The Christian Character of George Washington, by Susan Hanssen

By Susan Hanssen, Crisis Magazine, Nov. 7, 2025

Professor Susan Hanssen is an associate professor of history at the University of Dallas, where she teaches American Civilization on their Dallas campus during the school year and Western Civilization on their Rome campus in the summer.

Young conservatives debate “Christian nationalism” while Catholic students still ask about Washington’s connection to Freemasonry at the founding of our nation. It’s time to unpack these myths.

It might strike many college professors—immersed in a campus atmosphere that writes off the American Founders for complicity in slavery—as odd that I still get, at my little Catholic liberal arts college, questions every year from students about George Washington being a Freemason. In the midst of the preparations for the 250th anniversary of the American Founding celebration (1776-2026), the younger generation of conservatives seem to have bifurcated into enthusiasm for “Christian nationalism” and claims that America had a “Christian founding” or “post-liberal” hostility to America as the embodiment of the modern, secular Baconian and Lockean experiment. It seems worthwhile, therefore, to address this old Catholic accusation against the American Founders that seems to be having a bit of a resurgence. …

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