October 27, 2015
'Faith and the Presidency: From George Washington To George W. Bush' by Gary Scott Smith
How presidents joined religion, politics
December 31, 2006 12:00 AM
By Thomas O'Boyle Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| COMMENT: Considering the rise of religious discussion in today’s political environment, it would be interesting to note that there has always been a flowing undercurrent of the same issues in the past. Books and articles reveal the differing opinions and conclusions. |
When considering the important issue of the role of religion in American public life, "we the people" apparently prefer to form our opinions via televised shout fests that either decry or champion religion in the public realm. In other words, the P.T. Barnum School of Education, forums that generate lots of heat but little light.
What the reader gets in Gary Scott Smith's wonderful new book on religion and the presidency is light, plenty of it.
Smith, chairman of the History Department at Grove City College, has produced a thorough, even-handed and nuanced study of the presidency through the prism of the faith of 11 chief executives and its influence on their lives and ours.
Smith, a scholar of both theology and political history, draws on extensive archival research to describe how faith helped shape presidential character, political philosophy and the interplay between beliefs and policies.
What resounds on page after fascinating page is that, despite all the handwringing over the role of religion in American public life, in reality we've known very little about the steadfast beliefs of our past presidents.
There's a reason for that. Except for Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush, all who openly declared Jesus as their savior, most presidents were reticent to discuss what they believed.
Presidents have been variously lauded and lambasted for their faith, which perhaps explains why they've been reluctant to disclose their convictions. Among Smith's subjects, Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower were lauded; John F. Kennedy, Carter, Bush and Thomas Jefferson were lambasted.
Recently, as the culture has become more secular, the open expression of presidential belief has raised concerns, mainly over the separation of church and state.
Ironically, Jefferson, who conceived of that separation to protect faith as much as the governed, was attacked not for too much faith but too little.
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