Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States

The pattern of religious adherence has changed dramatically over the course of United States history, so that the pattern of presidential affiliations is quite unrepresentative of modern membership numbers. For example, Episcopalians are extraordinarily well represented among the presidents compared to a current membership of about 1% of the population; this is partly because the Church of England, from which the Episcopal Church is derived, was the established church in some of the British Colonies (such as New York and Virginia) before the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church has been much larger previously, with its decline in membership occurring only in more recent decades. The first seven presidents listed as Episcopalians were all from Virginia. Unitarians are also overrepresented, reflecting the importance of those colonial churches. Conversely, Baptists are underrepresented, a reflection of their quite recent expansion in numbers; the list includes only two Catholic presidents, although they are currently the largest single denomination. There have been no Adventist, Anabaptist, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Latter Day Saint, or Pentecostal presidents. While many presidents did not formally join a church until quite late in life, there is a genre of tales of deathbed conversions. Biographers usually doubt these, though the baptism of James K. Polk is well documented. ==Personal beliefs==

On the other hand, there are several presidents who considered themselves aligned with a particular church, but who withheld from formal affiliation for a time. James Buchanan, for instance, held himself allied with the Presbyterian church, but refrained from joining it until he left office. Deism and the Founding Fathers Deism was a religious philosophy in common currency in colonial times, and some Founding Fathers (most notably Thomas Paine, who was an explicit proponent of it, and Benjamin Franklin, who spoke of it in his Autobiography) are identified more or less with this system. Thomas Jefferson became a deist in later life, and George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Tyler are often identified as having some degree of deistic beliefs. and a fifth (Thomas Jefferson) was an exponent of ideas now commonly associated with Unitarianism. Unitarianism, the belief that God has a unitary nature, developed in opposition to Trinitarianism, the belief that God is three persons in one (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). In a letter to Benjamin Waterhouse in 1822, Jefferson said, "I trust that there is not a young man now living in the US. who will not die an Unitarian." William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, said in a letter to a friend, "I am interested in the spread of Christian civilization, but to go into a dogmatic discussion of creed I will not do whether I am defeated or not. ... If the American electorate is so narrow as not to elect a Unitarian, well and good. I can stand it." While Abraham Lincoln never officially joined a church, there has been some research indicating that he may have had Quaker leanings. During his time in office, he had numerous meetings with Quakers and had investigated a supposed Quaker ancestry. The only other president with any association with a definitely nontrinitarian body is Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose parents moved from the River Brethren to the antecedents of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Eisenhower himself was baptized in the Presbyterian church shortly after assuming the presidency, the only president thus far to undergo such a rite while in office; and his attendance at West Point was in sharp opposition to the tenets of the groups to which his parents belonged. Nonreligious presidents There are some presidents for whom there is little evidence as to the importance of religion in their lives. For example, almost no evidence exists for Monroe's personal religious beliefs, though this may be the result of the destruction of most of his personal correspondence, in which religious sentiments may have been recorded. As with claims of deism, these identifications are not without controversy. No president has declared himself to be atheist. ==Civic religion==

St. John's Episcopal Church (built 1815–1816) just across Lafayette Square and north of the White House, is the church nearest to the White House, and its services have been attended at least once by nearly every president since James Madison (1809–1817). ==List of presidents by religious affiliation==

==List of presidents with details on their religious affiliation==

For each president, the formal affiliation at the time of his presidency is listed first, with other affiliations listed after. Further explanation follows if needed, as well as notable detail. • George Washington – Episcopalian and Deist • Jefferson was raised Anglican and served as a vestryman prior to the American Revolution, While not holding to the tenets of the church, "he never withdrew from the Episcopal Church [although] his views were essentially what are called Unitarian today." • Modern Unitarian Universalists consider Jefferson's views to be very close to theirs. The Famous UUs website Carter continued to teach Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, which he had done since the 1980s. In 2007, Carter founded the New Baptist Covenant organization for social justice. • Ronald Reagan – Presbyterian While living in Washington, he attended services at St. John's Episcopal Church. • Barack Obama – Unspecified Protestant • Donald Trump – Unspecified Protestant • Joe Biden – Roman Catholic • Biden is a lifelong Catholic, with Reuters describing his religious beliefs as "well-known and documented". Catholic social teaching has been cited as a major influence on his political views. In 2008, he was reported to regularly attend Sunday Mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware. He continued to attend services there, or at other Catholic churches, during most weeks of his presidency. • Donald Trump – Unspecified Protestant ==Affiliation totals==