 Comparisons to documents Washington wrote show that it is not in his handwriting.In a letter to George Mason in 1785, he wrote that he was not among those alarmed by a bill "making people pay towards the support of that [religion] which they profess", but felt that it was "impolitic" to pass such a measure, and wished it had never been proposed, believing that it would disturb public tranquility.Washington held that all religions, and nearly all religious practices, were beneficial to humans.