Was George Washington Really a Christian?

In a San Francisco high school named after the father of our country, George Washington, a large mural of him that has been around for decades is now being painted over because some were offended by it.

As the cultural Marxists in the thrall of political correctness take over more and more of the institutions of our nation, we can expect this kind of scrubbing away of our heritage.

George Washington sacrificed a lot to win us our freedoms. But today, he is being cast down by some of the “social justice warriors” as if he was more of a villain than a hero.

He did regrettably own slaves. But we must also keep in mind that he was the heir of a slave-owning family in a time when slavery was commonplace---and he decided by the end of his life that he would release his slaves, something highly unusual for the time. 

For most of our nation’s history, our first president under the Constitution was considered a hero. He was also believed to be a Christian. But in the last few generations, he has been categorized as more of a Deist than as a Christian. I don’t think that is accurate, and I said as such as a guest on Lauren Green’s podcast, “Lighthouse Faith.” She is the religion editor for Fox News. 

I co-authored a book on the faith of George Washington with Dr. Peter Lillback, the president of Westminster Theological Seminary and of the Providence Forum. It’s calledGeorge Washington’s Sacred Fire. He and I have a series of podcasts exploring virtually every issue related to Washington’s faith, including doubts that he was Christian.

The bottom line on George Washington and his faith is that, from all outward appearances, he was a devout 18^th century Anglican with all that that would entail. He was a regular reader of the Bible. His speeches and writings (public and private) are dripping with biblical phrases. It is as if you were to cut the man, he would bleed Scripture.

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George Washington attended church every opportunity he could. But people raise some objections to the idea of Washington the Christian.

We deal with all of them systematically in our book. But just to summarize some of the main points:

• Washington did not receive communion, supposedly, because he did not believe in Christ’s atonement. Wrong. He participated in communion earlier in life. Then when he led the rebellion against King George III, the head of the Church of England (the Anglican Church, which became in America the Episcopal Church), he ceased to commune in those churches (not other churches)---at least as long as the war lasted. He did on occasion receive communion after that, even in the Episcopal Church, such as on the day he was inaugurated, April 30, 1789 at the two-hour Christian worship service at St. Paul’s Chapel (in New York City).
• He was a Mason, and therefore could not have been a Christian. Yet he only attended Masonic functions about once a decade. Also, Lillback notes that the Masons in Washington’s day held an annual Christian worship service where an evangelical minister would preach.
• Washington used elaborate names for God. Lillback notes that that was his baroque style. Washington spoke of God so reverently that he would use fancy words to describe the Almighty---which was also a custom of the evangelical preachers of America in his day.
• Washington supposedly avoided the name of Jesus. But he said to the Delaware Indian chiefs in 1779: “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”  He said in 1783 to all the governors of the states that unless we as a nation imitate “the divine Author of our blessed religion” (that would be Jesus), we can never hope to be a happy nation. Washington said to his troops after Valley Forge, “To the distinguished character of  Patriot, it should to be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian.” And on it goes.

George Washington’s adopted granddaughter, Nellie Custis, was asked after he died about his faith. She said that you might as well question his patriotism as question his Christianity. Of course, today, American patriotism seems to be on the chopping block. So people who want to rewrite history are yanking Washington out of his 18^th century Anglican context, making him out to be a non-believer, and nowadays, even making him out to be more of a bad guy than a good guy. Such is the state of America’s gratitude today for all his sacrifices that we might be a free country.

Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is an on-air host/senior producer for D. James Kennedy Ministries.