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George Washington: Christian or Deist? William Connery
Book: George Washington's Sacred Fire
According to Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary, a deist is "one who believes in the existence of God, but denies revealed religion; one who professes no form of religion, but follows the light of nature and reason, as his only guides in doctrine and practice; a freethinker."
Modern secular scholars have gravitated toward this definition in describing the father of our country, George Washington. Especially since those Founding Fathers from Virginia (Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe) also owned slaves, the rest of their accomplishments are thrown into the shadows. This massive book (725 pages of text, more than 400 pages of appendices and footnotes) should be in every modern patriot's library, principally those who seek to know the true Washington, in his own words and the comments of his contemporaries, rather than secular historians looking at the man from a distance of 100 or 200 years. Chapter by chapter, the authors build their case that Washington was not simply a believer in a distant, uncaring deity but a God deeply involved with the trials and tribulations of mankind as his children. This was supremely exemplified in the bitter winter spent at Valley Forge, from late December 1777 until May 1778. The authors call it the "crucible of Washington's sacred cause." He first used the phrase in a letter to British Gen. Thomas Gage in Boston (August 1775) concerning the unjust treatment of American prisoners: "I purposely avoided all political Disquisition; nor shall I now avail myself of those Advantages, which the sacred Cause of my Country of Liberty, and human Nature, give me over you."
While at Valley Forge, Washington's General Orders explained: "The General persuades himself, that the officers and soldiers, with one heart, and one mind, will resolve to surmount every difficulty, with a fortitude and patience, becoming their profession, and the sacred cause in which they are engaged … To morrow being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise; and duty calling us devoutly to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us."
Story Continues Below One of the sermons preached on that Thanksgiving Day was by Israel Evans, chaplain to a New Hampshire brigade. Printed for the army and distributed free of charge, his sermon called on the soldiers to "look on his Excellency General Washington, catch the genuine patriot fire of liberty, and reverence the name of the great Jehovah."
According to the notebook of German Lutheran Rev. Henry Muhlenberg: "I heard a fine example today, namely that His Excellency General Washington rode among his army yesterday and admonished each and every one to fear God, to put away wickedness that has set in and become so general, and to practice Christian virtues. From all appearances General Washington does not belong to the so-called world of society, for he respects God's Word, believes in the atonement through Christ, and bears himself in humility and gentleness. Therefore, the Lord God has also singularly, yea, marvelously preserved him from harm in the midst of countless perils, and has hitherto graciously held him in his hand as a chosen vessel." It is a modern fallacy that Washington did not have an orthodox belief in God and even avoided speaking of God. It is even alleged that Washington did not use the word "God" at all, but instead spoke of an impersonal "Providence." According to the authors' vast research, Washington used many titles and phrases that showed his deep understanding of God. He used the words "God" (at least 146 times), "Divine" (at least 95 times), as well as many honorific titles for God (at least 90 times), the term "Providence" (at least 270 times) for a total of more than 700 instances. That is a lot for a military man, who was neither a theologian nor intending to address religious themes on a daily basis.
Washington's personal motto was "deeds not words." He lived in an era when respect for the name of God and Jesus were so profound, that some even considered it blasphemy to use the holy names too often. Also, Washington was not wedded to his own church, even though he served the Anglican Church as warden and vestryman before the Revolutionary War, and then the Episcopal Church afterward. There are records of his attending Reformed Dutch, Presbyterian, and Congregational services upon occasion. He responded to letters received from all believers. In response to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., he wrote: "May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the Father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy." If we examine Washington's life closely, he shines as a Christian man of God. There is a difference between his "sacred fire of liberty" and the licentious secular fire of deists like Thomas Paine. This is profoundly illustrated by the differences between the revolutionary "sacred fire" ignited by the American Revolution (which has led to a Constitution and 200 years under 43 presidents) and the revolutionary "wild fire" unleashed by the French Revolution, which resulted in widespread bloodshed (along with two empires and five republics in the same 200 years). Washington believed that the fires of reason and the fiery passions of a society without the presence of the sacred, refining fire of faith would always burn out of control. A fire lit by human passions alone would be a blaze without limits, without direction, and leave devastation and carnage behind. Washington's "sacred fire of liberty" was sacred, precisely because of his ardent Christian faith. As he said at his first inaugural address (April 30, 1789): "The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." Or as the French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville wrote after visiting the United States in the 1830s: "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
William Connery is a freelance writer living in Alexandria, Va. Most of his articles and book reviews have appeared on the Civil War page of the Washington Times. He is available for Civil War and historical talks and tours in the Baltimore-Washington area. He can be reached at william.connery@verizon.net.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
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