Obama's beliefs

We have a new President - and he will be the only President we have for at least four years. There has been an active discussion throughout his candidacy, and especially recently, about Barack Obama's religious convictions. Is he a Christian?

Our best President, Abraham Lincoln, was of doubtful Christian orthodoxy, and some of the worst Presidents regularly attended worship in undoubtedy orthodox churches. There is no obvious correlation between Christian belief and political wisdom. I agree with the quotation, often inaccurately attributed to Luther, that "I'd rather be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian," and so don't require doctrinal correctness from my political leaders. Concern about Barack Obama's status as a Christian should not be about politics. I very much doubt that I am going to be very pleased with his Presidency, but the reasons will, I suspect, have little to do with his religious convictions. If Mitt Romney were President it would be the same. The only issue for public service is what implication beliefs may have for the determination of public policy.

Daniel Larison, commenting on what we know about Obama's beliefs, makes this observation:

...Ultimately, the inquiry into Obama’s faith does not tell us much that we didn’t already know, which is that he is a liberal Protestant with an accordingly poor grounding in theological orthodoxy. I have to wonder how much power this critique has unless it is made as part of a general argument for theological conservatism in public life.

All of this discussion is based on an interview Obama gave four years ago to Chicago Sun-Times religion reporter Cathleen Falsani, who asked him some very direct questions about his personal religious beliefs. The entire interview can be found reprinted here and Sarah Pulliam has excerpted some of the relevent portions:

FALSANI: Who’s Jesus to you? (Obama laughs nervously)

OBAMA: Right. Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher. And he’s also a wonderful teacher. I think it’s important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.

On Sin

FALSANI: What is sin?

OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.

FALSANI: What happens if you have sin in your life?

OBAMA: I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment.

On Hell

Obama: …There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they’re going to hell.

FALSANI: You don’t believe that?

OBAMA: I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell.

I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.

On Heaven

FALSANI: Do you believe in heaven?

OBAMA: Do I believe in the harps and clouds and wings?

FALSANI: A place spiritually you go to after you die?

OBAMA: What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.

There has been a lot of comment on the interview. Several bloggers who did so are quoted and linked here. One of them, Ross Douthat:

.... Given the muddled way in which most Americans approach religion, and the pervasiveness of heterodoxy, I suppose I'm basically with Alan Jacobs: I think that figuring out exactly what sort of things Obama believes about God and Christ and everything else, and how those beliefs may affect his Presidency, is ultimately a more profitable pursuit than arguing about whether he should be allowed to call himself a Christian. Or put another way: I expect my Presidents to be heretics, but I think it matters a great deal what kind of heretics they are.

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