was George Washington a christian? actually a catholic ?

Question

i can tell you that other great minds beleived in god such as isaac newton, einstein, even darwin but he lost his daughter to an illness and decided to rebel against the faith and darwanism was born and the nazi's used that idea in the holocaust to breed the perfect race.. but was george washington one of the founding father's of our country a catholic?

Answer 1

Washington gives us little in his writings to indicate his personal religious beliefs. As noted by Franklin Steiner in "The Religious Beliefs Of Our Presidents" (1936), Washington commented on sermons only twice. In his writings, he never referred to "Jesus Christ." He attended church rarely, and did not take communion - though Martha did, requiring the family carriage to return back to the church to get her later.

When trying to arrange for workmen in 1784 at Mount Vernon, Washington made clear that he would accept "Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists." Washington wrote Lafayette in 1787, "Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church that road to heaven which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest and least liable to exception."

Clear evidence of his personal theology is lacking, even on his deathbed when he died a "death of civility" without expressions of Christian hope. His failure to document beliefs in conventional dogma, such as a life after death, is a clue that he may not qualify as a conventional Christian. Instead, Washington may be closer to a "warm deist" than a standard Anglican in colonial Virginia.

He was complimentary to all groups and attended Quaker, German Reformed, and Roman Catholic services. In a world where religious differences often led to war, Washington was quite conscious of religious prejudice. However, he joked about it rather than exacerbated it. Washington once noted that he was unlikely to be affected by the German Reformed service he attended, because he did not understand a word of what was spoken.

Washington was an inclusive, "big tent" political leader seeking support from the large numbers of Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers in Virginia, and even more groups on a national level. He did not enhance his standing in some areas by advocating support for a particular theology, and certainly did not identify "wedge issues" based on religious differences. Instead, in late 1775, Washington banned the Protestant celebration of the Pope's Day (a traditional mocking of the Catholic leader) by the Continental Army. He deplored the sectarian strife in Ireland, and wished the debate over Patrick Henry's General Assessment bill would "die an easy death."

Answer 2

George Washington... Hmmm.. He was very much influenced by deism, though not to the extent that Franklin and Jefferson were. The simple answer is that he was an Anglican, like most English colonists at the time.

"darwanism was born and the nazi's used that idea in the holocaust to breed the perfect race.."
No, they didn't. Darwin repeatedly pushed the point that, "social policy should not simply be guided by concepts of struggle and selection in natural." Nazis used eugenics and social darwinism to an extreme extent and went much further than many pro-eugenics people at the time ever dreamed. (That's not to defend eugenics or social darwinism, though. I still think of both of them as pseudoscientific ways of "stacking the deck", so to speak.)

Also, Darwin was an agnostic, not an atheist.

Answer 3

Washington was a member of the Church of England, although there is debate over how religious he was. He was in favor of religious freedom, and spoke out against anti-Catholic activity. Kennedy was the only Catholic president. Darwin losing his daughter was the final step that turned him away from religion, not the cause. He had already begun to have serious doubts, due to his observations of the natural world. So it was because he was a great mind that he stopped believing. Einstein believed in a god that did not take an active part in people's lives or the day-to-day operations of the universe. I'll give you Newton.

Answer 4

There is a BIG difference between Darwin's evolution and Nazi Eugenics. In one, nature picks, in the other, man guides his own evolution by weeding out 'undesirables'. While I am a Catholic, and believe in God, I don't think that precludes us from admitting that evolution is the way he chose for the universe to work. God and science are not mutually exclusive.

And Washington was Anglican, not Catholic.

Answer 5

Christianity is not my religion." - A. Lincoln “The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason” - Benjamin Franklin “I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology”. - Thomas Jefferson "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man." Thomas Jefferson “The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession”. - Abraham Lincoln “During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison “The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity”. - John Adams The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion." - John Adams Washington was obviously an aberation!

Answer 6

No, george was not a Catholic, but he was a Christian. Darwinism did not develop out of the tragedy of his daughter dying, and Darwin never proposed atheism. Einstein didn't really care much about religion and flipped on the issue several times.

Answer 7

No not Catholic. It is argued whether he was Christian or Deist. His daughter and best friend have said they'd see him in his study on his knees praying or reading his Bible. Washington was a very private man though and kept his faith a very personal thing.

*strike eagle gave a fantastic answer

Answer 8

No, he wasn't. He did not spend that much time brooding about religion. He was a man of considerable ethics. He was a mason, and attended a church in Alexandria, VA, near Mount Vernon when he was able to do so.

Answer 9

George Washington was Anglican or what we call Episcopal. He has a pew in the Episcopal church in Fredricksburg, VA.

Answer 10

No JFK was the first catholic president.