JWB and God

[LincolnMan]

Interesting thread. Of course, we can never know Booth's heart- and the relationship he may or may not have had with the Divine. Based on his wriings and what we know of his upbringing, it appears he believed in God. A part of him must also have believed that God used him to carry out His purposes on behalf of the south.
Here is an interesting thought: Let's say that, perhaps, Booth was not a true believer. Did God use Booth in a way similar to the way God used the pharoah of Eygpt- to ultimately fulfil His plan?
Just thinking out loud on this. "The Almighty has His purposes."

[STS Lincolnite]

(11-29-2014 06:41 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  

(11-25-2014 01:10 PM)L Verge Wrote:  I got an immediate response from Terry, and the answer is NO, he did not find any evidence to indicate that JWB converted from the Episcopal to the Catholic faith, despite what Asia wrote about him preferring the Catholic faith.

Asa wrote to her friend Jean Anderson on May 22, 1865:
"I am still more surprised to learn that all engaged in the plot are Roman Catholics. Wilkes was of the faith professedly, and I was glad that he had fixed his faith on one religion, for he always was of a pious mind."
Why did she write this? The only I know of despite Mary Surratt and son is Ned Spangler, but allegedly not until short before his death, thus not in 1865. And Atzerodt came from Thuringia, if anything I would think he was a Lutheran.

Of course one of the conspiracy theories of the assassination was that there was a Vatican plot to kill Lincoln (although I don't know when that particular conspiracy theory made its first appearance). Maybe she just fell victim to the related rumor mill and believed something she heard from an unreliable source. I'm sure that there were lots of rumors, innuendo and outright falsehoods about the assassination out there at the time. As we all know, even now, there is still a lot of bunk out there that is believed and propagated by some.

[Jim Garrett]

A couple of years ago, I reviewed a book on the Vatican plot, for inclusion in the bookstore. It was well written, but............