The faith of our founding father, George Washington, has been
the source of debate among scholars throughout the 20th, and now
into the 21st century. Prior to that, it was generally the case
that very few questioned the strength or validity of the claim
that George Washington was a Christian. It was not until around
the time of the bicentennial of Washington’s birth, in 1932,
that the consensus began to shift to the view that Washington
was a Deist, that is, one who is generally non-religious,
believing merely in a very remote and impersonal God. The
definitive change in scholarly attitude seems to have occurred
in 1963 when Professor Paul Boller wrote his book entitled
George Washington and Religion. Professor Boller wrote, “Broadly
speaking, of course, Washington can be classified as a Deist.”
Most recent scholars have accepted Boller’s thesis and have
developed this perspective. Thus recent works on Washington’s
faith describe our Founding Father as: “A lukewarm
Episcopalian,” “a warm Deist,” “not a deeply