Oresta

Yesterday I happened onto a chart of the U.S. presidents in a 1967 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia. Besides the usual columns for date and place of birth, years in office, etc., there was a column for religion. Four presidents had an asterik next to their religion: Jefferson, Unitarian; Lincoln, Prebyterian; A. Johnson and Hayes, Methodist. The footnote to these, in very fine print at the bottom of the page said, "Church preference; never joined any church."
From everything we know of these men, by no stretch of the imagination could one describe their beliefs as anywhere close to a "Church preference;" in the cases of Jefferson and Lincoln, not even a Christian preference.
Can't you just see those editors pushing the envelope of rationale in order to put mainstream religious labels on American icons? One can't have a book going into a school library that says some presidents had none or unknown religions.
It reminds me of the story I heard of a woman in labor being admitted to a Catholic hospital. She gave her religion as "none". The nun never blinked as she typed in "protestant".

Grumpy

Former President and Chief Justice William Howard "Tiny" Taft is quoted as saying: "I do not believe in the divinity of Christ and there are many other of the postulates of the orthodox creed to which I cannot subscribe." My handy desk almanac lists Taft's religion (which it provides for SCOTUS justices, but not presidents) as Unitarian -- which is what you'd figure, since the above quote is basically the Unitarian motto.

cydonia

A lot of people who are not religious at all will sometimes say, "oh yeah i'm a christian and everything, my family is protestant" without really identifying themselves with that faith. Kind of like "Oh, i'm from the south."

Hm.

Amos

Good one, the nun was correct because there is only one religion. The rest are all protestors to that one religion.

emphryio

Yes, I believe Lincoln was actually quite anti-religious, but smart enough to keep his mouth shut so he could be elected president and abolish slavery and all that. Supposing he hadn't been assasinated, I wonder if he would have ever spoken out in his later years?

Isn't it interesting that Jefferson and Lincoln were probably the two most anti-religious and also probably the two best presidents we ever had?
Really if you take those two away and replace them say with a Reagen and a Nixon type, I wonder how much worse off we'd be today?

And yes, of course the christians lie about the non-religious presidents beliefs. Rational men who seek the truth, don't lie. People who already think they have all the answers they need, don't seek the truth. Therefore they have less respect for truth. Therefore they're more likely to lie.

Albion

Reminds me iof this from Bertrand Russell:

"For four and a half months in 1918 I was in prison for pacifist propaganda; but, by the intervention of Arthur Balfour, I was placed in the first division, so that while in prison I was able to read and write as much as I liked, provided I did no pacifist propaganda. I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, and began the work for Analysis of Mind. I was rather interested in my fellow prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to the rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence, as was shown by their having been caught. For anybody not in the first division, especially for a person accustomed to reading and writing, prison is a severe and terrible punishment; but for me, thanks to Arthur Balfour, this was not so. I was much cheered on my arrival by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied 'agnostic.' He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: 'Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.' This remark kept me cheerful for about a week."

Oresta

Years ago I shared a room in the maternity ward with a woman from Wales. I told her and her visiting Welsh minister the story I wrote here in my OP. The minister laughed and said that in the British Isles if someone says he has no religion, he is recorded as C of E (Church of England).