If the prayer journal is authentic, it seems clear that George Washington embraced Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as his Savior, his apparent refusal to take communion notwithstanding. However, the prayer journal is in dispute. Ed Lengel, associate editor of the Papers of George Washington at the University of Virginia, says that the disputed journal “almost certainly is not authentic.” According to Lengel, it either belonged to “another member of his family” or it is a “forgery.”