Some of our first presidents were Christians. Does it make you wonder why we have a lack of success nowadays?

Question

Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Herbert Hoover are just some of them.

"The Bible was clearly important to many American presidents. A few examples:

It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. "

-George Washington

I'm just wondering... I'm not saying that is the reason..

i'm christian so i'm saying that right now us not being really all that Christian isn't great,.

nvm you guys.. the resource i got my stuff from was WRONG. :P

Answer 1

I heard once abe lincoln was at a slave trade markey, and he prayed to God, if he gave him the authority he would end this cruelty.

I wouldnt call that atheist, and i doubt anyone was much of a muslim or anything else back then.

Anyone who thinks Bush is a Christian is a MORON. He prayed in a Shinto temple in Japan, and said we all pray too the same universal god. Ya thats christian!

Answer 2

It's well known that most of the founding fathers were deists, not Christians. Some of the early Presidents had contrary views of Christianity, that are not well known to many:

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
- President George Washington

“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man”

“Religions are all alike -- founded upon fables and mythologies”

- Thomas Jefferson

"My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing age and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."
- President Abraham Lincoln

Answer 3

Many of our first presidents were deists, including George Washington (at least according to his wife and his wife's minister!). Jefferson was an agnostic highly critical of organized religion. Lincoln's religious affiliations are highly questionable. ("Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian beliefs." http://www.adherents.com/people/pl/Abraham_Lincoln.html) Including him among our "first presidents" is stretching things.

Herbert Hoover was nowhere close to being one of our first presidents. He's also known as one of the worst presidents. Do you have a clue who Hoover even is, or are you just grabbing names?

As an attempt to name early Christian presidents, this list completely fails. You're not helping your cause any.

Answer 4

Does the fact that some of our first Presidents were Christians make me wonder why we have a lack of success nowadays?

No.

Why?

Because - one - we do not have a "lack of success" nowadays. Also, every man who has been President of the United States has been a Christian, with the exception of Thomas Jefferson, who openly loathed Christianity. The men who were our early Presidents lived in a time when it was far easier for them to question the rightness of Christianity. Today, if someone said something negative about Christianity, they would have no chance of becoming President. Jefferson was able to say that it was the worst thing in the world and he was President number 3.

Answer 5

I'm sorry sir but I do not share your faith
G Washington
There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. [George Washington, address to Congress, 8 January, 1790]

But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782
Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because if there be one he must approve of the homage of reason more than that of blindfolded fear.

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787

The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion
A.Lincoln
"The only person who is a worse liar than a faith healer is his patient."
Lincoln
The United States government must not undertake to run the Churches. When an individual, in the Church or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked.
-- Abraham Lincoln, regarding the Churches


Shall I go on?

edit:LOL Aww you didn't get the answers you wanted so you'll take your toys and go home?

Answer 6

To counterpoint that...they were also slaveowners, they normally wore fake cheezy wigs (the early ones) and were all in wars (well...dunno if Hoover was...) so does it make you wonder why we have a lack of success nowadays? Come on...most of the time, the politicans really don't have a say-so on WHAT they run for...it's the people who vote for them that do. And besides, they had a good idea on keeping religion out of the government...which seems to be dissolving now...such a shame...and last time I saw...the world is doing pretty good without God, or the Bible (look at Japan, one of the richest places in the world, has a minimal if any Chrisitan population, or India, very smart people over there, etc. etc.) With the Bible, I think that all the countries laws are doing pretty good without it, (Most of the laws have the same thing that American laws have...don't kill, cheating is wrong, etc. etc.)

Answer 7

"The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."
-- John Adams

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." - Thomas Jefferson

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government." - Thomas Jefferson

"In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people." - James Madison

" The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity." - John Adams

"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin

Answer 8

Not really. This nation wasn't, in fact, founded on the Christian religion as some claim. The founding fathers, while considered Christians, were strictly against having one religon favored over another. They wanted equality of all religions and strict separation of church and state. Unfortunately, through the times, religious politics has twisted and undermined that philosphy and have put the Christian religion above all else. Just because some presidents were Christians doesn't mean they screwed up or anything. The people who make bad descisions are the religious groups who campain to make prayer mandatory in schools and the such. Oh and the Bush family...I don't care for them either! LoL

Answer 9

George Washington was a ruthless tyrant and a Slave Owner. How does that value equate to Christianity. George Washington sold a slave for molasses.

If these people were Christians, then the term has no meaning.

Answer 10

Nope. 26 presidents ave been either Episcopalian, Methodist, or Presbyterian. One was Catholic - JFK. None have been Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu.

Both George H Bush and George Washington were Episcopalian. Harry Truman and Bill Clinton were Baptists - as was Jimmy Carter. US Grant and Ron Reagan were Presbyterian.

So what? Does it mean anything? Are we worse off today because our modern presidents are not "Christian" - whatever your definition of that is.