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From rewriting the Bible with a pair of scissors, to forgiving his assassin with his dying breath, to wondering if the Civil War was punishment from God...
this is Every US President's Religion!
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this is Every US President's Religion!
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00:00From rewriting the Bible with a pair of scissors, to forgiving his assassin with his dying breath,
00:06to wondering if the Civil War was punishment from God, this is every U.S. president's religion.
00:12And if you think they all held hands and sang Amazing Grace, buckle up.
00:17Because some were saints, some were skeptics, and some just prayed their way into power.
00:22But George Washington was somewhere in between.
00:25Because he was an Anglican, or today's Episcopalian.
00:28And he went to church, talked about providence, and clearly believed in God.
00:33But communion? No thanks.
00:35He'd quietly sneak out before the Eucharist, and we don't really know why.
00:40Meanwhile, John Adams grew up in the Congregational Church, which was Unitarian.
00:45He believed in God, rejected the Trinity, and valued reason over doctrine.
00:50But in John Adams' own words, he was a church-going animal.
00:54Because he believed religion was the moral superglue to a society.
00:58Kind of like Thomas Jefferson, who started Anglican, but quickly drifted away from church dogma.
01:04Because although he praised Jesus as a moral teacher, he thought the miracles and resurrection were corruptions of Christianity.
01:12So much so, he literally made his own remix of the Bible, the Jefferson Bible.
01:17A DIY version of the New Testament, where he literally used scissors and glue to cut and paste his favorite
01:23passages together.
01:25So, yeah, Jefferson was a Christian.
01:27His own special type of Christian.
01:30But while Jefferson wrote about his faith, James Madison basically taped his mouth shut.
01:35Because he never talked about religion.
01:37In fact, he even had a rule to ignore letters about it.
01:42Instead, as the father of the Constitution, Madison was busy hardwiring religious freedom into the First Amendment.
01:49Sir, another question about God came in.
01:51And this next president felt the same way.
01:54Because James Monroe was born into Virginia's Anglican Church.
01:58But when it came to religion, he was basically a brick wall.
02:01His letters almost never mention faith.
02:04And if they did, he burned most of them before he died.
02:08And because of that, historians think Monroe was deist.
02:11Belief in God, but not much church dogma.
02:14Sir, but this one's from your grandma.
02:19Meanwhile, John Quincy Adams followed the footsteps of his father.
02:23Because he started in the Congregational Church and, like his dad, drifted toward Unitarianism.
02:28But he didn't stick to one pew.
02:30He hopped between Unitarian, Presbyterian, and Episcopal services like he was on a Protestant tasting tour.
02:37But later in life, he wrote down exactly how he felt.
02:40I reverence God.
02:42I venerate Jesus.
02:44But this belief is dark and dubious.
02:46Huh.
02:47Sounds complicated.
02:49Kind of like Andrew Jackson, who was born Presbyterian, but didn't officially join a church until he was 70.
02:55But still he prayed daily, read his Bible, and believed Providence steered the nation.
03:01Yet, as president, he refused to declare National Prayer Days, standing by separation of church and state.
03:08But on his deathbed, Old Hickory had a final chat with the big man upstairs.
03:13Because he professed faith in Jesus Christ, took communion, and asked God to forgive all his enemies.
03:19And we know that's a long, long list.
03:22But let's step into church with Martin Van Buren, who grew up Dutch Reformed in New York,
03:28and apparently belted out hymns so loud he rattled abuse.
03:32Anyone got some earplugs?
03:33But things got quieter when he moved to D.C.
03:36Because Van Buren attended St. John's Episcopal, since there were no Dutch Reformed nearby.
03:42Ah, that's better.
03:44But next up, William Henry Harrison was raised Anglican, and eventually served as a vestryman.
03:49Basically, a church board member.
03:51And he kept his faith close by.
03:54Because when he became president, he bought a new Bible the day after his inauguration.
03:58Sadly, it outlasted his presidency.
04:01Because Harrison died just a month later.
04:04Meanwhile, John Tyler was a lifelong Episcopalian.
04:07Steady in faith, but not big on labels.
04:10Because friends say he didn't take a denominational approach to God.
04:14Which basically meant he was pretty open-minded.
04:17Just like this next president, whose faith was a straight-up rollercoaster ride.
04:22Because James Polk was born into a Presbyterian family.
04:25But because his dad was a deist, the local minister refused to baptize baby James.
04:31Awkward.
04:31But everything changed when Polk attended a Methodist camp revival and had a full-on conversion experience.
04:38He's a Methodist!
04:40But Sundays still weren't easy sailing.
04:43Because Polk tagged along at his wife's Presbyterian church.
04:47But when she wasn't around, he'd slip into a Methodist chapel.
04:51Sheesh, sometimes the road to religion isn't a straight line.
04:54But for Zachary Taylor, it pretty much was.
04:57Because he was born into an Episcopal family.
05:00Married an Episcopalian wife.
05:02And went to church, but never fully became a member.
05:05Either way, Taylor believed that religion should never be a public performance.
05:10Even during a deadly cholera epidemic, he refused to call a National Prayer Day.
05:15These guys lived and died by the separation of church and state.
05:18Literally!
05:19And Millard Fillmore agreed.
05:22Because although he eventually went full Unitarian, a young Fillmore once tried to repeal a law forcing witnesses to swear
05:29belief in God.
05:30Calling it an absurd relic of prejudice.
05:33This was him demonstrating his commitment to religious freedom.
05:37Respect!
05:37Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce grew up in New England's Congregational Church.
05:42But sadly, his faith was deeply wrapped in tragedy.
05:46Because Pierce lost all three of his sons at a young age.
05:50One to birth, one to typhus, and one from a train accident just weeks before his inauguration.
05:56And this forced Pierce and his wife to lean heavily on scripture, which made his inauguration day move a bit
06:03puzzling.
06:03Because instead of swearing on a Bible, he affirmed on a law book.
06:07And to this day, no one really knows why.
06:10My guess?
06:11This whole stretch of precedence had some kind of beef with the man upstairs.
06:15Because although James Buchanan was born and bred Presbyterian, read the Bible, and quietly funded churches, he never made a
06:22big show of it.
06:23In fact, revival preachers roasted him for being too chill about faith.
06:28Kind of like Abraham Lincoln, who never joined a church, never got baptized, and never took communion.
06:34Early on, he even read deist books and got branded a skeptic.
06:39But life and war changed Lincoln.
06:42Because he invoked God more than any president before him.
06:45And Abe's second inaugural address was basically a sermon in disguise.
06:49But still, behind closed doors, he wrestled with the idea that the Civil War was punishment from God.
07:06And Andrew Johnson likely agreed.
07:09Because he was probably the least religious president in U.S. history.
07:13He never joined a church, never picked a denomination, and some joke that he had no religion but the Constitution.
07:20It's crazy how he went from separation of church and state to separation of church and everything.
07:25Because Ulysses S. Grant also never officially joined a church.
07:30In fact, he didn't get baptized until his deathbed, where he told Julia he hoped to meet her in a
07:36better world.
07:37The general had finally laid down his skepticism and his sword.
07:41Kind of like Rutherford B. Hayes, who grew up Presbyterian but never joined a church.
07:46He put it best himself, I belong to no church, but I try to be a Christian.
07:51But most of Hayes' faith came from his wife Lemonade Lucy, a devout Methodist who never drank alcohol,
07:57and even banned booze from the White House.
08:00Here you go, sir. I snuck in some Flappy's Hard Lemonade.
08:03But while Hayes was taking shots, James Garfield was living a double life as a pastor.
08:09Because he was raised in the Disciples of Christ and preached frontier revivals before becoming a politician.
08:15But in a tragic twist of fate, President Garfield was shot by Charles Goutteau,
08:20a man who literally claimed God told him to do it.
08:23Nah, man, I think that was the devil.
08:29But speaking of fire and brimstone, Chester Arthur grew up the son of a Baptist preacher,
08:34and later switched to the Episcopal Church.
08:37But after his wife Ellen died, he honored her with a stained glass window at St. John's Episcopal across from
08:43the White House.
08:45It's beautiful, sir. A beautiful tribute.
08:48But up next came Grover Cleveland, whose father was a hardcore Presbyterian minister.
08:54So naturally, Cleveland basically lived in the church.
08:57But once he hit Buffalo, let's just say he leaned more toward the saloon than the sermon.
09:03Conversely, Benjamin Harrison might have been the most by-the-book believer to ever sit in the Oval Office.
09:09Because he spent 40 years as an elder at a Presbyterian church.
09:13And during the Civil War, he led prayer meetings in his tent and told his wife he wanted to be
09:18a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
09:20So by the time he became president, he even let the military relax on Sundays.
09:25Kind of like William McKinley, a lifelong Methodist who was so devoted, he nearly became a minister.
09:32And it showed as president.
09:34Because during the Spanish-American War, McKinley literally dropped to his knees for guidance on what to do with the
09:40Philippines.
09:40And he concluded that the U.S. must educate, uplift, and Christianize them.
09:45But even after being shot in 1901, McKinley forgave his assassin and whispered the hymn,
09:52Nearer My God to Thee.
09:54Man, that's inspiring.
09:56If it was me though, I'd probably just...
09:58But hey, that's why I never became president.
10:01Unlike Teddy Roosevelt, who grew up Dutch Reformed, and whose faith was muscular and service-oriented.
10:07Because Teddy said the true essence of Christianity is not to be found in words, but in the effort to
10:13do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
10:17And yeah, I think he lived by that motto till the day he died.
10:21Whereas William Taft was a proud Unitarian, whose beliefs were... a bit controversial.
10:27Because after Taft was offered to be president of Yale University, a Trinitarian school, he famously declined.
10:33And said,
10:34I don't believe in the divinity of Christ.
10:36And this was such a wildcard move, people began to suspect he was an atheist.
10:41But as U.S. president, Taft kept his faith grounded in ethics, reason, and tolerance.
10:47Less hallelujah and more homework.
10:50Hallelujah.
10:53Hallelujah.
10:54Oh, sorry sir.
10:56Meanwhile, Woodrow Wilson was born into Presbyterianism.
11:00Literally.
11:01Because his dad was a minister, a theology professor, and delivered sermons straight from the dinner table.
11:06Hey, can you pass the salt?
11:08Hehe, sorry.
11:10But even as president, Wilson carried that same fire.
11:13Because he viewed World War I as a sacred mission to make the world safe for democracy.
11:18Heck, he even viewed the League of Nations as a Christian duty to foster world peace.
11:23So, yeah, Wilson didn't just mix church and state.
11:27He mixed church and world.
11:29Or globe?
11:30Earth?
11:31Yeah, I give up.
11:32But next up, we have America's first Baptist president, Warren G. Harding.
11:37And yeah, he sprinkled providence into speeches, hosted hymn sings of the White House, and supported the social gospel.
11:43But Harding's real reputation?
11:46Let's just say he replaced the bread and wine with poker and whiskey.
11:50He was basically quoting scripture by day and shuffling the deck by night.
11:55Two kings!
11:56No!
11:57But unlike Harding, Calvin Coolidge was a born and bred New England Congregationalist.
12:03A faith straight from the colonial Puritans.
12:05But Silent Cow, he didn't talk much about religion.
12:08In fact, he didn't talk much at all.
12:10Instead, he lived it through a life that preached louder than words.
12:14Meanwhile, Herbert Hoover was one of only two Quaker presidents.
12:18As an Iowa boy raised on the values of simplicity, pacifism, and service,
12:24Hoover led massive relief efforts and fed millions in Europe during World War I,
12:28all before he became president.
12:31But once in office, he kept his faith quiet and let his actions do the talking.
12:35But between the Great Depression and World War II, this next president might have needed
12:40God more than anyone else.
12:42Cuz Franklin Roosevelt was a lifelong Episcopalian, and someone who loved the social gospel, an
12:48idea that faith meant serving others, which laid the moral foundation for the New Deal.
12:53But it didn't stop with the Depression.
12:56Cuz on D-Day, FDR took to the radio with a solemn prayer for the troops.
13:00And later on said, I am a Christian and a Democrat, linking the two as twin forces for good.
13:07And Terry Truman would probably agree, cuz he was a lifelong Baptist from Missouri,
13:13the kind who actually read the Bible cover to cover.
13:16And as president, he prayed before every major decision.
13:20In fact, he prayed so much, he created the National Day of Prayer in 1952.
13:25Amen!
13:26But Dwight Eisenhower might have had the craziest religious background of them all.
13:31Cuz his parents were a part of the River Brethren, an offshoot of the Mennonites,
13:35and then joined an early version of Jehovah's Witnesses.
13:39But despite the devout upbringing, Ike never officially joined a church.
13:44It wasn't until he stepped foot in the Oval Office did he become the only U.S. president
13:49baptized in office, and then basically made faith part of the job description.
13:53Cuz he added under God to the Pledge of Allegiance, pushed in God we trust onto every dollar,
14:00and even opened cabinet meetings with prayer.
14:02But while Dwight infused the nation with faith, John F. Kennedy terrified the nation with his.
14:08Cuz JFK was the first Catholic president in U.S. history.
14:13And before he was elected, most Americans feared that he'd be secretly taking orders from the Pope.
14:18So JFK addressed this issue head-on and said,
14:22I'm not the Catholic candidate for president, I'm the Democratic candidate who happens to be Catholic.
14:28That's a master politician right there.
14:30But while JFK played it straight with the public, Lyndon B. Johnson kept it vague.
14:36Cuz whenever asked about his faith, he'd simply say, I'm a Christian.
14:39And after Martin Luther King's assassination, LBJ urged Americans to pray for the insight that we may see the way
14:47to unity and peace.
14:48And the answer to their prayers was, Richard Nixon?
14:51The second Quaker to become president.
14:54Except Nixon didn't exactly live up to Quaker values.
14:58Cuz many suspected he was using his faith as a tool to climb to the top.
15:02But after Watergate and resigning from office, Nixon leaned on God, heavily, and even sought counsel from Reverend Billy Graham.
15:10And I think it worked, cuz Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon.
15:14As a lifelong Episcopalian, Ford prayed on the decision and received an answer from above.
15:20Something Jimmy Carter also loved to do, cuz he was the Sunday school president.
15:25A devout Baptist and born-again Christian who taught Sunday school for decades, even in the White House.
15:32Imagine getting a Bible lesson from the Commander-in-Chief.
15:35Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan started as a member of the Disciples of Christ and switched to Presbyterian.
15:41But when he became president, he rarely attended church.
15:44Not because he didn't believe, but due to secret service concerns.
15:48Sir, there's just too many dang people here.
15:50We can't let you go in.
15:52And then there's George H.W. Bush.
15:55A lifelong Episcopalian who relied deeply on his faith before major decisions.
16:00Like the start of the Gulf War.
16:01In fact, Bush prayed and saw counsel from his friend Billy Graham.
16:06Hey, it's you again.
16:07But this next president was so religious, he could basically speak fluent scripture.
16:12Cuz Bill Clinton grew up Southern Baptist and quoted the Bible in dozens of speeches.
16:18But after the Monica Lewinsky scandal, people started giving Bill the side-eye.
16:23And while some pastors forgave him, others weren't so sure.
16:27On the other hand, George W. Bush grew up Episcopalian just like his pops.
16:32But after struggling with alcohol in 1985, Bush lost his way.
16:37So he talked and prayed with Billy Graham.
16:39And credited this as the moment he gave his life to Christ.
16:43I think we should just move you into the White House at this point.
16:46I got a bunk bed.
16:47Now, Barack Obama's road to religion came with a few detours.
16:52Born to a secular mother and a Kenyan father who left Islam behind, Barack spent part of his childhood in
16:58both a Catholic school and a public school with Islamic teachings.
17:01But his real faith journey began as a young man in Chicago, where he joined a black Protestant church and
17:08has been a Christian ever since.
17:10Meanwhile, Donald Trump was raised Presbyterian in Queens.
17:14But as an adult, gravitated to Pastor Norman Vincent Peale, the guy famous for writing The Power of Positive Thinking.
17:21However, whenever asked about his faith, Trump usually kept it private.
17:25Except in 2015, when he said that the Bible is the best, greatest book of all time, it's incredible.
17:30Yeah, that's a direct quote.
17:33Which might be the only thing Joe Biden agrees with him on.
17:37Cause like JFK, Joe Biden was the only other Catholic president.
17:41He carried a rosary in his pocket from his late son Beau, attended mass weekly for decades, and cited Catholic
17:48social teaching as the main influence of his worldview.
17:51Amen, sir. Amen.
17:54But if you thought singing Hallelujah was a good time, it only gets crazier from here.
17:58Cause this is every U.S. president's biggest accomplishment.
18:02From purchasing the state of Alaska, to developing interstate highways, to saving the world from World War 3.
18:09These achievements are so insane, I probably wouldn't exist without them happening.
18:13So click this video right here and support my existence.
18:17And oh yeah, don't forget to subscribe too.
18:19Please.
18:20Peace.
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