So I know I’m reading out of order lol, but I had to jump into this when I saw you posted it. As a self-described agnostic (albeit of the optimistic variety, meaning that I’m quite hopeful that there is “something” out there), Lincoln’s faith, or lack thereof, is a topic that has caught my attention before.

I totally agree with you that he wasn’t a Christian. I think there’s a chance he was a deist, but agnosticism seems like the better guess to me based on what we know about the man.

And you’re so on the money about the dearth of agnostics who adhere to a worldview like the one Lincoln held. I think that, these days, the “agnostic” label gets bandied about a little too frequently, and that some people just reflexively call themselves agnostics because they have neither the time nor the energy to really tangle with big existential questions (which is totally understandable). But for me, agnosticism doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) preclude the acknowledgement that the universe does have a structure and orderliness to it that seems quite deliberate, or that there does appear to be some sort of force, either natural or divine, that is very much preoccupied with the notions of fairness and justice.