Some religion, some history, and a little bit of soap box thrown in for good measure

You've all seen it. Heck, a lot of you probably have it hanging in your home or know someone who does. It's really quite famous and it's driven me (and my dad) crazy for years.

If you will briefly travel back to high school with me, clear back to AP US History you'll note that we/I learned that George Washington was a Diest. Diesm was and I suppose is a largely little known/highly interpretable and slightly misunderstood "religion" but basically a lot of America's Founding Father's were Diests. They believed in God, but they beleived in what was often referred to as a "Watchmaker God". This meant that they believed in a God who designed the world they were inhabiting long before life was formed and that the world was set-up like a clock - and once in motion there was no changing it. In more simplified terms, they beleived that what did happen and what would happen did so because that was the way it was designed to happen and there wasn't any chance of changing it because it had been God's will.

Keeping this in mind, GW was perhaps one of the most stringent Diests of his time. He did attended regular worship services to keep his wife happy, he did beleive in a God, but not in one that should be petitioned or prayed to. In fact, it's pretty well known that Georgie Boy was not a pray-er. (here comes the soap box) Meaning that during the American Revolution, the odds of him praying in a grove of trees while camped at Valley Forge or any other place for that matter were slim to non-existent.

This is why that painting has always driven me crazy. In doing a bit of research, the artist and others who have proclaimed that painting to be great have quoted many times that there were several "witnesses" at Valley Forge that saw GW walk into a grove of trees to pray. There are also many "witnesses" to history and historians that basically say, um, not true.

I just finished reading a book on the recommendation of my dad titled Faiths of our Fathers: What America's Founders Really Beleived by Alf Mapp and can I just tell you it was awesome. The book was very intersting and pretty eye-opening that these guys with such different lifestyles and beleifs were able to mold and shape a country. That is very cool. But, I LOVED the Washington chapter. (As I'm writing this post I realize that my inner nerd is over-exposed and pouring out of me, but beleive it or not, this whole Diest/prayer/painting issue that I've created bothers me to no end. I acutually think about it pretty regularly. )

At present time, several hundred years later, Washington's original biographer, Mason Locke Weems, has been proven to be a pretty good fabricator in his day, inventing many stories about the famous president, including the mythical story that George cut down his father's prized cherry tree. The myth that Washington prayed at Valley Forge has been attributed to a Quaker that Weems invented. The author of Faiths of our Fathers, Mapp, says this:

"Of course, no one can prove that Washington did not kneel in the snow at Valley Forge. But the imagined event is most unlikely. Washington was an idealist, but a very practical one....More important than whether Washington would have prayed on his knees, or in a specific setting is the question of whether he would have prayed at all. Many of his associates were Diests, and many Diests considered praying a waste of time."

So, those of you who have that painting, good for you. I am not judging or criticizing because like you, I feel that it is beautiful and inspiring. As for me, I'll still continue to shudder a bit whenever I see it because of the misuse of history I perceive it to be.