worship service.

5.     He was buried with an Anglican (Episcopalian) service.

6.     In a 1779 letter to a delegation of Native Americans, he advised them to “learn the religion of Christianity.”

7.     During the war, Washington ordered his soldiers to attend their worship services and implore the “Blessing of Heaven.”

8.     Jared Sparks, Unitarian minister, and President of Harvard, studied Washington in depth and exclaimed that “to say that he was not a Christian would be to impeach his sincerity and honesty."

9.     On Feb. 26, 1833, Washington’s granddaughter noted that he was instrumental in founding the Pohick Church, where he had a pew, and that he also attended the church in Alexandria whenever weather permitted, even though it was a 2-3 hour journey by carriage. He was a quiet man, she noted, who spoke little and never of self. In fact, she said that he “never related a single act of the Revolutionary War” to her. Finally, it should be mentioned that Washington “prayed fervently” when “Martha’s daughter” was dying.

10  His contemporaries did not question his faith (which they were quite capable of doing).

11  As a Mason in that time, Washington would have pledged that he “will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine."

12   In sum, he was a baptized church member who attended church and supported it with his tithes and offerings. He was buried as a church member and considered himself to be a Christian.

Arguments against Washington’s “Christianity”

      There are many observers who suggest that, while Washington was a religious man, he was not a Christian (in the way that they think of Christian). Most of them suggest that, rather being a “Christian,” Washington was more of a “deist,” who believed in the Sovereign and Benevolent Hand of Providence. His pubic statements were never specifically Christian, although in fairness to Washington and those who followed him, they were aware that, as Presidents of the United States, they represented all citizens.  In any event, here are some examples of the statements he issued:

1.     In 1778 he announced a “Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer that at one time and with one voice the righteous dispensations of Providence may be acknowledged…”

2.     In his Farewell Address, he noted that “it would be unrealistic to expect that a nation could long be moral without religion…

3.     When he announced the 1^st Thanksgiving, he called on Americans to devoted themselves in service to that great and glorious Being who is the Beneficent Author of all good that was, is, or that will be.

4.     In addition to his public statements, it has also been noted that Washington rarely, if ever, took communion in church. Even his granddaughter indicated that he generally left the church service right after the message and before communion was served.

5.     Finally, as an employer, Washington did not show any favoritism for Christians, telling his representatives instead: if they are good workers, they may be from Asia, Africa, Europe; they may be Mohammedans, Jews, or Christians, or they may be Atheists

      Well, you have heard and considered the evidence. Was George Washington, our first President, a Christian or not?

YES….. OR …. NO