The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American

by Andrew L. Seidel

McGuffey, Christianity was “the religion of our country…. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions.”15 He warned teachers and parents to avoid “teaching to our pupils the crude notions and revolutionary principles of modern infidelity.”16 As Edward G. Lengel, editor of Washington’s papers, noted, “In retelling Weems’s stories, McGuffey simplified their morals and turned them into generic Sunday school lessons, putting Washington’s piety on constant display.”17 McGuffey’s work led to other displays of Washington’s conjured piety. The Valley Forge prayer scene has been painted by Lambert Sachs (c. 1854); Henry Brueckner (c. 1866); J. C. Leyendecker (1935); and Arnold Friberg (1975). It appeared on stamps in 1928 and in 1977. The George Washington Memorial Chapel was founded in Valley Forge in 1903 partly to commemorate “the inspiring image of a solitary and steadfast Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge.”18 The US Capitol’s Congressional Prayer Room, built in 1955 (see page 280), features a stained-glass window depicting the scene. Ronald Reagan called the image of Washington kneeling in the snow at Valley Forge “the most sublime picture in American history.”19