On this President's Day let me publicly state how amazed I am at the low bar used by Americans to measure the Christian faith of our presidents. For instance, according to a recently released study by the Pew Research Center, "Almost all U.S. president's have been Christians." Included in the Pew Research Center's list of Christian presidents is Thomas Jefferson, a man who constructed his own Bible by cutting and pasting within it only select passages from the Gospels, passages that he referred to as "diamonds in a dunghill." Jefferson cut out of his Bible all of Christ's miracles, including Christ's resurrection, which he attributed to an attempt by “ignorant" and "unlettered men” to propagate on the gullible masses “superstitions, fanaticisms, and fabrications.”

 

Also included on the Pew Research Center's list of Christian presidents is George Washington, whose own pastor, Bishop William White, who also served as chaplain of the Continental Congress, wrote after Washington's death, "I do not believe that any degree of recollection will bring to my mind any fact which would prove General Washington to have been a believer in the Christian revelation." Although the Pew Research Center also lists Abraham Lincoln as a Christian, historians have long debated Lincoln's religious faith, since he never belonged to a Christian church, never publicly professed the Christian faith, participated in seances, and was described by his bodyguard and life-long friend, Ward Hill Lamon, as well as by his former law partner, William Herndon, as an "infidel." 

 

Also appearing on the Pew Center's list of Christian presidents is our current President Barack Obama. Whereas President Obama does profess to be a Christian, he also confesses that he believes "in many paths to the same place” for all who believe in “a higher power.” Furthermore, Mr. Obama describes his "Christian" faith as suspicious of dogma, without any monopoly on the truth, nontransferable to others, infused with a big healthy dose of doubt, and compatible with all other religions. Sound Christian to you?

 

As disturbing as it is to me that the least little nod toward Christianity by an American president has always been translated into proof of that president's Christian faith, it is far more disturbing to me that the same low bar used to measure the Christian faith of presidents is now being used to measure the Christian faith of everyone. All that is required as proof of one's adherence to the historic and orthodox Christian faith in today's America is one's personal profession. It doesn't make any difference if you practice the Christian faith, you just have to profess it. You don't have to belief the cardinal doctrines of Christianity, you just have to call yourself a Christian. Once you do, your Christian profession immediately becomes beyond question and above reproach, no matter how heretical your beliefs or how sinful your behavior. 

 

"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:20-21)

 

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings…" (John 14:23-24)