President William McKinley, a devout Methodist, beseeched five clergymen from the General Missionary Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church—who on November 21, 1899, had paid him a visit—to listen to his reasons for intervening in the Philippines. His primary justification for the American occupation of the Philippines was to prevent another world power from attempting to seize the islands and colonize that region of Asia. Further, he asserted that the nation was unfit to govern itself. Finally, he felt it was necessary for the United States to “Christianize” the Filipinos, even though (and unbeknownst to McKinley) the Philippines were already “Christianized” as the only predominantly Catholic nation in Asia. His primary reason for revealing his decision about the Philippines to this particular committee was to demonstrate how his faith guided him in his decision.