Beschloss on Presidents and Religion

What does religion mean to presidents? That's what presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, tries to discern in this article for the Washington Post's On Faith section.

For some presidents, politics compels religion. Lyndon Johnson, for example, "flaunted his Protestant affiliation (Disciples of Christ) in order to attract voters to the Kennedy-Johnson ticket who were uneasy about JFK’s Catholicism."

Beschloss notes that Ronald Reagan "courted evangelical Christians, but had so little in common with them that he did not bother to go to Sunday church himself."