He was certainly a believer in the dignity of all human beings regardless of race or creed, and some of that rubbed off on all of us. Johnson chose to join the Disciples of Christ Church, which emphasized good works. Though Johnson is not remembered for his personal piety, he made clear in his commitment to expanding civil rights and creating welfare programs that he believed that Christian duty required following Christ's message of compassion and mercy.
In , he said, "From our Jewish and Christian heritage, we draw the image of the God of all mankind, who will judge his children not by their prayers and by their pretensions, but by their mercy to the poor and their understanding of the weak. We cannot cancel that strain and then claim to speak as a Christian society. Johnson's belief in helping the weak shaped how he viewed the war in Vietnam, which became a drain on his popularity as president, and his vision of building a "Great Society.
While he was still in office, Johnson asked the Rev. Billy Graham to preach at his funeral; Graham did so, officiating at Johnson's burial in Nixon was born into a devoutly religious Quaker family in Yorba Linda, Calif. His family attended an evangelical Quaker meetinghouse every Sunday, prayed silently before each meal, and observed strict prohibitions on drinking, gambling and swearing.
While in middle school, Nixon played piano for Sunday school services and sang in the church choir. He taught Sunday school services throughout the majority of his undergraduate years in college.
According to Nixon, in his youth he accepted the "literal correctness of the Bible, the miracles, even the whale story. In , while an undergraduate at Whittier College, which was founded by Quakers at the turn of the 20th century, Nixon attended lectures on "The Philosophy of Christian Construction" by Dr. Herschel Coffin. The course -- and the death of Nixon's elder brother, Harold, that same year -- had a profound effect on the young man's religious beliefs.
In a series of essays written for the class, he declared that many of his childhood religious ideas had been "destroyed but there are some which I cannot bring myself to drop. I still believe that God is the creator. I still believe that He lives today, in some form, directing the destinies of the cosmos. For the time being I shall accept the solution offered by Kant, that man can only go so far in his research and explanations; from that point on we must accept God.
Haldeman, his chief of staff, that he prayed every night. Nixon also maintained a close relationship with the Rev. Billy Graham. The evangelical preacher acted as Nixon's spiritual adviser and became a White House regular, preaching on several occasions at White House worship services instituted by the president.
Nixon would occasionally mention God and religion in his public speeches, although not with the same frequency as some of his successors. In a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, Nixon discussed the necessity of tolerance, stating that it was imperative to "recognize the right of people in the world to be different from what we are. Even some may have different religions. Even some, we must accept, may not have a religious belief, as we understand a religious belief, to believe.
Despite this appeal, Nixon himself has been accused of intolerance. Since , the National Archives has periodically released taped conversations between Nixon and his aides in which the president is heard making a variety of anti-Semitic remarks. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich. He would retain this affiliation throughout his life.
Although his family attended Sunday worship services, Ford's religious upbringing was not particularly strict. He later noted that on Sundays he would "just go out and play baseball," something many of his friends in the more conservative Dutch Calvinist Church were not allowed to do.
While serving as a member of Congress, Ford attended weekly Bible study meetings with colleagues in the House of Representatives. There he met Billy Zeoli, the head of a large evangelical organization, and the two quickly became good friends. Starting in , when Ford was serving as vice president under Richard Nixon, Zeoli began sending him weekly devotional notes, each containing a Bible verse and a short prayer.
Zeoli acted as Ford's spiritual mentor throughout his time in the White House, and the two met frequently for Bible study. Ford framed the contentious pardon in religious terms, declaring: "The Constitution is the supreme law of our land, and it governs our actions as citizens. Only the laws of God, who governs our consciences, are superior to it. I do believe, with all my heart and mind and spirit, that I, not as president but as a humble servant of God, will receive justice without mercy if I fail to show mercy.
Although Ford considered himself a religious man, he avoided using his spiritual convictions as a political tool. In the presidential election, which pitted Ford against the self-declared "born-again" Christian Jimmy Carter, Ford refused Billy Zeoli's advice to publish a book on his faith. He later stated: "I have always felt a closeness to God and have looked to a higher being for guidance and support, but I didn't think it was appropriate to advertise my religious beliefs.
In the 16 years after John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, asked the American public to disregard the personal religious preferences of political candidates, the voting public had shown a general indifference to the religious beliefs of the presidential candidates.
That changed when Jimmy Carter proclaimed himself a "born-again" Christian in the presidential primaries in North Carolina. A combination of disillusionment with public morality during the Nixon and Ford years and a kinship they felt with a candidate who spoke their language led millions of evangelical Christians to vote for Carter in Describing his beliefs at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carter said, "For those of us who share the Christian faith, the words 'born again' have a very simple meaning -- that through a personal experience, we recommit our lives as humble children of God, which makes us in the realest possible sense brothers and sisters of one another.
As an year-old growing up in Plains, Ga. He later recalled that being born again was a process, not a moment: "Rather than a sudden flash of light or a sudden vision of God speaking, it involved a series of steps that have brought me steadily closer to Christ.
Thirty years later, when Carter's pastor preached a sermon in which he asked the congregation, "if you were arrested for being a Christian, Though he'd begun what would be a lifelong study of Christian theology after the death of his father, he felt he had drifted from his personal relationship to Christ.
This sermon led him to recommit his life to Christ. Following his presidency, Carter returned home to Georgia, resumed teaching Sunday school classes and wrote two books explaining his religious beliefs. When the Southern Baptist Convention, to which he belonged, came to espouse an increasingly conservative Christianity, Carter said, "I feel a threat in my own church from Baptist fundamentalists.
Though divorced and not a regular churchgoer, Reagan, not his born-again opponent Jimmy Carter, received the support of the newly mobilized religious right in the presidential campaign. Christian conservatives responded enthusiastically to Reagan's belief, expressed in a rally, that "the First Amendment was written not to protect the people and their laws from religious values, but to protect those values from government tyranny.
Raised and baptized in the Disciples of Christ Church, Reagan did not shy away from encouraging Christianity as president. Early in his presidency, he wrote a letter saying: "My daily prayer is that God will help me to use this position so as to serve Him. Teddy Roosevelt once called the presidency a bully pulpit. I intend to use it to the best of my ability to serve the Lord.
An unsuccessful assassination attempt caused Reagan to re-evaluate and deepen his faith. God wanted that assassination attempt to happen. He gave me a wake-up call. Everything I do from now on, I owe to God. In , Reagan supported a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary school prayer. A year later he awarded the Rev. Reagan disappointed some leaders of the religious right by putting domestic social issues on the back burner to economic initiatives and foreign affairs.
Nor did Reagan deliver on his promises to reinstitute school prayer and outlaw abortion. Nonetheless, he left office in with overwhelming approval from his evangelical supporters. Born into a New England Episcopalian family, Bush did not enjoy the embrace of the religious right like his predecessor did.
Unlike Reagan, emotional expression did not come naturally or easily to Bush. His reluctance to speak openly about what he considered private personal beliefs led some leaders of the religious right and conservative Christians to question his sincerity and depth of heartfelt Christianity.
Another point of mistrust from conservative Christians stemmed from Bush's adopting Reagan's pro-life platform when he became Reagan's running mate in This about-face from a candidate who had previously publicly espoused pro-choice views gave the impression that Bush was perhaps an opportunist who allowed his religious convictions to be swayed by political expediency.
In a speech given a few years after he lost his re-election campaign, Bush summed up the difficulties he had convincing the American public of his religious sincerity: "I felt uncomfortable, very honestly, talking about the depth of my religion when I was president.
I'm an Episcopalian. I'm kind of an inward guy when it comes to religion. I felt it strongly. I think Lincoln was right: you can't be president without spending some time on your knees professing your faith and asking God for strength, and to save our nation.
But I believe strongly in the separation of church and state. I don't believe a president should be advocating a particular denomination, or particular religion. And yet, I can tell you in direct response to your inquiry that we, in our family, say our prayers every night -- Barbara and I do, we say the blessing.
And it's more than rote. In contrast to his predecessor, Clinton spoke evangelicals' language easily and often. Baptized at age 9 in the Park Place Baptist Church in Arkansas, Clinton was at home talking with church congregations. He recalled attending one of the Rev. Billy Graham's revivals as a child and describes it as a turning point in the history of the American South: "So here we were with neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood in my state on the verge of violence, and yet tens of thousands of black and white Christians were there together in a football stadium.
And when he issued the call at the end of this message, thousands came down holding hands, arm in arm, crying. It was the beginning of the end of the Old South in my home state. I will never forget it. During the presidential campaign, Clinton elaborated on his beliefs: "My faith tells me that all of us are sinners, and each of us has gone in our own way and fallen short of the glory of God.
And I am very grateful to all of you who have had any role in that. Clinton did not have to face re-election after the Lewinsky scandal, but his actions while in office gave the Republican candidate for president, the born-again Christian George W.
Bush, the opportunity to pledge to bring morality back to Washington. Raised in an Episcopalian household, Bush attended both Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches with his family but did not at the time find his own faith. By , he had a reputation as a frat-boy partier with a young wife, two daughters and a drinking problem. That year, he met an evangelist in Midland, Texas, and became a born-again Christian. But the conversion experience did not immediately change his life or solve his drinking problem.
In , his parents asked the Rev. Billy Graham for help in guiding their son. Their conversations led Bush to rededicate his life to Christ, a pledge that led him to a Bible study class and eventually to give up alcohol entirely.
Bush himself recalls: "There is only one reason that I am here in the Oval Office and not in a bar. I found faith. I found God. I am here because of the power of prayer. When he ran for the presidency in , Bush offered himself as a candidate who promised to restore honor and Christian morality to the White House. He won the support of evangelical and conservative Christians with his openness and willingness to discuss his faith, including a memorable exchange during the Republican primaries.
Candidates were asked to name their favorite philosopher, and Bush answered simply, "Christ, because he changed my heart. When you turn your heart and life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as a savior, it changes your heart and changes your life. And that's what happened to me. In his first executive order, Bush created the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, saying, "When we see social needs in America, my administration will look first to faith-based programs and community groups.
That is not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. Raised in a secular household, Obama embraced Christianity after a spiritual awakening during his 20s. The sermons of Pastor Jeremiah Wright combined scriptural lessons with a call to social activism, which appealed to Obama, who was at the time a community organizer. Obama later described his decision: "I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life.
It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn't fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn't magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn't suddenly vanish.
I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.
Obama's personal religion became a topic of debate and speculation during the election campaign, when opponents suggested that Obama was either a Muslim because of his father's heritage or a racist Christian, based on some of the Rev.
Wright's controversial sermons. During the campaign, Obama was ultimately forced to separate himself fully from the pastor, and he resigned his year membership at Trinity. As a candidate, Obama delivered the keynote speech at a conference organized by the liberal evangelical minister Jim Wallis. Uncategorized May 11, Uncategorized Mar 22, Uncategorized Feb 16, Topics Religious Affiliation U. Political Figures. His love for Christ and his gentle soul helped open hearts to the Word, including mine.
Laura and I are thankful for the life of Billy Graham, and we send our heartfelt condolences to the Graham family. Billy Graham's memorial service is expected to be held in the Library parking lot, just like the dedication service more than 10 years ago.
The Billy Graham Library was created to be an "ongoing Crusade" that points people to the cross. Presidents praying at the dedication of the Billy Graham Library. Billy Graham speaks at the Billy Graham Library dedication. President George H. Billy Graham with President George W. Trump and his wife, Melania, joined hundreds of guests at the event in watching a showing of The Cross, a short evangelistic film featuring a message of hope and redemption from Billy Graham, interwoven with life-changing testimonies.
Upon hearing news of Mr. There was nobody like him! It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.
It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Newsletters Donate My Account. Research Topics. Share this link:. Aleksandra Sandstrom is a former senior copy editor focusing on religion at Pew Research Center.
Facts are more important than ever. Americans far more likely to say evangelicals will lose influence, rather than gain it, under Biden.
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