George Washington & the Prayer at Valley Forge

 

"The Prayer at Valley Forge", a 1975 painting by Arnold Friberg done for America's bicentennial celebration in 1976.

It's hard to miss that this year marks the 250th anniversary for the United States of America. There will be celebrations "from California to the New York Island" and presumably Hawaii and Alaska. In some of the gushier praise of America's shining history there is no mention of slavery or a brutal war pitting North against South or segregation, but there ya go. 

One of the recurring myths to be brought forward is the Godliness of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington. As I mentioned recently. Washington went to church with wife Martha from time to time but he referred to go fox hunting on Sundays. He was more of a theist than a Christian and he didn't mentioned Jesus in his writings. 

The historical record has never deterred patriots from portraying him as a man of prayer, even in the midst of war. This is based on an unconfirmed story created by the same writer, Parson Weems,  who fabricated the "I cannot tell a lie" tale of young George confessing to cutting down a cherry tree. Apparently the parson could tell lies without compunction. Search "The Prayer at Valley Forge" and you'll be rewarded with lots of images going back long before the 1975 painting above. 

An article from NPR offers: 

After the publication of Weems' book in 1800, images of the first president praying became a meme — long before there were memes. Paintings and engravings were reproduced on china plates and on postage stamps in the 1920s. It appeared on the cover of the popular magazine The Saturday Evening Post in 1935, and reproduced in stained glass in a special prayer room built in the U.S. Capitol for members of Congress in the 1950s.

Of course, we could all be content to accept Washington as a person of prayer and faith, if it's true. Even if so, it's the ways in which the story of Valley Forge is used to suggest that the United States has always been Christian and therefore other religions are "lesser than" that is problematic. And then there is the blurring of the separation of church and state, along with the sanctification of war swallowed whole by millions, including lots of people in the current administration. The story is almost certainly fabricated, so why perpetuate the dishonesty? 

Well, there is likely much more to come during this year. God bless America. 

                    The altar in the Congressional Prayer Room at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

                                                                     Lisa Mascaro/AP