The religious beliefs of the first president of the United States of America have been the subject of debate since he held office.
Washington's faith has been categorized at times as evangelical Christianity, deist, Free Masonry and mainline Protestant Christianity. Washington himself was raised in, married in and became a vestryman in the Episcopal Church (the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion). However, he rarely took communion and attended church sporadically.
Evangelical Christians have claimed that Washington accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior, though there isn't evidence of this specific belief aside from Washington's rare mention of the figure of Christ, often in relation to morality, in public speeches.
Though also sometimes labeled a deist, Washington doesn't fit the definition of a deist as a person who sees God as similar to a clockmaker, a being who created the world and set life into motion, watching over events on earth without interfering. Washington believed in a God who responded to prayer and human need. Of his experiences in the battlefield, Washington reported, "By the all powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."
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