Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four; calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg….
Abraham Lincoln

There are numerous claims about Abraham Lincoln believing in or disbelieving in one or another reli-gious view. He was a self identified deist and freethinker. There were those who claimed that Lincoln was a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a Calvinist and that he was a highly traditional Christian. His close friends, however, remembered that he was not only a doubter of traditional religion, but at times a scof-fer of traditional religious claims. Without a doubt, Abraham Lincoln’s religious views were a major controversy during his life and became a big debating point after his death. (Abraham Lincoln and His Religion by Kailee Neuner, University at Buffalo Honors Program )

Immediately after of Lincoln was assassinated, Dr. Josiah G. Holland wrote a popular biography. Hol-land was widely read and a good writer. Unfortunately, he intentionally made Lincoln out to be a tradi-tional Christian. He wrote that Lincoln was: “Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, loving, just, Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as a Christian President; and the almost immeasurably great re-sults which he had the privilege of achieving, were due to the fact that he was a Christian President.”

Lincoln was then and is now seen as a great and good man. It has often been the practice in our country when looking back at great leaders to declare that they were true believers in Christianity. So, when Colonel Ward H. Lamon published his Life of Abraham Lincoln in 1872 and boldly asserted that Lincoln was at heart an infidel, the claim seemed an insult to many Christians. A major controversy developed. Dr. Holland, author of the earlier and very popular Lincoln biography was now the editor of Scribner’s Monthly. He fiercely attacked Lamon’s book, calling Lincoln’s Freethought friends who gave Lamon his first hand information about Lincoln, a bunch of “heathens,” “barbarians,” and “savages.” He called Colonel Ward H. Lamon’s book was an “outrage on decency.”

Colonel Lamon, was not an accomplished a writer like Holland, nor did he have the advantage of having Scribner’s Monthly at his disposal. What Colonel Lamon did have, was the distinct advantage of being Lincoln’s close friend and acquaintance of years. It was Colonel Lamon who was in charge of the ar-rangements as President-elect Lincoln started for Washington at the beginning of his presidency. Lincoln appointed him Marshal of the District of Columbia. When the body of the martyred President was car-ried back to Springfield, Colonel Lamon was in charge of the funeral train. In addition to being qualified by knowledge to write the life of his chief and friend, Lamon had a collection of manuscripts pertaining to Lincoln gathered by Lincoln’s old law partner William H. Herndon, who knew Lincoln better than any other man.

A highly respected current historian of religion, Martin Marty, wrote: “Though Lincoln frequently at-tended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church while in the White House, and while he was respectful of the churches and shaped by the biblical message they transmitted, he kept some distance from their do-ings. He was the only president known never to have joined the church. Through much of his life, he therefore was haunted by charges of the pious…that the Illinoisan was really an infidel. Whatever his stance toward church religion, Lincoln stands at the spiritual center of American history and increasingly is seen as the theological thinker whose reflections are most apt and most profound.” (Marty, Pilgrims In Their Own Land, p. 220) Lincoln is quoted as saying, with a twinkle in his eye: “It will not do to investi-gate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to Infidelity.” (Manford’s Magazine)

I find it interesting to ponder, how Abraham Lincoln who was often called an infidel and who never joined a religion could be elected president of the United States and continue to hold a meaningful spiri-tual role in the history of the country. I wonder if could anyone with Lincoln’s religious beliefs be elected U.S. president today? Think of the powerful words in Lincoln’s second Inaugural Address. To me it sounds much more like a good sermon than a political speech. Ponder his words: “Both (the North and the South) read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered–that of neither has been answered fully.”

Abraham Lincoln, clearly did not accept as truth what others said about the Bible or about God. It didn’t matter what their position was in a church or in politics. His use of reason caused him to question how any person could ask “a just God’s assistance” in doing something that is unjust. Slavery was the process of wringing bread or sustenance from the sweat, from the hard work of others. And yet, Lincoln didn’t separate the South out as the only benefactor of slavery. We ought not judge, Lincoln said, lest we be judged. It is perfectly clear that Abraham Lincoln was familiar with and knowledgeable of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. He may not have believed that they were the literal words of God, but he could easily quote them and appreciate portions of the scriptures.

Lincoln realized that people on both sides of our Civil War benefited financially from the evil practice of slavery. Lincoln knew that he himself and even the other anti slavery politicians in the North could not escape the culture of slavery with its sense of racial superiority. Remember, as Lincoln stated, “One-eighth of the whole population (of the U.S. at the time) were colored slaves…” Lincoln was a man of deep and abiding principles who grew and changed as he presided over the Civil War. He became more and more convinced of the value of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. If there were any traits of character that stood out in bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln, they were those of truth and candor. He was utterly incapable of insincerity, or professing views on this or any other subject he did not entertain. … I have no hesitation whatever in saying that, whilst he held many opinions in common with the great mass of Christian believers, he did not believe in what are regarded as the orthodox or evangelical views of Christianity.

“On the innate depravity of man, the character and office of the great head of the Church, the Atonement, the infallibility of the written revelation, the performance of miracles, the nature and design of present and future rewards and punishments (as they are popularly called) and many other subjects, he held opin-ions utterly at variance with what are usually taught in the Church. … “His religious views were emi-nently practical, and are summed up, as I think, in these two propositions: ‘the fatherhood, of God, and the brotherhood of man.’ Fell gave Lincoln Unitarian Minister W. E. Channing’s entire works. Will Herndon, his friend and law-partner furnished Lincoln with the writings of the Unitarian Minister Theo-dore Parker.” Fell concluded that the author whose views most nearly represented Mr. Lincoln’s on this subject of religion was Theodore Parker. (Life of Lincoln, pp. 490-492.)

Jesse W. Fell was the Secretary of the Illinois Republican State Central Committee during the Lincoln-Douglas campaign. It was Jesse W. Fell who was instrumental in bringing Lincoln forward as a candi-date for President in 1860. Mr. Fell was a knowledgeable Unitarian. He talked with Lincoln many times about religion and wrote the following to Colonel Lamon: “The language, ‘the fatherhood, of God, and the brotherhood of man,’ is language very familiar to Unitarians and Universalists during that time. I am not, nor is Lincoln’s friend claiming that Lincoln was a Unitarian Lincoln was too independent when it came to religion to find harmony with any minister or religious writer.’

It is clear that President Abraham Lincoln believed in a higher being, or God. But, he never made refer-ence to Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He did not join any organized religion. He did, however, at-tended Presbyterian services with his wife, in Washington. He was a firm believer in prayer. This be-came more important to him as the Civil War progressed. Lincoln came to the very radical belief that the higher being he believed in could not possibly be on either the Union side or the Confederate side. Lincoln believed that God was punishing the whole nation because the North as well as the South, was guilty of the sins of slavery. (Abraham Lincoln and His Religion by Kailee Neuner, University at Buffalo Honors Program)

In his second Inaugural Lincoln understands that God gave this terrible war to both North and South. Thus it was that when Lincoln visited an army field hospital he made it a point to shake hands not only with the Union troops, but also with the hospitalized Confederates. Lincoln’s spirituality of forgiveness and reconciliation was a model for the people of his day and ought to continue to be a model for us to-day. Would that enemies in any of the world’s conflicts, our own country at the head of the list, have Lincoln’s sense of respect and compassion for ones enemies.

Think for a moment of the great competition between various religions today. Followers of one religion to show the superiority of their religion over another use ridicule and violence. This is happening in many countries right now because of cartoons that deprecate the prophet Muhammad. And this is not an isolated instance, there has been violence between groups of religious people in Ireland, Kosovo, Cash-mere, Israel, Palestine, Dafur, and so many other lands. The fierce physical competition that we see in the winter Olympics is mere child’s play when it comes to the competition between world religions. Why can’t leaders in the world be more like Abraham Lincoln who could not imagine a just God choos-ing a winner or loser in a war? “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan–to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

In 1846, when he was a candidate for Congress against the Reverend Peter Cartwright, a Methodist min-ister, he was accused of being an unbeliever. Lincoln never denied it. There was a story told of Mr. Cart-wright’s holding a revival meeting while the campaign was in progress, during which Lincoln stepped into one of his meetings. When Cartwright asked the audience, “Will all who want to go to heaven stand up?” all arose except Lincoln. When he asked, “Now, will all who want to go to hell stand up?” Lincoln still remained in his seat. Mr. Cartwright then said, “All have stood up for one place or the other except Mr. Lincoln, and we would like to know where he expects to go.” Lincoln arose and quietly said, “I am going to Congress,” and there he went.” Accepting the label of infidel seriously injured Lincoln politi-cally in several of his earlier political contests. With age and experience, he became more cautious; in stating his disbeliefs. He understood the power of the churches. While, he saw no reason to change his convictions, he did realize there were good reasons for not making them too public.

Colonel Lamon wrote: “At Springfield and at Washington he was beset on the one hand by political priests, and on the other by honest and prayerful Christians. He despised the former, respected the latter, and had use for both. He said with characteristic irreverence that he would not undertake to ‘run the Churches by military authority’; but he was, nevertheless, alive to the importance of letting the Churches ‘run’ themselves in the interest of his party. Indefinite expressions about ‘Divine Providence,’ the ‘Justice of God,’ and ‘the favor of the Most High,’ were easy and not inconsistent with his religious notions. In this, accordingly, he indulged freely; but never in all that time did he let fall from his lips or his pen an expression which remotely implied the slightest froth in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of men.” (Ibid, p. 502.)

George W. Julian, a prominent member of Congress, one of the founders of the Republican Party, and an anti-slavery candidate for Vice President in 1852 was a close friend of Lincoln wrote in a private letter (to Mr. Remsburg, written from Santa Fe, N. Mex., on March 13, 1888): “I knew him (Lincoln) well, and I know he was not a Christian in any old-fashioned orthodox sense of the word, but only a religious Theist. He was, substantially, such a Christian as Jefferson, Franklin, Washington and John Adams; and it is perfectly idle to assert the contrary.”

William H. Seward, Secretary of State during the Civil War, recalled the following story often told by Lincoln to illustrate his disdain for the doctrine of eternal punishment: There was an intrusion of Univer-salists into the town of Springfield. “The several orthodox Churches agreed that their pastors should preach down the heresy. One of them began his discourse with these emphatic words: ‘My brethren, there is a dangerous doctrine creeping in among us. There are those who are teaching that all men will be saved; but, my dear brethren, we hope for better things.” (Travels Around the World, p. 545.)

It is no surprise then that Mr. Lincoln gave a Universalist minister an appointment as chaplain, in the face of a delegation of the orthodox who waited upon him to protest against the appointment. (Lincoln Memorial Album, pp. 336-337) Regarding eternal punishment, Lincoln thought like a Universalist. He said: “If God be a just God, all will be saved or none.” (Manford’s Magazine.) He was fond of repeating the epitaph on the tombstone of Kickapoo Indian, Johnnie Kongapod:

“Here lies poor Johnnie Kongapod;
Have mercy on him, gracious God,
As he would do if he were God
And you were Johnnie Kongapod.”

In 1864, Lincoln issued a fervent Thanksgiving Proclamation. Of this, Judge Nelson a good friend of Lincoln “…once asked him about his fervent Thanksgiving Message and twitted him with being an unbeliever in what was published. ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘that is some of Seward’s nonsense, and it pleases the fools.’”

In 1878 A Chicago clergyman, and the head of the Western Unitarian Conference, the Reverend Jenkin Lloyd Jones, (who just happens to be uncle of Frank Lloyd Wright), delivered a sermon saying: “Are there not thousands who have loved virtue who did not accept Jesus Christ in any supernatural or mi-raculous fashion, who, if they knew of him at all, knew of him only as the Nazarene peasant — the man Jesus. Such was Abraham Lincoln, the tender prophet of the gospel of good will upon earth.” Alden’s American edition of Chambers’ Encyclopedia

The Rev. John W. Chadwick, the well-known Unitarian minister, of Brooklyn, N.Y., said in 1872 to the proposed “Christian Amendment” to the Constitution, recognizing the Bible, God, and making Christi-anity the state religion: “Of the six men who have done most to make America the wonder and the joy she is to all of us, not one could be the citizen of a government so constituted; for Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, certainly the mightiest leaders in our early history, were heretics in their day, Deists, as men called them; and Garrison, Lincoln and Sumner, certainly the mightiest in these later times, would all be disfranchised by the proposed amendment… Lincoln could not have taken the oath of office had such a clause been in the Constitution.”

“When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion…. And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years….” Abraham Lincoln