Week Four Handout Presidential Faith The beliefs and practices of notable American presidents Dr. James C. (Jim) Wallace Abraham Lincoln The sustaining power of faith in times of crisis Abraham Lincoln s faith has been the most examined and scrutinized of the Presidents, even more than George Washington, because of the number of extant written records we have by Lincoln associates who commented on his faith life. Like Washington, Lincoln s faith has also been hotly debated and misunderstood. In American civil religion, because of his tragic death, Lincoln has been considered a Christ figure, received into heaven by Washington, the father god figure. Lincoln is rightly viewed as humble, modest, caring, sacrificial, forgiving, and prayerful. But what kind of faith did Lincoln really possess? Is the legend consistent with reality? Lincoln was raised in a frontier Baptist family. He was schooled in frontier religion with all of its revivalistic fervor mixed with frontier superstitions. As a young man, Lincoln was gripped by a more rational, reason based, skeptical view of life. As an older man, having experienced many pains and deaths in his life, he seemed to more willingly embrace religious faith. During his Presidential years, bearing the weight and pain of the Presidency, Lincoln had a profound sense that God was guiding his life and the destiny of the nation. He accepted and spoke of many scriptural tenets as President and valiantly sought to live an ethical Christian life. Lincoln contributed two of the most important theological texts to the pantheon of American civil religion: his second Inaugural Address and the Gettysburg Address. Both are profoundly theological statements of American belief that continues to shape the American religious belief system today. Lincoln s Religious Background Abraham Lincoln s faith was shaped by the frontier where he grew up, the conservative religious upbringing he received, and the issue of slavery. Born in log cabin in Hodgenville, Kentucky in 1809 Parents belonged to the Little Mount Separatist Baptist Church and were impacted by the revivals of the Second Great Awakening (1790 1840) During his formative years, Lincoln s mother (who died when he was 9) taught him to read the Bible, recite Bible verses by memory, and sing hymns of faith Week Four Handout 1
Family moved to Indiana, where Lincoln s father remarried. The family was a part of the Little Pigeon Creek Baptist Church, a hard shell Calvinist congregation. After moving to New Salem, Illinois, Lincoln became exposed to a group of freethinkers who questioned the Bible s scientific perspectives and reduced religion to morality. While in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln met and later married Mary Todd, an Episcopalian from a well to do family in Lexington, Kentucky As a young man in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln was considered by his friends to be a religious doubter, a skeptic, one who denied that Jesus was the Christ of God, and whose faith bordered on absolute Atheism. Politically derided for being an open scoffer at Christianity. 1846 election campaign handbill from Lincoln: That I am not a member of any Christian Church is true; but I have never denied the truth of Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect for religion in general, or any denominations of Christians in particular. The Faith of Abraham Lincoln There were three main influences of Abraham Lincoln s religious beliefs: (1) his rigid Baptist Calvinist upbringing; (2) Enlightenment thinking and its skepticism about religion; (3) reason and classical liberalism with its utilitarian, self interest approach to life. Lincoln impacted by frontier spirit of superstition believed in dreams, signs, participated in séances, occasionally consulted mediums (even while in White House), and showed interest in necromancy (communicating with the dead). Evidence against Lincoln being a true man of Christian faith: o Never baptized. o Never received Communion. o Never joined a church. o Deeply disliked religious and denominational disputes and theological debates. o Seldom attended church as an adult until after death of son, Eddie (age three). Religious views: o Bible: Knew it well; read it frequently; understood its teachings deeply; cited or alluded to the Bible more than any other President. The Bible is the best book God has given to an. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated in this Book. o God: Lincoln believed in a Creator of all things who possessed all power and wisdom. Lincoln looked to God for moral guidance and wisdom. o Christ: Lincoln rarely used the name of Jesus or Christ in his correspondence or addresses, however, he frequently quoted his teachings. o It is unclear whether he believe in Christ s divinity. He spoke of the Savior, but not my Savior. o God s will and providence: Lincoln strongly believed that God directed human events of individuals and of nations to accomplish his will. He saw himself, particularly as President, as God s agent on earth. He believed that God allowed the Civil War to accomplish his purposes of purifying the nation of slavery. o Prayer: Lincoln strongly valued prayer, primarily as a way of confirming and conforming to God s will. I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. o Salvation: Lincoln was a universalist who believed that ultimately all would be saved. Week Four Handout 2
o Hell: Lincoln did not believe in Hell. o Sin: Lincoln believed in sin, but did not accept the Calvinist and hard shell Baptist doctrine of human depravity. Lincoln held many personal practices that caused Evangelicals of his day to question his spiritual character he attend the theater; his language was often vulgar he swore like a Philistine; he infrequently observed the Sabbath; he dabbled in spiritualism. The Battle over Lincoln s Soul Lincoln s faith has been more vehemently disputed than that of any other President. Contradictory stories and accounts abound from people who knew Lincoln personally. The dispute over Lincoln s faith intensified immediately upon his death. Pro a devout man, an orthodox believer, a firm believer in the Christian faith. Noah Brooks contended that Lincoln had a saving knowledge of Christ; he talked always of Christ, his cross, his atonement; he prayed regularly. Con remained a skeptic, a freethinker, an agnostic, an unbeliever. In 1860, Lincoln supposedly confessed to Newton Bateman, I am not a Christian. Lincoln s law partner said, Let it be written in history and on Mr. Lincoln s tomb, He died an unbeliever. Some argue that Lincoln pretended to be an orthodox Christian to please a largely Christian populace. Lincoln s assassination deeply grieved the nation after four years of war and bloodshed. Quickly pictured as an American Christ the savior of the nation who died for the nation Connection was made to the fact that Lincoln died on Good Friday. Artwork portrayed Lincoln being received into heaven by George Washington God the Father and God the Son. President Lincoln and Civil Religion Lincoln as President was, according to Mark Noll, the nation s most profound public theologian. Like George Washington, Lincoln played a major role in shaping American civil religion. Lincoln had several well known and out spoken Christians in his cabinet. Lincoln frequently used Christian ideas, language, speech, and forms in his public statements Lincoln worked diligently to maintain cordial relationships with religious groups including non Protestant Christians (Catholics, Quakers), as well as Jews. Lincoln regularly attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC and maintained a very close personal relationship to its pastor, Phineas D. Gurley, who served as a confidant, friend, and spiritual counselor to the President. Lincoln declared days of Fasting and Prayer for victory for the Northern armies during the war. Lincoln declared days of Thanksgiving to God for his mercy on the nation. Since Lincoln s declaration of a day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens" in 1863, Thanksgiving Day has been an annual national holiday celebrated on the last Thursday in November. Week Four Handout 3
Lincoln revered the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bible as his guides to leading America as President. Lincoln provided two great civil texts to the pantheon of the nation s other sacred documents the Mayflower Compact, John Winthrop s A Model of Christian Charity, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. Two issues consumed Lincoln s presidency and his intellectual and religious life the eradication of slavery and the preservation of the Union. The Gettysburg Address November 19, 1863 Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. Lincoln s Second Inaugural Address March 4, 1865 Fellow Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. Week Four Handout 4
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-- seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Week Four Handout 5
Key Dates in Abraham Lincoln s Life February 12, 1809 Born Hodgenville, KY 1816 Moved to Indiana 1830 Moved to Illinois November 4, 1842 Married Todd Lincoln (of Lexington, KY) March 4, 1847 March 4, 1849 Representative, U.S. Congress from Illinois 7 th District November 6, 1860 Lincoln elected 16 th President March 4, 1861 Lincoln First Inaugural April 12, 1861 Civil War begins September 22, 1862 Emancipation Proclamation (announced after Antietam) January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation (enacted) July 1 3, 1863 Battle of Gettysburg November 19, 1863 Gettysburg Address November 8, 1864 Lincoln re elected March 4, 1865 Lincoln Second Inaugural April 9, 1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse April 15, 1865 Died Washington, DC May 9, 1865 Civil War declared ended December 1865 Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution Slavery Conclusions about Abraham Lincoln s Faith From the abundance of scholarship and evidence, the following conclusions can be safely drawn: Lincoln had a deep personal, theological, and practical understanding of the Christian faith. Lincoln grew in his dependence on his faith as he grew older and more burdened with life and the presidency. Lincoln revered the Bible and was a man of deep prayer. Lincoln lived out and urged the nation to live out the ethical and moral principles of the Bible in regards to slavery and the Civil War love of fellowman, kindness, forgiveness, charity, and care for the lowly and the broken. Lincoln stands at the spiritual center of American life. Sources Smith, Gary Scott. Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington to George W. Bush. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Week Four Handout 6