Debate about Abraham Lincoln continues to this day. For some, he is the Great

Emancipator, who helped end slavery, and a president that held the union together. To

others, the 16th

the reason for the vast expansion of the national government.

It is not surprising, therefore, that there has also been endless debate about

Lincoln’s faith. Stephen Mansfield enters into this debate with his book, Lincoln’s Battle

with God: A President’s Struggle with Faith and What it Meant for America. He was on

my radio program recently to talk about his research and the book.

There are many phases to Lincoln’s spiritual life. At one point, while a young

man in New Salem, Illinois, he was effectively the village atheist having read some of the

rationalistic works of Tom Paine and the Enlightenment work, The Ruins of Empires. But

he also read a book of Christian apologetics (The Christian Defense) by James D. Smith.

He attended services at his church and spent hours discussing issues of faith with the

pastor. Over time, Lincoln became convinced that God exists. He also became convinced

that the principles in the Bible were true.

Abraham Lincoln faced a great deal of sadness. Beset with depression, he nearly

committed suicide on a number of occasions. He lost two sons. One died at the age of

three. The other died at the age of eleven while Lincoln was president and at time when

the Civil War was at a low point. His wife (who probably was bipolar) was a difficult

woman to live with. Through these trials, Mansfield argues, Lincoln relied on his

Christian faith.

Of course, it is hard to number Lincoln among the saints. He never joined a

church, and he tended to poke fun at religion and false piety. People in his day and

secular historians today greet his religious statements with skepticism. Yet you cannot

read his Second Inaugural Address without feeling that Lincoln did indeed possess

genuine faith. I encourage you to read the book and learn more about the faith of

Abraham Lincoln.

president was a man who suppressed dissent, was a law unto himself, and