Religious views of Abraham Lincoln

This article is part of a series about Abraham Lincoln
Personal Early life and career Family Health Sexuality Patent Political Spot Resolutions Political career, 1849–1861 Lincoln–Douglas debates Views on slavery Views on religion Electoral history 16th President of the United States Presidency First term Transition 1st inauguration Hannibal Hamlin American Civil War The Union Emancipation Proclamation Ten percent plan 13th Amendment Second term 2nd inauguration Andrew Johnson Reconstruction Presidential elections 1860 Convention 1864 Convention Speeches and works Inaugural speeches First Second State of the Union 1861 1862 1863 1864 Lyceum Peoria Lost Speech House Divided Cooper Union Farewell address Gettysburg Poetry "The Suicide's Soliloquy" Bixby letter McCullough letter Assassination and legacy Assassination State funeral Historical reputation Memorials Depictions Bibliography Topical guide
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Abraham Lincoln grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. He never joined any Church, and was a skeptic as a young man and sometimes ridiculed revivalists. He frequently referred to God and had a deep knowledge of the Bible, often quoting it. Lincoln attended Protestant church services with his wife and children. "Especially after the death of his young son Willie in 1862, Lincoln moved away from his earlier religious skepticism."^[1] Some argue that Lincoln was neither a Christian believer nor a secular freethinker.^[2]

Although Lincoln never made an unambiguous public profession of Christian belief, several people who knew him personally, such as Chaplain of the Senate Phineas Gurley and Mary Todd Lincoln, claimed that he believed in Christ in the religious sense.^[3][4][5] However, others who had known Lincoln for years, such as Ward Hill Lamon and William Herndon, rejected the idea that he was a believing Christian.^[6] During his 1846 run for the House of Representatives, in order to dispel accusations concerning his religious beliefs, Lincoln issued a handbill stating that he had "never denied the truth of the Scriptures".^[7] He seemed to believe in an all-powerful God, who shaped events and, by 1865, was expressing those beliefs in major speeches.^[8]