I believe Jefferson was a non-church going Deist during his years in office, although he trained for the clergy earlier, and was active later, back at Montecello.
Some others were never open about what church they were members of, or seemed to “visit” widely among faiths, perhaps for valid political purposes, like showing they were not bigoted (Kennedy comes to mind here).
But others probably did that to mask a lifelong disregard for religion, or churches as distinguished.
So, who would be in the categories in the post title?
Like Eve said, they weren’t stupid. In this country there is a long history of attacking anybody who does not believe in Christ our Lord forever and ever amen.
Other than Jefferson, I don’t think any of them were dumb enough to admit to being anything other than Christ loving family man.
Following the Great Revivalist period in American history (early 19th Century), strong devotion to religion was considered an important part of life, and one who did not worship was looked upon with great disdain. This attitude was heightened in the late 19th Century with the beginnings of Communism as a party; since Communism was so anti-religion, many people felt that being anti-religion meant being Communist.
It is quite possible that many of our presidents were agnostic or athiestic; certainly, a good many of them were not particularly Christian in their actions*. But the closest any President has come to being openly agnostic or atheistic are either our early Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Monroe) who were avowed Deists; or Andrew Johnson, who claimed to believe in Christianity but never was able to find a specific branch that worshipped in a way he could fully approve of.
*Please do not interpret this sentence to mean that agnostics or atheists are inherently evil or nasty because they aren’t Christian.
"Chapter XI - Theodore Roosevelt, Dutch Reformed But Not Very Religious "
but I remeber Roosevelt making lots of religious referenes; calling the White House the “bully pulpit”; having “Onward Christian Soldiers” as his song for the 1912 campaign; claiming that he was fighting for the “Army of the Lord” in trying to elect McKinley and defeat Bryan in 1896.
Guess that shows how even those politicians who didn’t care much for their own religion knew to talk a lot about it in public.
Nixon indeed was Quaker, but he rarely attended meetings after his childhood. His main religious belief seemed to be a paranoid form of anti-Semitism, at least that’s what’s been coming out from the White House tapes.
“The Complete Book of US Presidents” by William DeGregorio says that Lincoln, when he went to church, went to Presbyterian services.
However, he never formally joined any church.
Reagan too was nominally Presbyterian.
After Reagan made one of his famous speeches in which he mentions God, a reporter asked him why he never went to church. Reagan (or his press spokes-person I don’t remember) said that his presence in church would create an undue security risk for the other parishioners. The reporter then asked, “Then why don’t you do what Carter did and invite a minister to the Whitehouse to give sermons to you and your family every Sunday?” To this Reagan had no good answer and the topic was dropped.
IMHO Reagan was an excellent politician and all the best politicians are completely full of crap. You never know what they really think about any hot topic like religion or abortion or gun rights or anything that could get them in trouble. Even when speaking in private a good politician keeps his cards close to the chest since it could get out that he thinks, “religion is a crutch for weak minded people who need strength in numbers”. No good politician would admit to thinking that, not even in private, since it would jeopardize his chances of re-election or advancing to higher office. In response to the OP there is no way to know what religious beliefs our President’s really held since most of them were superb politicians.
Reagan was such a master of propaganda and image its almost impossible to find more than a handful of press pictures of him without a big flag in the background.
I think SarumanRex really sums in up, these men were master politicians than means they’re masters of typical PR activities like spin, lying, non-consistancy, pandering, etc. Generally, they also come from rich, privileged, and high class families, a demographic known for religious apathy compared to low-class under-educated types who fill the pews at more fundamentalist religions. Though many southern Republicans give off a strong Jezoid-freak vibe.
That’s OK. I doubt that Andrew Jackson’s religous beliefs have changed much in the last 60 years :).
To add to the recent presedents, George Bush is, IIRC, Presbyterian. Clinton is nominally a Southern Bapist, although given his attitudes and conduct, I wouldn’t be suprised to find out he’s really an atheist.
What’s Gerald Ford’s religion? I certainly hope he believes in God, because the last time I saw him on TV (which was about a year ago), he really looked terrible. I wonder if he’ll die before Reagan?
Truman - Baptist
Eisenhower - Presbyterian
Kennedy - Roman Catholic
Johnson - Disciples of Christ
Nixon - Quaker
Ford - Episcopalian
Carter - Baptist
Reagan - Disciples of Christ
Bush - Episcopalian
Clinton - Baptist
They give only Jefferson, Andrew Johnson and Lincoln as “none”. Lincoln was an astute politician. In todays climate, he would probably profess some organized religion.
They also put the “religion” list on the same page with “their reputed affairs” - an interesting juxtaposition.