6.3.5. The Religions of the Presidents (under construction)

web PRESIDENTS usa

6.3. Presidential Lists

6.3.5. The Religions of the Presidents

Name	Church Born Into	Membership	Attended as President	Comments
1. George Washington	Anglican	Anglican (later Episcopalian)	Christ Church in Philadelphia	Diest, did not take communion [NS 31]
2. John Adams	Unitarian	Unitarian		Wife switched to Episcopalian [AFF 222]
3. Thomas Jefferson	Anglican		Sometimes attended services in hall of Congress with daughters [AFF 217]	Diest [AFF 227] Wrote his own version of the Bible which was Unitarian in theology
4. James Madison		Episcopalian	St. John's Episcopal [AFF 218]
5. James Monroe		Episcopalian	St. John's Episcopal [AFF 218]
6. John Quincy Adams	Unitarian	Unitarian
7. Andrew Jackson	Presbyterian	Presbyterian		Did not join church until after he left presidency
8. Martin Van Buren	Dutch Reformed	Dutch Reformed
9. William H. Harrison		Episcopalian	St. John's Episcopal [AFF 218]
10. John Tyler		Episcopalian		In practice, a Deist
11. James K. Polk		None	Attended his wife's Presbyterian church [AFF 219]	Baptised into Methodist church on his deathbed [AFF 219]
12. Zachary Taylor	Episcopalian	None		His wife was Episcopalian. He never joined a church.
13. Millard Fillmore		Unitarian
14. Franklin Pierce		Episcopalian
15. James Buchanan		Presbyterian [FAP161]
16. Abraham Lincoln	Fundamentalist Baptist	None	Attended Wednesday night prayer meetings at Presbyterian church [AFF 222]
17. Andrew Johnson		None	St. Patrick's Catholic church [AFF 219]	Defended Catholicism, supported religious freedom.
18. Ulysses S. Grant		Methodist [FAP 201]	Metropolitan Methodist [AFF 219]
19. Rutherford B. Hayes		Attended Methodist church [FAP 215]
20. James A. Garfield	Disciples of Christ	Disciples of Christ
21. Chester A. Arthur	Baptist	Episcopalian [FAP 237]		Son of a Baptist clergyman [FAP 424]
22 & 24. Grover Cleveland	Presbyterian	Presbyterian [FAP 243]		Son of a Presbyterian minister.[FAP 424]
23. Benjamin Harrison		Presbyterian [FAP 251]
25. William McKinley		Methodist [AJC.4]
26. Theodore Roosevelt	Dutch Reformed	Dutch Reformed [FAP 277]		Wife was Episcopalian [AFF 219]
27. William H. Taft		Unitarian [FAP 287]		Wife was Episcopalian [AFF 219]
28. Woodrow Wilson	Presbyterian	Presbyterian [FAP 297]		Son of a Presbyterian minister[FAP 298]
29. Warren G. Harding	His father was a Baptist. His mother was a Methodist and became a Seventh Day Adventist.[SBG 45]	Baptist [FAP 311]		He attended a Methodist church while in college [SBG 45]
30. Calvin Coolidge		Congregationalist [FAP 321]		Joined a church after becoming president [AFF 222]
31. Herbert C. Hoover	Quaker	Quaker [FAP 329]
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt		Episcopalian [FAP 339]		Married by an Anglican priest [ERV1]
33. Harry S. Truman	Attended Pressbyterian Sunday School as a child	Baptist [FAP 363]		Married in an Episcopal church
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower	River Brethren, Jehovah's Witness	Presbyterian [FAP 375]		Joined a church after becoming president [AFF 222]
35. John F. Kennedy	Roman Catholic	Roman Catholic	Trinity Church [AFF 220]
36. Lyndon B. Johnson	Disciples of Christ
37. Richard M. Nixon	Quaker			Hosted services in East Room of White House
38. Gerald R. Ford			St. John's Episcopal [AFF 219]
39. Jimmy Carter	Baptist	Baptist	First Baptist Church in Washington D.C. [FLP 2]
40. Ronald W. Reagan	Disciples of Christ	Episcopalian		Stopped going to church while in office for security reasons
41. George H. W. Bush			St. John's Episcopal [AFF 219]
42. William J. Clinton	Baptist
43. George W. Bush		Methodist [AJC.4]

[christian, christianity]

E-mail: I am trying to find the religions of the Presidents. Can you help? [religion]

Reply: That's not a question which can be answered easily. I suggest that you get a good presidents anthology at the library and do some research. An encyclopedia (even an online one) might also have the information. During their lifetimes, the presidents, like many people, sometimes changed denominations (Reagan, LBJ) or were not very attentive to the duties of their religion (Washington refused to go to communion in his church). Others such as Lincoln and Jefferson did not belong to a church, but both read the Bible extensively.

1. Which pew is the presidents in St. John's Church, Lafayette Square? Number 54, purchased by James Madison [WDC1 101]

2. Where did George Washington go to church? He owned a pew in Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, where he also owned a town home.[WDC1 240]