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In God We Don't Trust  /  Chapter 27: The Myth of the Valley Forge Prayer  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 3
The sample Sunday diary entries highlight weather reports, guests, and meals but no worship or spiritual concern; what do these entries suggest about Washington’s priorities, and how might our own calendars/journals/text histories read if someone evaluated our spiritual life the same way?
Another way to ask: Washington’s Sunday diary notes food, guests, and weather but not worship. What does that suggest he cared most about, and what would our own records show about our spiritual life?

Direct Answer Bercot uses the Sunday entries to suggest Washington’s attention was on daily life—weather, social visits, and household details—rather than worship or spiritual reflection, and it challenges readers to consider what their own records would reveal about their priorities.

Support from Transcript:

  • Bercot presents “typical entries” specifically “from various Sundays” to show what he means.
  • The entries focus on measurements and plans: “Mercury at 78…86…84,” “clear and pleasant,” wind shifts, and who visited for “breakfast” and “dinner.”
  • One Sunday entry says, “At home all day,” listing guests and travel, with no mention of church.
  • Bercot says in the diary he found “no references to prayer or to the Bible anywhere” and “no spiritual reflections at all.”
  • He notes that even when Washington attended church, he “never mentions…what the sermon was about” and does not “reflect on that day’s worship.”
Discussion Follow-ups If someone read our recent messages, notes, and plans, would they find prayer, Scripture, and obedience—or mainly weather, entertainment, and social life?

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