Andrew Sullivan asks “Who Was The First Truly Christian President?”
It’s a good question after Saturday night’s pander-thon to Rick Warren. If you define Christian as the evangelical magazine Christianity Today does, the answer is probably Andrew Jackson.
Sullivan cites Christianity Today for a list of presidents and their beliefs. Read here for their analysis of who were Christians in relation to how they might be viewed today. Sullivan continues:
When the theocons talk of American politics being imbued with religion from its founding, they have a point. But the type of religion that influenced the Founding Fathers could not be further removed from the deeply personal, evangelical experience touted by Warren, and its relationship to divine truth far more reserved than contemporary fundamentalism. By today’s standards, many of the founders would be termed secular humanists with Christian leanings who nonetheless believed religion to be essential to social order.
One question: has any presidential debate been held in an active church before?
Read it here.