Lincoln's Death a Mark of the Divine?

Manya Brachear challenges Chicago Tribune readers to observe the “religious overtones” in current national politics. Although this is an interesting thought provoker, it does not serve as a solid basis for a news article without some concrete facts. The single news peg and focus of the article (“Lincoln’s Death Had Sacred Significance”) is a suggestion made by Harold Holzer, co-chair of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, that because Lincoln’s death occurred on Good Friday it was his fate to be "sacrificed on the altar of freedom and died for the nation’s sins” like Jesus died for the sins of his followers. This colossal claim is not backed by any additional evidence or endorsed, at least not in the article, by any other sources. The specifics of how Lincoln was paying for the sins of the nation are not addressed any further and leaves a great deal up to the imagination as to how this actually makes logical sense.
Holzer is a credible source, but the only one that is used for this article. There have been plenty of other, usually light-hearted, articles which present an interesting, far out claim, but there are almost never the focus of an article, but used as an entertaining quote or thought provoking ending. And though Lincoln is regarded by many Americans as a man of integrity and held in great esteem, it may be a bit too much of a stretch to imply that he had a divine nature. Also, though the fact that the article was posted during Easter weekend, the focus of the article is on an event that occurred in 1865 with one mention of Barak Obama’s “messianic qualities” (again, a bit of a stretch) in an attempt to make the story relevant.