In the latest Time Magazine (July 13, 2009) an article appeared entitled “Obama’s Sanctuary: Inside the Church Where Presidents Pray in Peace.” The article brought a question to mind which increasingly bothers me. How can a man intelligent enough to win the United States Presidency search for an organized religion? Time Magazine states the following:
For the past five months, White House aides and friends of the Obamas have been quietly visiting Washington-area churches … in search of a new—and uncontroversial—church home for the First Family.
Considering Obama’s upbringing, he could not help but have an acquaintance with Muslim religion because he attended a Catholic school for first and second grade and then a Muslim school for third and fourth. His parents had already divorced when Barack was two years old. Whereas his biological father was considered an atheist, his Muslim stepfather did not practice his religion (“Politics & Media” in Pensito Review: 7/10/05).
During his presidential campaign, Obama was often accused of having connections with radical Muslims. These accusations were rampant because a slanderous report surfaced saying that the presidential candidate had attended a radical Muslim madrassa school.
CNN debunked this savage lie on January 23, 2007 (CNN in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Washington, D.C.). CNN’s John Vause traveled to Jakarta to investigate. He visited the actual school Obama attended from 1969 to 1971. The headmaster of Basuki, the school in question, reported that “This is a public school. We don’t focus on religion. In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don’t give preferential treatment.”
After completing fourth grade, Obama returned to Hawaii where he was deeply influenced by his grandparents, particularly his grandmother whom he considered a free thinking person. At that time in Hawaii, reverse discrimination existed: whites were a minority.
In his book, The Audacity of Hope (2006), Obama confessed, "I had no community or shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs." Yet, in spite of the many doubts he held about any religion, he opted to be baptized a Christian (1988). At the time, he had been attending the Trinity United Church of Christ on the south side of Chicago.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Obama should have moved quicker. In March, he had everybody eating out os his hand - the messiah. Why wander into someone else's church when you can start your own and hire a preacher you like to deliver YOUR message to the country?
A shame that Obama does not think outside the box. The boxes he allows his thoughts to run in will bury him.
2 - Joanne Huspek
I'm wondering how religious/spiritual he really is.
It's possible he used Reverend Wright's church as a platform, which would explain how and why he threw his supposed spiritual leader so quickly under the bus.
I don't see any problem with him not belonging to a specific church. Reagan wasn't a churchgoer either, but he didn't attend regularly before the Presidency. I do see a problem with trying to appeal to those who do, and switching gears for those who don't.
Pick a policy regarding church and stick with it.
3 - Jacob
To be perfectly honest, I've always gotten the impression that he's agnostic/atheistic but is attending church for his wife's sake.
4 - Baronius
My hunch is that Obama approaches questions of religion and culture with the detachment of an anthropologist. When asked if he's an evangelical, he analyzes the black church experience. When he talks about becoming a Christian, it sounds like a decision rather than a conversion. He sees himself as better able to approach Islam because he's not pulled into sectarianism.
That said, when they say that he's choosing a church, they don't mean a religion or a denomination; they mean that his staff is trying to pick an acceptable local facility.