Last month was the centennial of President Richard Nixon’s birth.  Religiously, he’s often thought of as a Quaker who, as a public figure, was longtime friends with evangelist Billy Graham, a Southern Baptist. As president, Nixon hosted Sunday worship at the White House, featuring clergy from many denominations, including rabbis.  There had been some thought of President Nixon’s attending the Quaker Meeting House in Washington, D.C., which President Herbert Hoover had attended.  But aides pondered that the Meeting House included anti-Vietnam War activism, which might embarrass the president.

Although raised Quaker by his devout mother, Nixon mostly ended his Quaker affiliation after marrying his wife Pat, who had been raised ...