God And The Oval Office

In her more than 200 year history, the United States of America has had only forty-three presidents. Each brought his own politics, personality and brand of religion to the White House. While almost a third of them belonged to either the Episcopalian or Presbyterian church, others practiced denominations as varied as Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ, Quaker, Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Unitarian. Even the eight commanders in chief who claimed no official affiliation, were intensely spiritual men. George W. Bush has made no secret of the place God and religion play in his presidency. John F. Kennedy will always be known as the first Roman Catholic president. But neither Thomas Jefferson nor Abraham Lincoln ever joined a church. And though some presidents worshipped publicly, some only in private, they all realized that the Constitutional guarantee of “freedom of religion” never meant freedom from religion