I contacted the Smithsonian regarding the rejection of Washingtons prayer book and they stated they have no knowledge of such an action taken by the Smithsonian. Does anyone have information on this.

-DM-

[Copied here from Feedback. Can anyone here be of assistance? --Don--]

Toto

See the closed thread entitled George Washington was a believer.

Washington's alleged prayer journal is here:
http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/george.html

Several posters on that thread opined that it was an obvious fraud. Cliff Walker details some prayers fraudulantly attributed to Washington on his site.

I am not sure how the Smithsonian enters into this.

Seth K

Indeed, I would figure Mt. Vernon would be the more appropriate place to query about this. More appropriate still would be to contact Washington scholars for their judgement.

Of the things that jump out at me are:

• Nowhere in this short journal is there any identification of the author.
• This is obviously an experpt from a longer work. As the webpage above indicates, the subsequent pages are missing. There is no other word on the condition or the manuscript.
• This journal was discovered a century after GW's death. The provenance of the manuscript is questionable.
• I would like to know exactly who possesses this manuscript, and whether it can be examined. At the very least, a facsimile of the pages posted to the web would be better than a typed in copy for our purposes.

Seth K

Replying to my own message: I Googled for GW's writings and found that they are kept by the Library of Congress so they would be the proper authority, not the Smithsonian. No mention of the prayer journal being part of the collection.

randman

The problem with labelling Washington a Deist is that the man was known for personal prayer, especially during the revolution. I don't see why a Deist would pray.

Whether he accepted Christ is a more debatable idea. He came from a family that beleived in worshipping God, and it is clear that he prayed to God.

I think a more recent example of how hard it is to nail down a public figure of considerable stature would be Ronald Reagan. Reagan did say he was a Christian, but how do you actually know if he truly accepted Christ. I tend to think he did, since he said he did.

But surely a safe assumption is that he was a religious man, but that the personal and deepest beleifs he held are perhaps arguable.

Jimmy Carter now, his conversion and acceptance of Christ is pretty well-nigh unquestionable, but he serves as a lesson that membership as a Christian does not equate acceptance of one's political views by other Christians. Moreover, social and poitical movements and beleifs are generally populated by both beleivers and non-beleivers, except perhaps atheistic movements.

Certainly, Deists played a role in founding America, but so did ardent Christians. It was not necessary to drop Christianity to accept the idea of natural rights. Personally, I would argue Christians and even Reformed theology played a larger role than Deism in the fouding of the nation, but that might be too broad a topic for this forum. Certainly, the vast majority of Americans did not embrace the Deism of Thomas Paine as he died a very unpopular man despite his notable acheivements in aiding the revolution. His antagonism to organized religion caused a huge backlash against him.

Toto

R'Man -

Would you care to read the backgound material before blathering on and on and wandering off topic?

What is your source for Washington's alleged prayers? Did you read all the material about the forgeries and lies told about him by Christians who wanted to claim him as a believer? Why should we trust you when you say he prayed? And if he did, how do we know it was not just for public ceremony?

Corwin

Nicolo Machieavelli and Napoleon Bonaparte were also both strong advocates of public religious behavior as well...

randman

Have any of you read Washington's farewell address. I am not sure you can prove Washington was a born-again Christian, though he was a regular church member, contrary to what some claim.

But I think it is safe to say that he favored religion in general and was himself a religious man who beleived in God. Check out the intial quote on this web-site from his farewell address.

<a href="http://www.christiancharity.com/gwash.htm" target="_blank">http://www.christiancharity.com/gwash.htm</a>

Unlike Napolean and Machivialli, GW lived an exemplary life of unusual honesty and dignity. I am not saying he wasn't politically savvy, but there is no reason to doubt the sincerety of his words in his farewell address. He explicitly condemns those that are anti-God and anti-religion, which is a large portion of the psosters around here I might add.

Krieger

"Would you care to read the backgound material before blathering on and on and wandering off topic?"

But he wouldn't be an ignorant, xian-fundie-fool if he did that though. ;-)

[ March 25, 2002: Message edited by: Krieger ]</p>