I wonder how many US Presidents actually were believers and how many were just going through the motions because until recently in our history not identifying as one made you a pariah in the US, unwelcome in all the little clubs that could lead to the Presidency.
Obama seemed way too logical and analytical to actually buy into such irrational things. Trump clearly doesn't, purely out of narcissistic self-importance making himself his own deity/object of worship.
Not every Christian believes in a literal Genesis and a 6 thousand year old earth etc. , but yeah, probably many were likely (and/or surely) deist, agnostic, uncaring, or even atheist.
Honestly I have more respect for the literalists than the ones that recognize the crazy, but pick and choose which beliefs within their religion they're willing to swallow the crazy of rather than walking away.
If you're going to choose to be a nutter, at least fucking commit.
Many of the founding fathers were Deists, which while technically is a belief in a higher power, also wouldn't fly with the mainstream religious voters of today. Thomas Paine was a flat out atheist and still remains today the only founding father without a monument. I'm of mixed feelings about that as a monument could be considered idolatry and he might not really want that.
But I think the term "consecutively" eliminates the need to count individual presidents that did not serve consecutive terms, as those who did are commonly regarded as one presidency.
If we only had 3 christian presidents, and the first and last were the same guy, we still had three consecutive christian presidents.
I don't know. It's a unique situation. But I don't think saying "43 consecutive presidents" is necessarily wrong
Considering he says 43 consecutively, that would imply either the first two or last two were not Christians. We know that's not the case, so it's safe to assume it's just a quote from before Trump became president.
Edit: though I'm pretty sure Thomas Jefferson was famously not a Christian, so it isn't true regardless.
Obama is not a practicing Christian, and he was the 44th presidency. But Grover Cleveland was counted as 2 separate presidencies, so only 42 people before Obama were president of the United States. But if "43 of them" is referring to presidencies and not individuals, it holds.
Trump and Biden also both identify as Christians too, bringing the total to 45 presidencies out of 46, and 44 out of 45 people who have been president of the United States.
And to be especially nitpicky, a few early presidents are speculated to have been atheists or deists, not Christians.
Obama is not a practicing Christian, and he was the 44th presidency. But Grover Cleveland was counted as 2 separate presidencies, so only 42 people before Obama were president of the United States. But if "43 of them" is referring to presidencies and not individuals, it holds.
Trump and Biden also both identify as Christians too, bringing the total to 45 presidencies out of 46, and 44 out of 45 people who have been president of the United States.
And to be especially nitpicky, a few early presidents are speculated to have been atheists or deists, not Christians.