How Abraham Lincoln Broke the Barrier Between Church and State

Politico Magazine ^ | 2023 | Joshua Zeits

[CondoleezzaProtege]

On September 1862, weeks before he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln wrestled with the enormous dilemma of whether to change the stakes of the Civil War…In a private document found after his death, the president struggled to understand what God expected of him and of the nation.

“The will of God prevails,” Lincoln began. “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party — and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose.”

…Lincoln, ever the iconoclast, never shared the certitude of his fellow Christians, but he recognized the power and influence of the evangelical united front. Even as he remained privately doubtful that God was on the Union’s side, he encouraged Christian leaders to bring their faith into the public sphere in a way that had lasting implications on American society. Never again would ministers and lay leaders be reticent about mixing religion and state. It was a watershed moment that continues to define our political culture and render it distinct from other western democracies.

In the decades leading up to the Civil War, America experienced an intense period of religious revivalism — what historians call the Second Great Awakening. Millions of Americans flocked to new evangelical churches, which held that through belief, repentance and a personal relationship with Christ, individuals could find grace in this life and the next. Church membership exploded…By numbers alone, organized Protestant churches were the most influential public institutions in the United States…

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TOPICS: History; Religion
KEYWORDS: abolition; abrahamlincoln; civilwar; concerntroll; concerntrolling; fakehistory; fakenews; greatawakening; ifhfakehistory; joshuazeits; joshuazeitz; lincoln; politico; pollutico; slavery

[CondoleezzaProtege]

[wasmv80]

Our United States of America, is a Chriistian nation without an official designation, nor recognition, of a Church of State such as Anglican or Episcopalian or Lutheran.

[mairdie]

I’ve never seen that Lincoln illustration. Truly wonderful.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

"Barrier"? There is no barrier. At the top of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson recognized that we are endowed by God with our rights.

[Bratch]

[jeffersondem]

“Our United States of America, is a Chriistian nation without an official designation, nor recognition, of a Church of State such as Anglican or Episcopalian or Lutheran.”

In the Constitution the framers do recognize Jesus as Lord but that has nothing to do with Abraham Lincoln.

[Olog-hai]

So Mr. Zeitz is trying to say that Lincoln violated the Establishment Clause somehow? That’s what the headline implies.

Something kinda fey about that smile . . .

[KC Burke]

Zeits lacks historical knowledge.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

It really is a wonderful illustration. And on a side-note, learning new Lincoln lore facts like:

Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln’s life, at a train station in New Jersey on a trip between NYC and DC.

How wild is that?!

https://www.historynet.com/edwin-booth-saved-robert-todd-lincolns-life-2/

[mairdie]

Definitely wild!

[EnderWiggin1970]

There is no barrier between church and state. That’s a personal doctrine atheists invented to make their religion the state religion of the country, and they’ve been trying to impose it on the rest of us ever since. So even when a Christian president is elected, they browbeat the president with this falsehood and demand that he rule just as if he were an atheist. They’ve been very successful in portraying this as “neutrality” when it is anything but.

[ansel12]

The wall was around the government, it wasn’t a wall around the Christian faith, the move moved the wall to surround the Christian faith and put the government in charge of limiting, restraining, and even overcoming it.

[spintreebob]

The Headline “Church and State” is inconsisent with the text which is “Personal actions based on personal faith.”

The Headline sets up a false premise for the reality of what happened. There is a big difference between the Catholic Church or Nation Council of Churches having influence in the government and individual Bhuddists, Hindus, Catholics, Jews, Evangelicals and aetheists using their personal “religion” to guide their actions in government.

[daniel1212]

Thanks. The best article Politico ever carried. From LINCOLN’S GOD by Joshua Zeitz, published by Viking,