[SirLinksalot]

In remembrance of President's Day :

This Q&A and the book on which the answers are based on cuts through the claptrap of historical revisionists to tell us about George Washington's faith.

[wideawake]

The proof that Washington was not a Deist was that he very publicly called for prayers that God might intervene in human events.

By definition, a Deist does not accept the notion of an interventionist deity.

[Skooz]

Regardless of whatever evidence is presented here or anywhere else, the "All Our Founders Were Deists" crowd will ignore it all.

[stuartcr]

If we agree that there is only one God, then what does it matter how any person or religion, views God? When they speak of God, or pray to God, then they can only be speaking of the same God. All roads must lead to the same God, regardless of what one believes.

[Paradox]

From what I have read, he was something of a Deist Christian, as this article states. I think it is significant that at his last moments were upon him, he did not have a priest or preacher at his side, didn't apparently make any religious remarks, just that he was "ok" with his death.

He certainly was no evangelical like we have today.

Also, the guy was called "King George" by his political enemies, which included members of his own Cabinet, like Jefferson. He resigned during his second term partially to prove that he did not want to be something of a king.

As I read one of his biographies, it struck me how similar things are today. The more things change....

[Servant of the 9]

The quintessential Deist was Voltaire, yet he built a church on his estate and employed a priest to say mass in it. He served as Godfather to many children. He used the coloquialisms of the day that spoke of God's grace and God's will though he was one of the most precise users of language to ever live.

He also made clear to associates that he did it because he thought it helped keep the lower classes in line, and religious bigots off his back, not because he believed any of it himself. It's a matter of noblesse oblige

So9

[GreyFriar]

ping

[presidio9]

Also, Lincoln was gay. Gore Vidal said so.

[little jeremiah]

Bookmarked/later read.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Deism in practice was not exactly a creed, with defined propositions you either accepted or rejected. . . . Strict Deists cannot accept that God intervenes in history on one side or the other.

Pretty self-contradictory assertions there. Deism has always rejected the notion that "God" controls every detail of what happens on Earth, and knows every thought that every person has, etc., and certainly rejected the notion of predestination. But leaving behind a God who is involved in everything from the war in Iraq to what color a teenage girl paints her fingernails for a date, leaves a very wide range of perceptions of the degree to which God may choose to, or be persuaded to become involved with certain affairs on Earth, and to which God may wish to ensure the eventual dominance of one "side" over another in history.

It actually makes more sense for a Deist to pray, than for what is today widely regarded as a Christian. If you believe that God may or may not choose to get involved in particular matters, it's worth praying as a means of drawing God's attention and persuading God to get involved. If you believe that God already knows everything about everything, and perhaps also believe that God has predestined the outcome of every action on Earth, and certainly of the general course of history, praying for God to bring about something or other doesn't make much sense. Both types of believers may engage in prayer in part as a way of listening to God, though people who believe in predestination theoretically have no choice in the matter, whereas a Deist certainly does.

[VOA]

bump

[Tribune7]

bump

[SES1066]

Good read - bookmarking for later re-read

[kalee]

ping

[Pharmboy]

The Washington Family Coat of Arms

Freepmail me to get ON or OFF this RevWar/Colonial History/General Washinton ping list

[metesky]

Q: Who is Washington's God?

A: The Great God Jehovah who led the people of Israel long ago, the same benevolent Providence that led the way through many dark times to the independence of the United States. That is the God Washington described in his letter to the Synagogue in Savannah, after the war.

I've always preferred the Hairy Thunderer over the Cosmic Muffin.

[Zavien Doombringer]

"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe." Washington continued: "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency." --George Washington