The uniqueness of Lincoln's beard

[Eva Elisabeth]

(12-20-2015 08:51 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I would never expect anyone to apologize for their religious views (except when those views do serious bodily and cultural harm to others - as we face in our world today). I just find it unorthodox to claim someone is an atheist without 100% proof that it's true. I am happy to see you approve of Mr. Lincoln's taste in the humanities. That's a big relief!

Yes, exactly what I think! It is unorthodox to claim someone is an atheist without 100% proof (and you haven't provided ANY evidence as for his later years while you have been confronted with a lot of evidence suggesting the opposite was likely the case) - what makes it even offensive IMO though is your repeated claim Lincoln "abused" religious platitudes (as you called these) and wordings just to cast votes and support while scoring them.

And although kindly asked four times by two people, you have yet shared your thoughts on Lincoln's "Meditation on the Divine Will," privately written in 1862. I try again and if no reply comes conclude that you are unable to contradict/disacknowledge this strong indication that Abraham Lincoln, in whatever God he referred to, was unlikely an atheist at this point in his life.
http://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussio...age-7.html

To makes it easier for you, here it goes again:
John Hay wrote, "It is a paper which Mr. Lincoln wrote in September, 1862, while his mind was burdened with the weightiest question of his life, "the weightiest with which this country has had to grapple. Wearied with all the considerations of law and of expediency with which he had been struggling for two years, he retired within himself and tried to bring some order into his thoughts by rising above the wrangling of men and parties, and pondering the relations of human government to the Divine. In this frame of mind, absolutely detached from any earthly considerations, he wrote this meditation. It has never been published. It was not written to be seen of men. It was penned in the awful sincerity of a perfectly honest soul trying to bring himself into closer communion with its Maker."

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Washington, D.C.
September, 1862

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party -- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true -- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

Maharba - please share your thoughts on this. Thanks.