Actually Lincoln was accused of being “an open scoffer at Christianity” during his first run for the House. In response, he issued a handbill that was distributed to voters and printed in local newspapers. His statements in it were hardly a profession of piety or religious devotion. He acknowledged that he was not a member of any Christian church, but also that he had “never denied the truth of the Scriptures” nor “spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular.” He also noted:
Abraham Lincoln to the Voters of the Illinois Seventh Congressional District, July 31, 1846 | House Divided
These spare thoughts on the subject were apparently good enough to pass the religion test of the bumpkins in Illinois at the time. In speeches and letters during his political career, Lincoln often referred to God, probably as often any other President has.
But later in his Presidency, especially after Willie's devastating death and the horrors of Gettysburg or the war generally, Lincoln perhaps seemed to more often make comments having spiritual or religious allusions or meaning when he didn't have to and whose purpose was not to appease some constituency. And after his death and continuing even until today, there has been a significant literature on the subject of Lincoln's religious views or beliefs, including particularly whether his views changed later in life. Several people close to him, including Mary, say his views on such matters definitely changed. It's an interesting topic. Some people have pinned him as a deist--but, then, some of his comments do not necessarily comport with that classification.
In any case, insofar as electing as President someone who espouses atheism or labels him/herself as “atheist,” I suppose it would make a difference how vociferous or adamant such espousal or self-identification is. I would wonder what such a candidate might say if asked to state an argument for the thesis of atheism as a positive belief, i.e., as a belief or view distinct from agnosticism, as I asked on this thread: Arguments for Atheism I didn't see where anyone ever stated any such sound argument--but I haven't even really read the thread.
It is true that in early life I was inclined to believe in what I understand is called the “Doctrine of Necessity” --- that is, that the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no control; and I have sometimes (with one, two or three, but never publicly) tried to maintain this opinion in argument. The habit of arguing thus however, I have, entirely left off for more than five years. And I add here, I have always understood this same opinion to be held by several of the Christian denominations. The foregoing, is the whole truth, briefly stated, in relation to myself, upon this subject.
Abraham Lincoln to the Voters of the Illinois Seventh Congressional District, July 31, 1846 | House Divided
These spare thoughts on the subject were apparently good enough to pass the religion test of the bumpkins in Illinois at the time. In speeches and letters during his political career, Lincoln often referred to God, probably as often any other President has.
But later in his Presidency, especially after Willie's devastating death and the horrors of Gettysburg or the war generally, Lincoln perhaps seemed to more often make comments having spiritual or religious allusions or meaning when he didn't have to and whose purpose was not to appease some constituency. And after his death and continuing even until today, there has been a significant literature on the subject of Lincoln's religious views or beliefs, including particularly whether his views changed later in life. Several people close to him, including Mary, say his views on such matters definitely changed. It's an interesting topic. Some people have pinned him as a deist--but, then, some of his comments do not necessarily comport with that classification.
In any case, insofar as electing as President someone who espouses atheism or labels him/herself as “atheist,” I suppose it would make a difference how vociferous or adamant such espousal or self-identification is. I would wonder what such a candidate might say if asked to state an argument for the thesis of atheism as a positive belief, i.e., as a belief or view distinct from agnosticism, as I asked on this thread: Arguments for Atheism I didn't see where anyone ever stated any such sound argument--but I haven't even really read the thread.
