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On November 21, 1899, five clergymen representing the General Missionary Committee of the [Northern] Methodist Episcopal Church called on President William McKinley at the White House. After presenting a resolution of thanks to their fellow Methodist, they turned to leave. Suddenly, McKinley said earnestly, "Hold a minute longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don't deserve it. The truth is I didn't want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them. … I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. … I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night."

Finally, he said, the answer came to him "that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States [pointing to a large map on the wall of his office], and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!"

This is one of the most remarkable religious statements ever made by a sitting president, even in an age when people more openly displayed their personal convictions than today. The context of the statement, the Spanish-American War, marked the emergence of the United States on the world scene as an imperial power. McKinley, regarded by many historians as the "first modern U.S. president," was a devout man whose Christian rationale for overseas expansion harmonized with American civil religion of the time—which saw America as a nation through which God had chosen to manifest his will and power in the world. McKinley's personal faith and his vision of the nation's divinely appointed mission were inseparable.

Born on January 29, 1843 in Niles, Ohio, William McKinley Jr. was the son of an ironmaster of modest means. His mother was a fervent Methodist and did all she could to inculcate an evangelical faith in her nine children. At age 10, William went forward at a camp meeting to "profess conversion," and at 16 he became a full-fledged member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Even after becoming president in 1897, McKinley made no effort to hide his faith. In his Inaugural Address he declared, "There is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps." During his years in Washington, he regularly worshiped at the Metropolitan Methodist Church and often entertained guests with Sunday evening hymn sings in the executive mansion. He told a delegation from his denomination, "I am a Methodist and nothing but a Methodist—a Christian and nothing but a Christian."

His speeches, especially during the time of the Spanish-American War and the ensuing peace negotiations, were filled with affirmations of Christian faith and civil religion. On July 6, 1898, after hostilities had ceased, he said that Americans should "offer thanksgiving to Almighty God, who in his inscrutable ways" led American forces "to unscathed triumph in strange lands and distant climes" and "has watched over our cause and brought nearer the success of the right and the attainment of just and honorable peace."

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