Despite what the history revisionists would have you believe, the Founders did most certainly believe, at least in an Almighty God who created everything (they even called this out in the Declaration), if not the God of the Bible Himself.  There are many quotes that attest to their belief that Divine Providence still orchestrated the affairs of men.  George Washington is one of the more enigmatic figures when it comes to discerning what faith he had.  Arguments are made on both sides that he was either simply a Deist who believed in God or that he was a Christian who believed in the God of the Bible.  But it is not the purpose of this article to determine exactly what Washington believed.  There is sufficient proof that he believed that God was real and that the hand of God had been instrumental in establishing the new country into its new found freedom.

On this President's Day, 2010 and in this, my final examination of the thoughts of Washington, I want to take a brief look at how he believed faith affected government and society. With the understanding that Washington did believe in “that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe”, we will take a look at what he said when he first took office, and then when he left it.

Upon his inauguration, Washington said:

No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.

Here, Washington acknowledges that the existence of the United States was no mere accident, nor did it occur as some random sequence of events.  The “invisible hand” and “providential agency” indicate that he believed that God was at work in the founding of this country.  He didn’t encourage his fellow citizens to believe nor did he give them leave not to.  Because the evidence that God had worked among them was so great, Washington exclaimed that they, we, were bound to not only acknowledge, but also adore the “invisible hand” of God that brought the United States into existence as an independent, free nation.  Washington went on to say:

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my Country can inspire: since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

Here, he challenges his fellow citizens to live rightly so that Heaven will continue to smile favorably on our country.  In his mind, it is an unquestionable truth that living virtuously as a people, as a country, will result in the happiness of the people and the country.  Washington echoes the Declaration of Independence’s “self-evident truths” with the phrase “eternal rules or order and right.”  That truth was relative, that right behavior changed with the times was not something Washington believed.  He did not take office with an eye to picking and choosing what parts of those rules he would use to guide his personal behavior or the direction of the country.  Unfortunately, too many presidents in the last 100 years, do not see our laws as binding, but as merely a set of suggestions on how to govern.  And we as a people have given up right living for living in the moment.  We cannot expect better from our elected leaders until we expect better of ourselves and acknowledge that this country was blessed for a Reason and has been guided in years past by Almighty God.  Washington closed his first inaugural address, with an acknowlegement that God created the human race and with a plea to God to continue blessing this country’s government:

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

After so boldly challenging the nation when he took office, Washington did not back down when left office.  He was even so bold as to suggest that anyone who attempted to undermine religion and morality in this country were unpatriotic.  I wonder what he would think of what most people accept for entertainment today?  He said:

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

One aspect of religious faith and morality that Washington calls out that few in government will acknowledge today, is that without morality, there is no protection of property or life.  A common shared morality provides the absolute foundation upon which a jurisprudence system must exist.  Without some shared ethos, we would have no way of holding each accountable to a standard.  If there is not common belief that property and life are essential to be free, that these are rights, then there is truly no basis for good government.  And the basis for a shared morality is a common religious belief.  Earlier in the farewell address, he remarked that, “with slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles”.  This was no allusion to some impractical or irrelevant belief system; his audience knew what religion he was referring to.  Despite certain presidents’ recent exclamations that this is not a Christian nation, it was most undoubtedly Christian in its founding.  We have strayed far from the beliefs that our Founders held dear, almost to the point of missing the whole point of what many of them were trying to say.  In essence, they wanted us to know that the government we have is a reflection of the people.  Washington, and others, urged the citizens of this country to pursue virtue so that we might be happy, to do our duty so we might gain a righteous advantage, and to act honestly and nobly so that our country may prosper.  When we the people are not righteous and turn from virtue, government is bound to follow.  As I noted in an earlier post, at that point, when we the people turn from good, government becomes a fearful master.  In closing, I leave you with a troubling question, at least in today's world, that Washington asked in his farewell address:

It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?