The Denominations of the American Presidents

What church we attend says so very much about what we espouse and hold dear. There have been churches special to singular Presidents, such as Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains Georgia for Jimmy Carter or New York Avenue Presbyterian Church for President Lincoln. Congruently, there have been churches that have held significant for multiple presidents. These such churches include Foundry United Methodist Church for Presidents Roosevelt and Clinton, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square for many presidents such as Chester A. Arthur and Barack Obama, and Washington National Cathedral where President Wilson is buried, and where recently Presidents Ford and Reagan were memorialized.

This section of my Doctor of Ministry portfolio chronicles the denominational journey of the American Presidency. This is in the hopes that we might glean some insight into what makes each respective president think the way they do. Each hyperlinked section contains an interview and information about the denomination.

The Denominations of the American Presidents

What Experts on the Denominations are Saying

  • Methodism: The Rev. Laceye Warner, PhD

    The Rev. Dr. Laceye Warner is the Royce and Jane Reynolds Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies and Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement and Hybrid Programs at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina

  • Unitarianism: Dan McKanan, PhD

    Dr. Dan McKanan is the Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  • Quakerism: Stephen W. Angell, PhD

    Dr. Stephen W. Angell is the Geraldine C. Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.

  • Roman Catholicism: Father James Martin, SJ

    Father James Martin, SJ is a Jesuit Priest and Editor-at-Large for America, the national Catholic magazine in New York, New York.

  • Presbyterianism/Reformed Traditions: Doug Ottati, PhD

    Dr. Doug Ottati is the Craig Family Distinguished Professor of Reformed Theology and Justice at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina.

Presbyterian:

  • Andrew Jackson

  • James K. Polk

  • James Buchanan

  • Grover Cleveland*

  • Benjamin Harrison

  • Woodrow Wilson

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower

  • Ronald Reagan

No Formal Affiliation:

  • Thomas Jefferson

  • Abraham Lincoln

  • Andrew Johnson

  • Donald J. Trump***

Baptist:

  • Warren G. Harding

  • Harry S. Truman

  • Jimmy Carter

  • Bill Clinton

Disciples of Christ:

  • James Garfield

  • Lyndon B. Johnson

United Church of Christ

  • Barack Obama**

Congregationalist:

  • Calvin Coolidge

Methodist:

  • Ulysses S. Grant

  • Rutherford B. Hayes

  • William McKinley

  • George W. Bush

Dutch Reformed

  • Martin Van Buren

  • Theodore Roosevelt

Quaker:

  • Herbert Hoover

  • Richard M. Nixon

Roman Catholic:

  • John F. Kennedy

  • Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Episcopalian:

  • George Washington

  • James Madison

  • James Monroe

  • William Henry Harrison

  • John Tyler

  • Zachary Taylor

  • Franklin Pierce

  • Chester A. Arthur

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Gerald R. Ford

  • George H. W. Bush

Unitarian:

  • John Adams

  • John Quincy Adams

  • Millard Fillmore

  • William Howard Taft

*President Grover Cleveland served non-consecutive terms as President. He is listed as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. He is only listed once on this page.

**After an incident surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, then-Senator Obama distanced himself from the church where his membership was held.

***President Donald Trump said in 2015 he was an active member of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, the Church subsequently denied the claim. He has also attended Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches in Florida, however now he states he is “Non-denominational.”