Obama: 'Christian by Choice'

Obama is not comfortable talking about God and his faith. There's always an awkwardness, a kind of embarrassment.

It could be that his faith is something he prefers to keep private, or it could be that he squirms because he's not being sincere, that he's saying what he believes will help him politically and not what he actually believes.

Whatever the reason for Obama being so uncomfortable, it's clear he doesn't easily talk about his faith.

Although Obama's huge rally in Madison yesterday garnered most of the attention, I think Obama's small backyard discussion in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was much more interesting. He had to speak of his faith without the help of a teleprompter.

From the New York Times:

President Obama expounded Tuesday on the reasons he became a Christian as an adult, telling a group of residents here that he was a “Christian by choice” and that “the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brother and sister’s keeper.”

...The unusual exchange came as Mr. Obama continued his tour of American backyards, dropping in at the home of a disabled veteran and a schoolteacher here. He used his opening remarks to warn that Republicans would “cut back our education spending by 20 percent,” while spending $700 billion to give tax breaks to the rich – money that he said the United States would have to borrow from China, Saudi Arabia or some other wealthy nation.

Mr. Obama sharpened his critique of the Republican agenda during the first stop on a four-state campaign swing intended to gin up enthusiasm among the lackluster Democratic base and remind Americans that he is committed to improving the lot of the middle class.

With unemployment stuck above 9 percent and voters deeply dissatisfied with Mr. Obama’s management of the economy, the White House has also been deploying the president to the homes of ordinary voters for a series of what it calls “backyard conversations.” Tuesday’s was the fourth such appearance, and two more are on the president’s schedule for later this week, one in Des Moines and the other in Richmond, Va.

The conversation was held at the home of Andy Cavalier, a retired Marine Corps staff sergeant who is disabled, and his wife, Etta, who has taught for 36 years in public schools and is currently a counselor at Los Lunas High school here. (Technically, it was in the front yard, although Mr. Obama did drop into the Cavaliers’ backyard to sip iced tea with them before greeting neighbors in the front.)

The president fielded questions on a variety of topics, including education, immigration, energy and housing policy.

...But the religion question was perhaps the most revealing for the president – and also perhaps the most welcome, given that polls show that the public appears confused about his religion, with some 18 percent of Americans believing, erroneously, that he is Muslim.

“I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes and we achieve salvation through the grace of God.”

Mr. Obama went on: "But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day." Yet he said that as president, he also "deeply believes that part of the bedrock strength of this country is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith."

"Christian by choice" is a strange way for Obama to describe himself.

Who isn't a Christian by choice? No adult in America is required to be a Christian.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes that 18 percent of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, linking to the Pew Research poll that received so much attention last August.

What's more significant is the large number of Americans unsure of Obama's religion.

"Fully 43% say they do not know what Obama's religion is."

Combine the group that wrongly identifies Obama as a Muslim with the group that can't identify Obama's religious affiliation at all and you've got an overwhelming majority of Americans. Obama has a religious identity crisis, a failure to communicate with the public.

The secularists are happy that Obama doesn't speak of his faith, yet many also are quick to condemn Americans as being Islamophobic and having sinister motives for labeling him a Muslim. It's all about hate and intolerance.

The reality is Obama bears some responsibility for the widespread confusion.

The woman in Albuquerque really posed an excellent question.

"Why are you a Christian?"

It's a question that all self-proclaimed Christians should consider. Why?

Obama's answer reminded me of statements he made during the campaign, when he was defining himself. His explanation seemed sort of forced, as if he had read a prepared statement from a teleprompter or even committed it to memory, a rote response.

I think that's because he rarely infuses his statements with expressions of his Christianity. I get the impression that it doesn't really figure into his life.

Talking about Jesus Christ and salvation seemed so odd coming from Obama. It was a blast from the campaign past.

Ann Coulter thinks Obama and other Democrats really are atheist.

Video.


I don't agree with Coulter's assessment, but it is interesting that our politicians almost always say they believe in God.

When was the last time an American candidate for a high profile office asserted a personal belief that there is no God?

It doesn't happen because it's not smart politics.

I think there is a good deal of dishonesty when it comes to the religious beliefs that politicians profess.

Another issue--

Bill Maher and other people who openly mock belief in God reserve their criticism only for their political opponents.

I don't hear Maher spewing his disrespect for Obama's Christianity.

I want to hear Maher slam Obama as being so stupid that he accepts "[retelling] nonsense stories from a time before men understood what a germ or an atom was or where the sun went at night."

I want to hear Maher bash Obama for "[trying] to telepathically communicate with [his] imaginary friend" and believing in the "fairy tale" of Jesus Christ.

It doesn't happen.

Obama does seem somewhat embarrassed to talk about his faith. It's unusual for him to attend church. After he left Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, he never joined another.

Is Obama Christian by choice because it's politically expedient or because he truly believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Being honest is what matters to me.
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Here's the White House transcript of Obama's answer to the woman's question.

Q It’s really a great opportunity, and I thank the Cavalier family for inviting me and my husband. I have three questions and they’re kind of hot topic questions and I’ll just --

THE PRESIDENT: All three of them?

Q All three of them. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: You didn’t slip in like sort of a easy, boring one in there with the --

Q No. (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: All right, let’s hear them.

Q One of them is basically -- Mother Teresa answered it in an article and I was going to ask you the same because I loved her answer. The first one is: Why are you a Christian?

Second one is, there’s really no laws about the abortion law and when a woman can and can’t have an abortion, whether it’s two months or eight months, and what is your view on that?

And the third one -- it’s not as -- it is a hot topic but it’s literally a hot topic, and it’s about my husband’s chili peppers. (Laughter.) And that was my question: Would you please take some chili peppers home with you? One is a habanero.

THE PRESIDENT: I will definitely check out these chili peppers. I like spicy food to go with your spicy questions. (Laughter.)

Q Spicy.

THE PRESIDENT: You know, I’m a Christian by choice. My family didn’t -- frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn’t raise me in the church.

So I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead -- being my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me.

And I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes, and that we achieve salvation through the grace of God. But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people and do our best to help them find their own grace.

And so that’s what I strive to do. That’s what I pray to do every day. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith. And it’s -- but the one thing I want to emphasize, having spoken about something that obviously relates to me very personally, as President of the United States, I’m also somebody who deeply believes that the -- part of the bedrock strength of this company is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith -- that this is a country that is still predominantly Christian. But we have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, and that their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own. And that’s part of what makes this country what it is.

Now, with respect to the abortion issue, I actually think -- I mean, there are laws both federal, state and constitutional that are in place. And I think that this is an area where I think Bill Clinton had the right formulation a couple of decades ago, which is abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. I think that it’s something that all of us should recognize is a difficult, sometimes -- oftentimes tragic situation that families are wrestling with.

I think the families and the women involved are the ones who should make the decision, not the government. But I do think actually that there are a whole host of laws on the books that after a certain period, the interests shift such that you can have some restrictions, for example, on late-term abortions, and appropriately so. So there is in fact a set of rules in place.

Now, people still argue about it and still deeply disagree about it. And that’s part of our -- that’s part of our democratic way.