Obama Politics

Link: The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME.

Q: How do you pp how do you find that church? BO: Yeah, well, it’s interesting. This is where you trust in God’s will. I assume he will lead us to a place where we can worship him and do good work. But it does raise an interesting — an important point. I don’t want to want – you know, I don’t consider Christianity a place to avoid the real problems in the world. Now, my faith tells me that we have to engage in those real problems in the world. And, you know, sometimes, when you are engaging in the real problems that are out there is going to be some conflict and some controversy. And I would expect that I would have a pastor who would not shy away from speaking out on those issues when he or she saw fit. Now, but I also think that it’s got to be – you know, it’s a very personal decision for Michelle and I to find somebody who reflects a wisdom that ultimately is about reconciliation and unifying people and expressing a spirit of mercy along with a spirit of justice, a spirit of understanding along with a sense of righteous indignation about injustice. You know, hopefully we will find something that approximates that. Okay guys, thank you.

Link: The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME.

Q: We’re in South Dakota today and this is a deeply religious church going state. Can you give us some context of how your spirituality, your practice of religion factors into your decision making process as a leader, as a politician? BO: Well, look, obviously as a Christian I believe in the values that are laid out in Scripture. I reflect on them often. I reflect on the lessons of Scripture as I’m going through the day. I pray frequently. I wrestle with doubts and try to figure out whether I’m doing the right thing, am I operating in an honest and moral way that is true to my religious precepts? Sometimes I may falter. So I guess the point is, I approach my work or I guess my faith is part of everything that I do. And I don’t think there’s a clear separation between my faith and how I try to live my life. And I certainly think that part of my motivation in the work that I do is a belief in what I consider the core precept of Christianity in addition to Christ dying for your sins and that is treating your brothers and sisters as you would have them treat you. A sense of empathy and a belief in the golden rule. And that’s what I try to apply to my work and what I do every day.

Link: The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME.

BO: I have to say this was one I didn’t see coming. We knew there were going to be some things we didn’t see coming. This was one. I didn’t anticipate my fairly conventional Christian faith being subject to such challenge and such scrutiny. Initially with e-mails suggesting I was a Muslim, later with the controversy that Trinity generated, and the interesting aspect of this is that as some of you know I have been somebody who really has insisted that the democratic party reach out to people of faith and to take issues of faith more seriously and have written and spoken about this in fairly extensive terms. It is something that I still believe that faith is a powerful force in our lives and should be part of our public conversation. This also indicates the difficulties at least in a presidential campaign around these issues.

Link: The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME.

Q: How will that not be different when you join another church? BO: Well, it raises an interesting question. And you know, I haven’t answered this — I haven’t figured out exactly how this is managed. Obviously I think in whatever church you join there’s going to be things the pastor says or a guest pastor says that you don’t agree with. Not all of them may be as offensive as some of the statements that my former pastor made which I thoroughly rejected, but you know, it’s not infrequent for example if you go into a church and a comment is made that suggests for example an aversion to gays and lesbians. That is something that I do not believe in and if I heard that from the pulpit, I would strongly object to it. That is an extreme example but there might be other examples of somebody who has a view on foreign policy or a view on domestic policy with which I disagree with. My hope would be I am going to be able to create some separation between the experience I have as a church member and what is being preached from the pulpit. But I recognize that when you are a presidential candidate you are in a different circumstance. It is something I think that Michelle and I are going to have to sort through.

Link: Ben Smith's Blog: GOP priest attacks Obama in invocation - Politico.com.

"One more thing, Lord. Please tell Senator Obama that maybe change is a good thing and maybe he should think about changing his favorite preacher," he said, to applause. "I know a lot more of us would be comfortable with his judgment skills if he hadn’t sat for 20 years through those words offered by his preacher of division, bigotry, and – honestly – half truths without a word of objection from Senator until the media brought it up, and now he doesn’t want any part of the guy," he said. "I’m willing to be his new preacher."

PublicEye.org - Summer 2008.

Link: Hendrik Hertzberg: Online Only: The New Yorker.

Most interesting and enlightening to me were Hamilton’s memories of his time in rural Vietnam working for the International Voluntary Service, a sort of nongovernmental Peace Corps, and his mini-biography of his extraordinary uncle, Clarence Jordan (1910-69). Clarence was the black sheep of the Jordan family. Taking seriously what he heard in the local Baptist church and read in the New Testament, Clarence founded Koinonia, an interracial Christian commune near Americus, Georgia, that persisted in the face of racist violence and police and F.B.I. intimidation. As a kid, Hamilton was taught to be wary of Clarence: his own father and mother treated their relative as a source of shame and embarrassment. Hamilton had an inkling that they might be wrong and gradually realized just how very wrong they were. I suspect that as Hamilton grew older he felt ashamed of his confused reluctance to fully embrace his extraordinary uncle until it was almost too late. He goes far to making up for it in the book. It was experiences like these that made Hamilton Jordan a far more interesting and conscience-struck figure than his Georgetown detractors ever knew.

Beyond Belief

Link: Talk To Action | Reclaiming Citizenship, History, and Faith.

Why is Obama pushing so hard to bring our troops home? Why is that so important to him and his supporters? I believe I know why ... the evidence is in, I believe OBAMA IS STILL A MUSLIM IN HIS HEART! He doesn't want his Muslim brothers and sisters killed! In my opinion -- Barack "Hussein" Obama is posing as a Christian to get your vote!

Against Consumption