Religious views of George Washington

The religious views of George Washington have long been debated. While some of the other Founding Fathers of the United States, such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Patrick Henry, were noted for writing about religion, Washington rarely discussed his religious and philosophical views.

Washington attended the Anglican Church through all of his life, and was baptized as an infant. He was a member of several churches which he attended, and served as an Anglican vestryman and warden for more than fifteen years, when Virginia had an established church. As a young man he also joined the Freemasons, which also promoted spiritual and moral values for society. His personal letters and public speeches sometimes referred to "Providence", a term for God used by both Christians and deists. Washington's religious perspectives were shaped by his relationships with religious and political figures such as Worshipful Master Francis Lowthorp Sr., who gave Washington the Masonic address of welcome at the New Bern Masonic Lodge in 1791.^[1] Washington's moral values can also be inferred from his correspondence with Reverend John Lathrop on June 22, 1788, praising the clergyman's work and discussing his support for the proposed U.S. Constitution.^[2][3]