Comments about ‘Abraham Lincoln was a man of faith but skeptical of religion’

The Civil War was drawing to a close when Lincoln in his second inaugural address delivered the Christ-like phrase "With malice toward none, with charity for all...."

Had he lived to serve out his second term, he most likely would have locked horns with the radical members of Congress who were bent on punishing the South. Lincoln realized that the country had been through enough.

A fascinating article in the Religious Educator a couple of years ago showed how Lincoln evolved in LDS thinking from a president who was routinely criticized by LDS leaders to one who is now probably the most quoted political figure in general conference addresses. Brigham Young had no kind words for our 16th president, but LDS members today likely regard him as our greatest president. Makes me wonder how our current president will be viewed generations from now. Probably far more positively than conservatives can imagine.

Brigham Young - March 8, 1863:

"The rank rabid abolitionists, whom I call black-hearted Republicans, have set the whole national fabric on fire. Do you know this, Democrats? They have kindled the fire that is raging now from the north to the south, and from the south to the north. I am no abolitionist, neither am I a pro-slavery man; I hate some of their principles and especially some of their conduct, as I do the gates of hell. The Southerners make the negroes, and the Northerners worship them; this is all the difference between slaveholders and abolitionists. I would like the President of the United States and all the world to hear this. Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so."

Thanks for the quote, LValfre. Brigham Young’s sentiments express what more Americans than we might suspect were thinking then and it underscores what a difficult task Lincoln was faced with in a war of brother killing brother. Let us hope that no other President ever again has to deal with a situation like that.