Lincoln was indeed a practicing Christian

It is really amazing how some people are either uneducated or willing to create complete falsehoods about the Christian history of our country. The letter to the editor titled “Avoid hysteria about religion” Feb. 10 is case in point. It claimed that “Lincoln disagreed with Christianity” and we have a “non-Christian to thank for the end of slavery.” These two claims are totally false.

Abraham Lincoln was born in a family that was of the Separate Baptist denomination, and he was baptized as such. As an adult living in Springfield, Ill., he and his own family began attending the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield in 1850, and did so until 1861. The Lincolns rented a pew the entire time, and had their son Thomas Tad Lincoln baptized in this church in 1855.

When Lincoln became president, he and his family regularly worshipped at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., where he rented a pew as well. The church pastor, Phineas Gurley, was Lincoln’s spiritual adviser during the war when Lincoln relied more than ever on God and his Christian faith. There are ample undeniable historical records that verify these facts, and plenty of writings by those around him that confirm Lincoln was a practicing Christian man.

These few facts I list on his Christian faith are easily checked in less than five minutes. It is a shame someone would submit such rank ignorance and falsehoods for print in a newspaper about the president many believe to be the nation’s greatest.

The writer’s main point that any president “monopolized by Christianity is a violation of the Constitution and democracy” is also false. To the contrary, Christian-minded presidents are exactly who the Founders wanted to lead the country.

Harold Knudsen

Arlington Heights