Was Abraham Lincoln not a Christian?

Question

A quote by Abraham Lincoln.
"The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma."

Source: cafepress.com/affable_atheist/602851

Answer 1

Certainly early in his life he was an atheist. After he became a politician his stated beliefs became much more ambiguous. It is often very difficult to know exactly what politicians really believe.

Answer 2

Acording to Christian Dogma as I understand it you could not know the answer to the question you have asked from the quotation you have provided.

There are a couple of issues with this question such as

1 Who gets to make the determination as to what defines a christian? Some faiths belive that if you haven't been "blessed by the sprit" and "spoken in tongues" you are not a Christian. Some other faiths belive that if you have been baptised, and give confession just before your death, you will be accepted by God as a Christian.
2 Was Peter the apostle who claimed not to know Christ 3 times or was it one of the other ones? Was that apostle a Christian? Does saying that you are not a Christian, make you not a Christian? Isn't there a passage along the lines of "It is not by your deeds or actions, but what is in your heart?"

Note that Abraham does not say in the quote above that he is not a Christian, just that he does not think of the bible as "his book" and that he does not follow "Christianity" then goes on to explain that the Christian Dogma contains to many long complicated statements.

I would agree with him, I think that by and large Christianity has perverted the message of Christ, becoming the Pharisies of our times, adding rules and judgements, punishments and penalities that Christ would never have condoned.

Remember if God is fair and just then everyone must be able to come to God, from infants, to the mentaly handicaped. For that to be possilbe the path must be simple. And it is, what is the summation of all Gods rules

Love

(I don't call myself a Christian because I don't like to be associated with what seems to me to be pretty hypocritical behaviour of many of the people that do)

Remember Christ said "call no man father but only brother" and walk your own path.

Answer 3

early in life an atheist. there is no evidence he turned to Christianity after Gettysberg. That's a myth. He may have become a deist late in life, but the evidence for that seems even to be thin:

"U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Davis, appointed to the court by Lincoln, was a longtime confidant since their days as Illinois circuit-riding lawyers. He served as Lincoln's campaign manager at the 1860 Republican convention, and administered the estate of the slain president. Davis said of Lincoln's religion: "He had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term - had faith in laws, principles, causes and effects."

Answer 4

While Abraham Lincoln called upon God in his political speeches, he never joined a church. His law partners and friends indicated that Lincoln was a skeptic who doubted that any Deity existed. During the Civil War the most well-known and respected ministers visited Lincoln and asked him to please intoduce legislation to insert the name of God into the Constitution. He side-stepped all their appeals as he did all other similar requests. Christians in their attempt to claim Lincoln as thier own have made up all sorts stories about his conversion. Lincoln, however, died a skeptic.

Answer 5

Very interesting. Much better than your other stupid questions. By the way I thought it was very clever how you got into my questions just because I hurt your feelings on the question you had about athiest govts. You actually made me smile. I hope you are not as hateful as your questions make you seem.

Answer 6

I think he, like alot of people, went through times of doubt...but he also said in his First Presidential Inaugural Address, “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.”

Answer 7

Abraham Lincoln became a committed Christian after Gettysberg.


You ought to read his PROCLAIMATION OF a NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING....as President. of the US.

This will help you with the facts>>>

http://members.tripod.com/~greatamericanhistory/gr02004.htm

Answer 8

No, he wasn't. Many of our Founding Fathers and influential Historical Figures weren't Christian. Many considered themselves to be Deists.

Answer 9

Any truth is the standard of true judgment, and not the statements of the presumptuous.

Answer 10

I like to think that he was a Budhhist.
He wouldn't eat meat and the world was his church. He was a great prez.