While George Washington’s religious faith is to this day a matter of debate, Charisma is out with an article by pastor Eddie Hyatt insisting that Washington was an evangelical Christian just like Charisma readers.

Hyatt recycles the dubious Valley Forge prayer story and also cites prayers found in a supposed journal from a twenty-year-old Washington that historians regard as “patently false.”

Not only does Hyatt cite discredited tales and fake quotes, but he actually mentions Washington’s ownership of over 300 slaves as proof that he was a Christian:

Some have challenged Washington’s faith because he was a slave owner. But what is often not told is the fact that when Washington was challenged on how his keeping of slaves was inconsistent with his profession of faith in Christ, he began setting in motion a compassionate plan, at great personal cost, to make Mt. Vernon slave free. He offered freedom to all who wanted to go, but realizing that some did not have the knowledge and skills to prosper on their own, no one was forced to leave. Those who chose to stay began receiving wages for their work. Washington was much beloved by the black workers on his plantation whom he fed well, encouraged to marry and build families, and made sure they were well instructed in the gospel. Many, therefore, chose not to leave and became employees of the estate. Children were not released until they were of age and were provided with food, clothing, shelter and education. His own actions expanded his vision and he wrote, “I clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our union.”

Maybe Hyatt should read about the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 or about Washington’s attempts to kidnap and re-enslave Oney Judge, a slave who escaped from his plantation, before he claims that Washington “offered freedom to all who wanted to go” and only kept them in inhumane bondage to help them “prosper on their own.”

In 1847, Rev. Benjamin Chase wrote a letter to the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator describing an interview he had conducted with while she lived as a runaway slave in New Hampshire, where Washington had sent men to capture her and her child. Chase noted that Judge’s reports of Washington drinking and playing cards on Sunday might have mattered more to some doubters of the former president’s Christian faith than his ownership of hundreds of slaves: