I think Obama should join Mike Clawson’s church…

I don’t think his entourage would fit in my living room…

Speaking of silly, my web site, The Bolingbrook Babbler, has the inside story on churches trying to recruit Barack Obama.

If Obama attended two or three worship services, that would be more than Reagan attended in his entire presidency. Reagan wasn’t a church goer… for security reasons he said…

Barack Obama officially resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ, the former home of Pastor Jeremiah Wright.

Hallelujah!

# How long will Obama be “unchurched”?

# Which church will he join now?

# Will his new church be the same type? Same denomination? Black church? White church? Multiracial church?

# Is there any church he can join where offensive things are not said?

As Jeff mentions, he won’t choose a new church until after the election, which makes sense. He may be moving to DC (yes please!) and neither he nor Michelle will have time to attend church between now and November anyway.

In terms of what church he chooses, the Times also points out that black pastors have a tradition of speaking out in controversial fashion about national and world events. So if he joins a traditional black church, he’s more likely to have to sit through “offensive” sermons, though hopefully not as off-the-wall as the stuff Wright was spouting.

Of course, if he wins the election, he’ll be in office and I think he’ll be judged according to how he governs at that point, not what his pastor said on a particular Sunday morning. The hyper-scrutiny of election season is something of an anomaly, thank goodness!

Who’s more grateful that he’s leaving: Obama himself or the other churchgoers at Trinity who had to deal with the media frenzy firsthand?

The most grateful are we atheist and non-religious Obama supporters, hands down! Like the huge numbers of Oregonians who voted for him and marked “no religious affiliation” on exit polls. I think it was something over 30%, which is incredible. And encouraging! (Now I know why I have such good vibes about potentially moving to Oregon.)

Does his leaving the church help him politically at all at this point? (In other words, hasn’t the Rev. Wright scandal already had its full impact?) Shouldn’t he have left twenty years ago?

If he was purely a calculating political animal, he would have left 20 years ago because he would have recognized that Wright’s nuttiness could hurt him in the long run. But he’s not like that, he’s far more authentic a person, which I’m very glad for.

In terms of does it help him now – yeah, I think it will. At least in the sense that when McCain and Co. bring it up all summer and fall, he’ll have a standard answer for them: “I’ve resigned from that ministry.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if Obama just didn’t go back at all?

Oh, it would be lovely. And even more wonderful if he does achieve a lot in office and become a well-liked political figure, thus raising the possibility with the general public that sincere, honest and effective people can be non-religious. (Sigh … we can dream, right?)

It’s possible that you could form a utilitarian argument, saying that while the church does bad, it does more good. The bad things coming out of Trinity are predictable from religion and nationalism, his inability to reform them is also predictable, they’re not enviroments friendly to dissent or criticism. Religion is not necessary to do that good, the utilitarian argument fails. I hope Obama shows what can be done without the use of religion in office.

Is there any church he can join where offensive things are not said?

I guess it depends on whether you think what Rev. Wright said was offensive in the first place.

You left out one question: should it matter?

That would be awesome if he did, although it would political suicide. What that would accomplish is to bring the issue to the attention of many people that may not have cared otherwise. Alas, this will never happen. He will find another church to join. I wonder if the next one will screw him like the last…