Could it be that Lincoln's noncommittal stance toward Christianity was motivated by his analysis of church attitudes on slavery? Christian denominations, in fact, took contradictory positions on slavery, even within denominations. We keep in mind that, as Lincoln was elected president in 1860, our own Father Augustus Tolton was a 6-year-old slave in Missouri. His owners were Catholics, and they believed that their slaves should be Catholics.
Lincoln demonstrated a visceral opposition to the idea that one person should own and enslave another. From very early in his political career, he pointed out the fact that the Founding Fathers were embarrassed by the existence of slavery in the nation they were laboring to bring to birth. He pointed out that necessary references to slavery in the Constitution were circumlocutions which demonstrated both their distaste for this peculiar institution and their awareness of how slavery clashed with the ideals of government by the people. Lincoln obviously identified with this embarrassment.
Lincoln avoided joining a church, yet he was, quite obviously, religious. His orations and other writings are loaded with Biblical imagery and allusions, and with a concern for right relationship between God and the creatures made in his image and likeness. His ethical sensitivity was founded upon a sense of a divinely-ordained equality among human beings. He summed up the demands upon his conscience: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy."
In his farewell to Springfield on Monday, Feb. 11, 1861, the day before his 52nd birthday, Lincoln alluded to the burdens of office which would weigh upon him; he referred to "a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington." Affirming that he needed God's help, he left Springfield "trusting in him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good."
His religious sense included awareness of a single origin for human beings in one God. This bond between each individual and God implied a bond among human beings. He longed to see such bonds recognized and lived out in human society.
When we ponder the attitudes of people we know who obviously have a concern for the ultimate issues in life, but who do not live out this concern within an identifiable religious tradition, we need to consider that — as was the case with the churches in the United States in the 19th century — we, in our own living-out of faith and ethics, may fail to apply our espoused ideals consistently. Could it be that we need to engage such people, confront inconsistencies of ours, and thereby make progress in our own conversion?
The Christian people will always be the Church of Jesus Christ. It would not add anything to call ourselves "Lincoln's Church." It would not hurt, however, if we could grow on the basis of the insights of persons who keep a principled personal stand apart from official adhesion to organized religion.