{"id":4648,"date":"2010-08-19T10:33:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html"},"modified":"2010-08-19T10:33:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-19T10:33:00","slug":"is-he-or-isnt-he","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html","title":{"rendered":"Is he or isn’t he?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>If Obama says he\u2019s a Christian, that\u2019s good enough for me. <\/span>If folks don\u2019t take him at his word<\/span><\/a>, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is, his general behavior. Like Reagan before him, Obama has been pretty open about not spending too much time in the local church. Again, no problem. It\u2019s not how I would display my faith, but then President Obama is not me. Nor was Reagan. That doesn\u2019t mean I will heap scorn on his spiritual pilgrimage, just as I didn\u2019t on Reagan. And I\u2019ve heard folks do both. <\/span>\n
What it probably does indicate, assuming again that non-journalist Americans just aren\u2019t bunch of dolts, is that there is a disconnect in what people see and hear. If, for instance, President Obama told me he played football, not baseball, then I would believe him. Now, if I showed up to the football field every week, and he was never there, I might scratch my head and wonder. If he gave me a reason, say he\u2019s just too busy to play anymore, I\u2019d be fine with that.<\/span> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

If, however, I began noticing him over on the baseball diamond every Thursday night, hanging with the players, talking with the coaches, and even tossing out a few pitches, I probably would not be too crazy to wonder what it all means. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A popular story a while back was that the Obamas<\/span> didn\u2019t attend church services on Christmas <\/a>because of security concerns (disrupting the service). Many pointed out he could have improvised, had some Christian leaders over for an impromptu service, something. Instead he spent time with the family. Fine. It\u2019s known he isn\u2019t spending much time at church. But when people start seeing him spend more time with Muslim leaders, copious amounts of time reaching out to Islam vs, say, Christianity, or openly and proudly attending important Islamic religious ceremonies<\/a>, then I don\u2019t think we can be too bothered by those who then conclude there might be something worth wondering about. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sure, he\u2019s probably a Christian as he says, but with some denominations declaring the New Testament a racist anti-Semitic document, and others willing to ordain atheists or Muslims as priests, let\u2019s face it, saying one is a Christian may not mean much at all in how that one ultimately sees the world of religion, if not the world in general. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Obama says he\u2019s a Christian, that\u2019s good enough for me. If folks don\u2019t take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is, his general behavior. Like Reagan before him, Obama has been pretty open about not spending too much time in the local church. Again, no problem. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs he or isn't he?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is he or isn't he?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_J1G_DOabPa0\/TG1HA_0oGEI\/AAAAAAAAAM8\/5KNWd8EN7Tk\/s400\/obama+at+dinner.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html\",\"name\":\"Is he or isn't he?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is he or isn’t he?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is he or isn't he?","description":"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is he or isn't he?","og_description":"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_J1G_DOabPa0\/TG1HA_0oGEI\/AAAAAAAAAM8\/5KNWd8EN7Tk\/s400\/obama+at+dinner.jpg"}],"author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html","name":"Is he or isn't he?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-08-19T10:33:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"If Obama says he's a Christian, that's good enough for me. If folks don't take him at his word, then it is a question worth pondering: why? My guess is,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/08\/is-he-or-isnt-he.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is he or isn’t he?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}