Madeleine Albright’s religious upbringing is almost as complicated as her early life. Albright’s Jewish parents, per the Washington Post, considered themselves “assimilated Jews” whose identity was Czech first and Jewish second. Thus, Albright’s household was not particularly religious and soon jettisoned its Jewish identity during the war. Sometime during their London exile, the Korbel family embraced Catholicism. The how or why is unclear, but according to the New York Times, Jewish conversions to Catholicism during the war, either out of survival, genuine belief, or gratitude (e.g. Ernesto Zolli, Rome’s chief Rabbi), were common, so it is possible that one of these influenced the family decision. Accordingly, Albright identified as a Czech Catholic for most of her life.
When Albright married her husband Joseph in 1959, she joined his Episcopal Church. According to the Episcopal News Service, she became a regular presence at D.C.’s National Cathedral once she moved to the capital. Fellow parishioners remembered her as a great singer who refused to join the cathedral choir out of fear that she would stand out too much. She preferred the anonymity of the pew. When she died, she was given an Episcopal funeral at the National Cathedral.
Albright’s religious journey influenced her politics too. In an interview with PBS, Albright, while supporting church-state separation, argued that keeping clergy out of politics and diplomacy was a losing strategy. Since faith often dictates worldviews and policies, she called for American politicians to employ clergy as advisors to facilitate religiously and culturally-informed decisions on the international stage.
