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The religious views of Abraham Lincoln are a matter of interest among scholars and the public. Lincoln grew up in a highly religious Baptist family. He never joined any church, and was a skeptic as a young man and sometimes ridiculed revivalists. He frequently referred to God and had a deep knowledge of the Bible, often quoting it. Lincoln attended Protestant church services with his wife and children, and after two of them died he became more intensely concerned with religion. Although Lincoln never made an unambiguous public profession of Christian belief, several people who knew him personally, such as Chaplain of the Senate Phineas Gurley and Mary Todd Lincoln herself, claimed that he believed in Christ in the religious sense.;〔Mary T. Lincoln to James Smith, June 8, 1870, in Robert J. Havlik, "Abraham Lincoln and the Reverend Dr. James Smith: Lincoln's Presbyterian experience of Springfield," ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'' (Autumn, 1999) (online )〕〔 quoting Phineas Gurley〕〔 Noah Brooks to J.A. Reed, December 31, 1872 〕 however, close friends who had known Lincoln for years, such as Ward Hill Lamon and William Herndon, rejected the idea that he was a believing Christian.〔 During his 1846 run for the House of Representatives, in order to dispel accusations concerning his religious beliefs, Lincoln issued a handbill stating that he had "never denied the truth of the Scriptures."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Abraham Lincoln Online )〕 He seemed to believe in an all-powerful God, who shaped events and, by 1865, was expressing those beliefs in major speeches. ==Early years== Lincoln's parents were church of Christ members joining the Little Pigeon Church of Christ near Lincoln City, Indiana, in 1823.〔 〕 In 1831, Lincoln moved to New Salem, which had no churches.〔 〕 However, historian Mark Noll states that "Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian belief."〔 〕 Noll quotes Lincoln's friend Jesse Fell: Noll argues Lincoln was turned against organized Christianity by his experiences as a young man witnessing how excessive emotion and bitter sectarian quarrels marked yearly camp meetings and the ministry of traveling preachers.〔 〕 As a young man, Lincoln enjoyed reading the works of deists such as Thomas Paine. He drafted a pamphlet incorporating such ideas but did not publish it. After charges of hostility to Christianity almost cost him a congressional bid, he kept his unorthodox beliefs private.〔(Radicals in Their Own Time ) Michael Anthony Lawrence - 2010〕 The one aspect of his parents' Calvinist religion that Lincoln apparently embraced wholeheartedly throughout his life was the "doctrine of necessity", also known as predestination, determinism, or fatalism.〔 29 pars. 〕 It was almost always through these lenses that Lincoln assessed the meaning of the Civil War. James Adams labeled Lincoln as a deist.〔 〕 It has been reported that in 1834 he wrote a manuscript essay challenging orthodox Christianity modeled on Paine's book ''The Age of Reason'', which a friend supposedly burned to protect him from ridicule.〔 〕 According to biographer Rev. William Barton, Lincoln likely had written an essay something of this character, but it was not likely that it was burned in such a manner. William J. Johnson, New Salem schoolteacher Mentor Graham, with whom Lincoln boarded, reported in 1874 that the manuscript was "a defense of universal salvation." The existence of the manuscript influenced by Paine was originally described by Herndon in his biography on Lincoln. Harvey Lee Ross, mail carrier who lived in New Salem with Mr. Lincoln in 1834 asserts that this was a fictional story by Mr. Herndon. He states the following issues with the original biographer's account. Mr. Herndon was 16 years old in 1834 and lived 20 miles away in Springfield and did not have contact with Mr. Lincoln. There was no stove in Samuel Hill's store in 1834 where the manuscript was allegedly burned. There was not a copy of the Age of Reason on the bookshelf at tavern where Mr. Herndon said Mr. Lincoln had read it. Finally, Mr. Ross states he was very well acquainted with everyone in the community of New Salem and he would have known about any conversations regarding a document of this nature.〔Rufus Rockwell Wilson (1946). Lincoln's First Years In Illinois, The Primavera Press, Inc, NY. pp.51-53.〕 It is reasonable conclusion that there was never a manuscript written and Paine was not a contributing factor in Lincoln's ideas towards religion. Noll writes, "At least early on, Lincoln was probably also a Universalist who believed in the eventual salvation of all people."〔 〕 Lincoln was often perplexed by the attacks on his character by way of his religious choices. In a letter written to Martin M. Morris in 1843, Lincoln wrote: In 1846, when Lincoln ran for congress against Peter Cartwright, the noted evangelist, Cartwright tried to make Lincoln's religion or lack of it a major issue of the campaign. Responding to accusations that he was an "infidel", Lincoln defended himself, publishing a hand-bill to "directly contradict" the charge made against him. The declaration was released as follows: As Carl Sandburg recounts in ''Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years'', Lincoln attended one of Cartwright's revival meetings. At the conclusion of the service, the fiery pulpiteer called for all who intended to go to heaven to rise. Naturally, the response was heartening. Then he called for all those who wished to go to hell to stand, unsurprisingly there were not many takers. Lincoln had responded to neither option. Cartwright closed in. "Mr. Lincoln, you have not expressed an interest in going to either heaven or hell. May I enquire as to where you do plan to go?" Lincoln replied: "I did not come here with the idea of being singled out, but since you ask, I will reply with equal candor. I intend to go to Congress."〔 〕 William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, stated that Lincoln admired deists Thomas Paine and Voltaire. Herndon, an advocate of Darwin's, said Lincoln thought the works of authors like Darwin and Spencer "entirely too heavy for an ordinary mind to digest" but he read and was "interested ... greatly" in a book expounding on these ideas, "''Vestiges of Creation''", and he was "deeply impressed with the notion of the so-called 'universal law' — evolution... and he became a warm advocate of the new doctrine." Lincoln believed in God, but some said he doubted the idea that Christ is God. In a written statement to Herndon, James W. Keyes said Lincoln believed in a Creator of all things, who had neither beginning nor end, who possessing all power and wisdom, established a principal, in Obedience to which, Worlds move and are upheld, and animel and vegatable life came into existence. A reason he gave for his belief was, that in view of the Order and harmony of nature which all beheld, it would have been More miraculouis to have Come about by chance, than to have been created and arranged by some great thinking power. Keyes also added that Lincoln once said As to the christian theory, that, Christ is God, or equal to the Creator he said had better be taken for granted — for by the test of reason all might become infidels on that subject, for evidence of Christs divinity Came to us in somewhat doubtful Shape — but that the Sistom of Christianity was an ingenious one at least — and perhaps was Calculated to do good.〔 During the White House years, Lincoln and his family often attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where the family pew he rented is marked by a plaque.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mr. Lincoln's White House )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Religious views of Abraham Lincoln」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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