Presidents\u2019 Day directs particular attention to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, both born in February. It also provides an occasion for focusing briefly on others who have held that esteemed office. What have been their church affiliations, including that of Barack Obama whose views on religion are hotly debated?<\/span><\/p>\n The first half-dozen were heavily impacted by the Enlightenment of the 18th century. Four of the six \u2013 Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe \u2013 were from Virginia, each of them officially Episcopalian. Evidence suggests, however, that they were influenced by a form of Deism, popular at the time, which emphasized the sovereignty of God, admired Jesus for his teachings, but rejected the doctrine that Christ was God in the flesh. Their \u2018enlightenment\u2019 had its limitations, as all four were slaveholders. In the case of Washington, his Will specified that his slaves should be freed once his wife had died. One of the troubling contradictions in our early history is how Jefferson could write \u201call men are created equal\u201d in the Declaration of Independence and continue to hold slaves.<\/p>\n The other two, John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, both from Massachusetts, were of Puritan stock \u2013 basically Congregationalist \u2013 who lived during the defection of various churches in the Boston area to Unitarianism, which denied the Trinity. John Quincy Adams became a charter member of the First Unitarian Church in Washington, D. C.<\/p>\n