Deity and Jane Addams

While reading about Jane Addams, it was brought up several times that she held both her father and President Abraham Lincoln in extremely high regard. I feel that she could have held both of these men as Deity figures. She sited both of the men as primary influences in her life, and while she most likely did not worship either of them, it seems as though she did put them on some sort of pedestal. Addams had stated that the two men were significant in her wanting to do humanitarian work and her place in the social movement, which is comparable to religion being a central cause of other movements. Addams also was quoted as saying that the moral standards and the personal integrity of these men was the main reason for holding them in such high regard. In religion, the purpose of a Deity figure is to give a example of what standards the followers should live up to. In many religions, the Deity sets the moral code for the followers to help decipher between right and wrong. It seems as though Jane Addams uses her father and President Lincoln to do this job for her. Addams was raised Quaker, but religious factors were not the leading reason for her to pursue a life of service. I feel that her father and Lincoln had a greater power in her life than did her religion.