The President's Faith: A Matter Of Choice, Not Compulsion
Rob Boston printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Feb 03, 2016 at 11:51:48 AM EST

Today President Barack Obama, who is the world's worst Muslim - he drinks alcohol and eats bacon - will do something many Muslims do regularly: visit a mosque in America.

Now, sensible people know that the president is not a Muslim. Those rumors have been circulating on the kook fringes of the far right since Obama rose to national prominence as a political figure. They stem from the racist assumption that since the president is a black man with a name some consider unusual, he must be a Muslim. The "Obama-is-secretly-a-Muslim" claim is the twisted cousin of the equally deranged belief that he wasn't born in America.

In fact, Obama has been quite open about his faith in the books he has written and in interviews he has given. As The Washington Post reported recently, "Obama did not grow up in a religious household and became a practicing Christian as an adult. He has written more extensively about his spiritual awakening than almost any other modern president, addressing it in two books before he was elected to the White House and in more than a dozen speeches since."

In his book Dreams From My Father, Obama referred to his mother, Ann Dunham, as a "witness for secular humanism," although at other times he has called her a Christian. His father, Barack Obama Sr., has been described as a lapsed Muslim who later became an agnostic. (In 2004, Obama gave a lengthy interview about his religious beliefs to a reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. You can read it here.)

This background is interesting, but what's more telling are the president's choices. He chose to become a Christian. In his early 20s while working as a community organizer in Chicago, Obama joined the United Church of Christ (UCC).

The UCC is a liberal Christian denomination that holds progressive stands on issues such as marriage equality, women's rights, economic justice and so on. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United's executive director, is a UCC minister. Many bigots have a problem with the UCC - over the years, I've heard plenty of Religious Right leaders assert that Barry isn't really a Christian because he disagrees with their far-right, fundamentalist theology - but whether they like it or not, it is a Christian denomination.

I think it is safe to assume, given the evidence, that Obama is a Christian. This won't stop the nitwit brigade, of course. Last year, the appalling evangelist Franklin Graham asserted, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that Obama's mother was Muslim and this must have influenced him.

The fact is, in a society where freedom of conscience is the rule and the government doesn't presume to meddle in people's private religious choices, folks can and do change their beliefs. In a theoretical world where Obama was raised a Muslim, a conservative Christian or a Zoroastrian, he might still have ended up in the UCC. I know plenty of people who have left fundamentalist Christianity or ultra-conservative forms of Catholicism to become atheists, liberal Christians, Unitarians and so on. (And I know some people who have gone in the other direction.) Chances are you do too.

What Obama believes, how he prays or who he prays to are less relevant than what he says about freedom of conscience, separation of church and state and tolerance. And his track record here, while not spotless, is pretty good. Obama has celebrated our nation's religious and philosophical diversity and repeatedly stated his belief that tolerance is a fundamental principle of American public life. I expect he'll do so again at the Islamic Society of Baltimore.

I don't doubt the sincerity of Obama's Christian faith. Nor do I doubt the sincerity of, the Christian faith of, say, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). But I get the impression that in Cruz's case, his interpretation of Christianity - an interpretation that many Christians don't share, by the way - would become the basis for law and public policy. That's the key difference.

When I hear Cruz or other politicians talk about building a "godly" society or taking the nation "back to 'Judeo-Christian' values", I have to shiver. There is no shared consensus on what a "godly" country would look like, and I suspect Cruz's vision clashes sharply with the visions held by many other Americans.

What many in the Religious Right want isn't tolerance, it's theocracy. Their effort to force us all to live under their "righteous" rule is the real threat, not half-baked conspiracy theories about a clearly Christian president who's actually a "secret Muslim."

 




Display:

WWW Talk To Action


Cognitive Dissonance & Dominionism Denial
There is new research on why people are averse to hearing or learning about the views of ideological opponents. Based on evaluation of five......
By Frederick Clarkson (374 comments)
Will the Air Force Do Anything To Rein In Its Dynamic Duo of Gay-Bashing, Misogynistic Bloggers?
"I always get nervous when I see female pastors/chaplains. Here is why everyone should as well: "First, women are not called to be pastors,......
By Chris Rodda (195 comments)
The Legacy of Big Oil
The media is ablaze with the upcoming publication of David Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon. The shocking non fiction account of the......
By wilkyjr (110 comments)
Gimme That Old Time Dominionism Denial
Over the years, I have written a great deal here and in other venues about the explicitly theocratic movement called dominionism -- which has......
By Frederick Clarkson (101 comments)
History Advisor to Members of Congress Completely Twists Jefferson's Words to Support Muslim Ban
Pseudo-historian David Barton, best known for his misquoting of our country's founders to promote the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation,......
By Chris Rodda (113 comments)
"Christian Fighter Pilot" Calls First Lesbian Air Force Academy Commandant a Liar
In a new post on his "Christian Fighter Pilot" blog titled "BGen Kristin Goodwin and the USAFA Honor Code," Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan......
By Chris Rodda (144 comments)
Catholic Right Leader Unapologetic about Call for 'Death to Liberal Professors' -- UPDATED
Today, Donald Trump appointed C-FAM Executive Vice President Lisa Correnti to the US Delegation To UN Commission On Status Of Women. (C-FAM is a......
By Frederick Clarkson (126 comments)
Controlling Information
     Yesterday I listened to Russ Limbaugh.  Rush advised listeners it would be best that they not listen to CNN,MSNBC, ABC, CBS and......
By wilkyjr (118 comments)
Is Bannon Fifth-Columning the Pope?
In December 2016 I wrote about how White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who likes to flash his Catholic credentials when it comes to......
By Frank Cocozzelli (250 comments)
Ross Douthat's Hackery on the Seemingly Incongruous Alliance of Bannon & Burke
Conservative Catholic writer Ross Douthat has dissembled again. This time, in a February 15, 2017 New York Times op-ed titled The Trump Era's Catholic......
By Frank Cocozzelli (64 comments)
`So-Called Patriots' Attack The Rule Of Law
Every so often, right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan lurches out of the far-right fever swamp where he has resided for the past 50 years to......
By Rob Boston (161 comments)
Bad Faith from Focus on the Family
Here is one from the archives, Feb 12, 2011, that serves as a reminder of how deeply disingenuous people can be. Appeals to seek......
By Frederick Clarkson (176 comments)
The Legacy of George Wallace
"One need not accept any of those views to agree that they had appealed to real concerns of real people, not to mindless, unreasoning......
By wilkyjr (70 comments)
Betsy DeVos's Mudsill View of Public Education
My Talk to Action colleague Rachel Tabachnick has been doing yeoman's work in explaining Betsy DeVos's long-term strategy for decimating universal public education. If......
By Frank Cocozzelli (80 comments)
Prince and DeVos Families at Intersection of Radical Free Market Privatizers and Religious Right
This post from 2011 surfaces important information about President-Elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. -- FC Erik Prince, Brother of Betsy......
By Rachel Tabachnick (218 comments)

Respect for Others? or Political Correctness?
The term "political correctness" as used by Conservatives and Republicans has often puzzled me: what exactly do they mean by it? After reading Chip Berlin's piece here-- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2016/7/21/04356/9417 I thought about what he explained......
MTOLincoln (253 comments)
Fear
What I'm feeling now is fear.  I swear that it seems my nightmares are coming true with this new "president".  I'm also frustrated because so many people are not connecting all the dots! I've......
ArchaeoBob (107 comments)
"America - love it or LEAVE!"
I've been hearing that and similar sentiments fairly frequently in the last few days - far FAR more often than ever before.  Hearing about "consequences for burning the flag (actions) from Trump is chilling!......
ArchaeoBob (211 comments)
"Faked!" Meme
Keep your eyes and ears open for a possible move to try to discredit the people openly opposing Trump and the bigots, especially people who have experienced terrorism from the "Right"  (Christian Terrorism is......
ArchaeoBob (165 comments)
More aggressive proselytizing
My wife told me today of an experience she had this last week, where she was proselytized by a McDonald's employee while in the store. ......
ArchaeoBob (163 comments)
See if you recognize names on this list
This comes from the local newspaper, which was conservative before and took a hard right turn after it was sold. Hint: Sarah Palin's name is on it!  (It's also connected to Trump.) ......
ArchaeoBob (169 comments)
Unions: A Labor Day Discussion
This is a revision of an article which I posted on my personal board and also on Dailykos. I had an interesting discussion on a discussion board concerning Unions. I tried to piece it......
Xulon (156 comments)
Extremely obnoxious protesters at WitchsFest NYC: connected to NAR?
In July of this year, some extremely loud, obnoxious Christian-identified protesters showed up at WitchsFest, an annual Pagan street fair here in NYC.  Here's an account of the protest by Pagan writer Heather Greene......
Diane Vera (130 comments)
Capitalism and the Attack on the Imago Dei
I joined this site today, having been linked here by Crooksandliars' Blog Roundup. I thought I'd put up something I put up previously on my Wordpress blog and also at the DailyKos. As will......
Xulon (329 comments)
History of attitudes towards poverty and the churches.
Jesus is said to have stated that "The Poor will always be with you" and some Christians have used that to refuse to try to help the poor, because "they will always be with......
ArchaeoBob (148 comments)
Alternate economy medical treatment
Dogemperor wrote several times about the alternate economy structure that dominionists have built.  Well, it's actually made the news.  Pretty good article, although it doesn't get into how bad people could be (have been)......
ArchaeoBob (90 comments)
Evidence violence is more common than believed
Think I've been making things up about experiencing Christian Terrorism or exaggerating, or that it was an isolated incident?  I suggest you read this article (linked below in body), which is about our great......
ArchaeoBob (214 comments)

More Diaries...




All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Comments, posts, stories, and all other content are owned by the authors. Everything else © 2005 Talk to Action, LLC.