On many Sundays, GW records the weather, social visitors, or where = he ate dinner, but he doesn't say anything about church. That seems to = indicate fairly clearly that GW did not attend church on those ambiguous Sundays, since on other Sundays he notes excuses such as 'prevented from church', "Mrs. Washington we[nt] to = Church", 'The two Miss Calverts went up to Church', 'Attempted to go', sickness, = etc. Also, GW frequently wrote 'at home all day', once for 12 = Sundays in a row (1773-4). Being 'at home all day' every Sunday for = many long stretches does not seem consistent with the idea that "if he didn't say anything about = church, it was because he went habitually and only made a note when he couldn't = attend".=20

However, GW's diaries in 1784 and after 1791 seem too ambiguous and/or incomplete to use as a church attendance record. GW's 1784 diary = does not mention going to church at all. After 1791, GW's diary is mostly = about the weather, but he does mention going to church on 5 October 1794, 2 June 1799, and 17 November 1799. His = letter James McHenry on 23 April 1799 suggests that he rarely = went to church after the end of his presidency in March 1797.

Summary: GW's diaries show that he = attended church 20% of Sundays before the = Revolution, 5% of Sundays between the Revolution = and becoming US President, 54% of Sundays while he = was US President, and 18% of Sundays altogether. His diaries include accounts of almost 13 full = years of Sundays, spread from age 28 to age 59. His complete attendance rate as an adult was probably lower, since keeping a diary and going to church = are both leisure activities. GW's low attendance rate seems especially = meaningful because GW was a vestryman of Truro and Fairfax = parishes * * from ~1763 to ~1782 and also because failing to attend church on Sundays = and holidays was a crime = * * * * * in Virginia until ~1776.