Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States

About Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States in brief

Almost all of the presidents can be characterized as Christian, at least by upbringing. Protestants predominate, with Episcopalians and Presbyterians being the most prevalent. No president has openly identified as atheist. Four presidents are affiliated with Unitarian churches, and a fifth was an exponent of Unitarianism. For many earlier presidents, however, formal church membership was forestalled until they left office; and in several cases a president never joined any church. deism was a religious philosophy in common currency in colonial times, some Founding Fathers are identified more or less with this system. For example, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Tyler are often identified as having some degree of deistic beliefs. While many presidents did not formally join a church until quite late in life, there is a genre of tales of deathbed conversions. Researchers have tried to draw conclusions from patterns of churchgoing or religious references in political speeches. It is difficult to assess whether the presidents in question were irreligious, were unorthodox in their beliefs, or simply believed that religion was not a matter for public revelation.

For Quakers, it is common to refuse to swear to the oaths of office, but even so it is hard to determine whether either Hoover or Nixon had much adherence to practice. For Unitarians, the question arises as to the degree to which the presidents themselves held Christian precepts. For Baptists, the list includes only two Catholic presidents including the President Elect, although they are currently the largest single denomination, and there have been no Adventist, Anabaptist, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, or Latter Day Saint presidents. The list includes at least four nontrinitarian presidents, and four Quaker presidents, but it is harder to determine if they were Quaker or Unitarian. The information about their religion is not circumscribed by its doctrines, but by its nature, not circumscribing by doctrines, is not a good way to know if a president is a good or bad leader. If the American electorate is not so narrow as to elect a Unitarian, good and good good can stand it.