The Presidents & Their Faith

In their new book The Presidents and Their Faith, authors Darrin Grinder and Steve Shaw survey the religious beliefs of the men who have served as the nation's Commander in Chief. On the eve of another presidential election, it's a timely look at how religion and politics have intersected ever since the nation's founding.Though the U.S. Constitution prohibits any religious test for political office, there seems to be a religious litmus test for the presidency, the authors find: "no serious candidate for the White House can run the risk of violating the norm that one be religious. The candidate should be not just religious, but acceptably religious." All of the presidents have spoken of--and most claimed to have spoken to--a higher power of some sort, and almost all have quoted from or claimed to read the Bible, though none made a particular study of theology. "Most presidents reflect what de Tocqueville concluded about Americans in the early 19th century: we embrace religion and keep theology at arm's length," Grinder and Shaw say.The authors attempt to show the complexities of each man's faith, noting: "no president seems to be just one thing." The presidents come from varied backgrounds, but except for the lone Catholic, John F. Kennedy, all have been Protestant. The most unusual religious upbringing is that of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was raised a Jehovah's Witness--a sect that forbids its members to serve in the military or take oaths of office.The presidents range from the publicly devout, such as Jimmy Carter; to the freethinking Thomas Jefferson; to those who kept silent about their private faith, such as Calvin Coolidge. Presidential faith controversies have been with us all along: Jefferson was called an "arch infidel"; William Taft, the country's last Unitarian president, faced allegations of heresy during the 1908 campaign; and Kennedy was suspected of being a Vatican agent.