AL and God

[loetar44]

In answer on EVA's thread about "JWB and God"

http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...-2038.html

I want to say the following:

Good and inspiring question Eva! I have another one....... Does Abraham Lincoln believe in God? What were his religious beliefs?

IMO that question is extremely difficult to answer like yours about JWB, because I think no one exactly knows. It’s a clearly complex issue. What we know is that his father and mother were both highly religious (Baptists), but never joined a church. What we also know is that Abraham was as a young man not very religious, more a skeptic. He never joined a congregation. But he had deep knowledge of the Bible (and quoted it often). I believe he did attend (not frequently ?) the Protestant church with Mary and his children. I also read that he became more religious after the death of Eddie and Willie. According to Rev. Dr. Gurley he believed in Christ, but his close friends Lamon and Herndon stated that Lincoln was not a believing Christian. In fact many tried to Christianize Lincoln, but was that the real Lincoln? Herndon said (in a letter - signed Feb. 4, 1866 - to Edward McPherson, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives) that Lincoln doubted the immortality of the soul as the Christian world understands that term. There are a lot of questions about Lincoln’s true beliefs. Okay, during campaign speeches he said that he never denied the truth of the Bible and that he believed in God as all-powerful. But never believe all what is said during political campaigns. It’s my opinion that Lincoln was not religious for most of his life, but his faith seems to have evolved and progressed during his presidency and deepened throughout the war. But I think he rejected organized religion. In the first place he was (according to me) driven not by faith, but by politics.