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Line 210: − + − Like his Roosevelt ancestors, Roosevelt was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. In Oyster Bay there was no Reformed church, and so from 1887 onward he went to Christ Church (Episcopal) with his wife Edith and the children, where he took part in the service, loudly singing the hymns. In Albany and Washington Roosevelt attended a Dutch Reformed church. <ref>[http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/Religion.htm THE RELIGION of THEODORE ROOSEVELT] Relative little has been written on Roosevelt 's religion, although a book, ''ROOSEVELT'S RELIGION'' by Christian Reisner, [http://books.google.com/books?id=-rVEAAAAIAAJ&dq=ROOSEVELT%27S+RELIGION+by+Christian+Reisner&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=NaRpPqwPWv&sig=v-mVzmOukGfPAKjq6jZgfo4q3aM&hl=en&ei=x8-CSpiCOsaltgfD_rjMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Extract and search] provides recollections from his friends and others on the subject.</ref> + − + + + + + + + + + Line 275:
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→Religion and character: moral and religious character
:"No other book of any kind ever written in English—perhaps no other book ever written in any other tongue—has ever so affected the whole life of a people as this authorized version of the Scriptures has affected the life of the English-speaking peoples."
:"No other book of any kind ever written in English—perhaps no other book ever written in any other tongue—has ever so affected the whole life of a people as this authorized version of the Scriptures has affected the life of the English-speaking peoples."
Roosevelt based his conclusions less on specific Christian reasoning than on broad humanitarian appeal. He urged his auditors to study the Bible, not necessarily "as an inspired book," but as an essential volume for every person "who seeks after a high and useful life."<ref>Mark Noll, "'The Most Democratic Book in the World'" ''Christian History & Biography'' 2008 (99): 26-29 in [[EBSCO]]</ref>
Roosevelt could base his conclusions less on ''specific'' Christian reasoning than on broad humanitarian appeal. He urged his auditors to study the Bible, not necessarily "as an inspired book," but as an essential volume for every person "who seeks after a high and useful life."<ref>Mark Noll, "'The Most Democratic Book in the World'" ''Christian History & Biography'' 2008 (99): 26-29 in [[EBSCO]]</ref>
Paradoxically however, Roosevelt was not sworn in on a Bible. He remains the only president in history not to do so.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pinotable.html Library of Congress Presidential Inauguration Precedents and Notable Events]</ref>
Roosevelt was not sworn in on a Bible. He remains the only president in history to do so.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pihtml/pinotable.html Library of Congress Presidential Inauguration Precedents and Notable Events]</ref>
Like his Roosevelt ancestors, Roosevelt was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. In Oyster Bay there was no Reformed church, and so from 1887 onward he went to Christ Church (Episcopal) with his wife Edith and the children, where he took part in the service, loudly singing the hymns. In Albany and Washington Roosevelt attended a Dutch Reformed church.
Unlike many presidents, Roosevelt was an enthusiastic churchmen. Biographer George Grant writes,
<blockquote>
He grew up in the church, raised his children in the church, and remained in the church into his dying day... His reasoning was simple and straightforward: man was made for covenant.
Roosevelt's personal experience with the Church was a happy one—and he grew great strength from it. As he confessed to his friends, "after a week of wrestling with perplexing problems, it does so rest my soul to come to the House of the Lord and to sing—and to mean it—Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.
[Roosevelt] refrained from hunting, fishing, playing games, or transacting any sort of business on Sunday.<ref>[http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/Religion.htm THE RELIGION of THEODORE ROOSEVELT] Relative little has been written on Roosevelt 's religion, although a book, ''ROOSEVELT'S RELIGION'' by Christian Reisner, [http://books.google.com/books?id=-rVEAAAAIAAJ&dq=ROOSEVELT%27S+RELIGION+by+Christian+Reisner&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=NaRpPqwPWv&sig=v-mVzmOukGfPAKjq6jZgfo4q3aM&hl=en&ei=x8-CSpiCOsaltgfD_rjMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 George Grant, "The courage and character of Theodore Roosevelt. A hero among leaders."], pp. 170,71</ref>
</blockquote>
Roosevelt provided ''Nine Reasons Why a Man Should Go to Church'',<ref>http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/Church9reasons.htm</ref> such as
Roosevelt provided ''Nine Reasons Why a Man Should Go to Church'',<ref>http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/Church9reasons.htm</ref> such as
:''Now to you men, who, in your turn, have come together to spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong, to you who face the future resolute and confident, to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our Nation, to you who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of humankind, I say in closing what in that speech I said in closing: We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord''<ref>A Confession of Faith, delivered in Chicago, Illinois, 6 August 1912</ref>
:''Now to you men, who, in your turn, have come together to spend and be spent in the endless crusade against wrong, to you who face the future resolute and confident, to you who strive in a spirit of brotherhood for the betterment of our Nation, to you who gird yourselves for this great new fight in the never-ending warfare for the good of humankind, I say in closing what in that speech I said in closing: We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord''<ref>A Confession of Faith, delivered in Chicago, Illinois, 6 August 1912</ref>
:''No abounding of material prosperity shall avail us if our spiritual senses atrophy. The foes of our own household shall prevail against us unless there be in our people an inner life which finds its outer expression in a morality like that preached by the seers and prophets of God when the grandeur that was Greece and the glory that was Rome still lay in the future.'' <ref>Theodore Roosevelt, The Foes of Our Own Household, New York, 1917, p.132</ref>
:''Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole social and civic life that it would be literally impossible to figure what life would be like if these standards were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals.'' <ref>James Willis, The Letters and Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt, 1937, p.86</ref>
:''There are those who believe that a new modernity demands a new morality. What they fail to consider is the harsh reality that there is no such thing as a new morality. There is only one morality. All else is immorality. There is only true Christian ethics over against which stands the whole of paganism. If we are to fulfill our destiny as a people, then we must return to the old morality, the sole morality. And if we are to do that the church must prepare us for the task.'' <ref>David Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt: American Monarch, 1981, p.91</ref>
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== External links ==
== External links ==