Is Obama a Christian? That’s the question being tossed around, with the media’s current take that it’s unjust to cast doubts on his belief, or even voice uncertainty about it, and for a Republican candidate to do so means that they’re unworthy of whatever office they hold or may hope to hold.
But what has Obama said on the topic? Here are some excerpts of an interview, dated from 2004, but published by Christianity Today in 2008.
To begin with, he identifies as a Christian, right off the bat: “I am a Christian.” But then he expands, or perhaps, qualifies, that thought: “I draw from the Christian faith.” What on earth does it mean to “draw from the Christian faith”?
He goes on to say,
So, I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.
In giving his background, he says his grandparents attended a Universalist* church. And his mother
was deeply spiritual person, and would spend a lot of time talking about values and give me books about the world’s religions, and talk to me about them. And I think always, her view always was that underlying these religions were a common set of beliefs about how you treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself but also for the greater good.
(*I had a friend in college, who grew up without any religion, but liked occasionally to go to the Unitarian/Universalist church. The hymns didn’t contain any doctrine, not really even a belief in God, so much as an exhortation to do good, and she was under no illusion that attending this church had anything to do with Christianity, but she liked the atmosphere for what it was.)
His first connection to church as an adult was in getting to know people at various churches during his community-organizing work. He says,
I became much more familiar with the ongoing tradition of the historic black church and it’s importance in the community.
And the power of that culture to give people strength in very difficult circumstances, and the power of that church to give people courage against great odds.
Afterwards, he joined the infamous Trinity United Church of Christ, where Jeremiah Wright was a “good friend,” and “committed myself to Christ.” But what does that mean? Did he believe any Christian beliefs — the idea that Jesus is the Son of God, that his death on the cross saves us from sin? Or was the commitment more to the social justice ideals that he perceives to be embodied in Christ?
The interviewer later asks, “Who’s Jesus to you?”
Obama’s answer:
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.
I’m not seeing here any belief that Jesus is divine, or anything other than a particularly inspired prophet, though he subsequently claims to have a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”
A few questions later, Obama directly rejects the idea that if you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re going to Hell, but he doesn’t clarify further whether he’s of the “everyone goes to heaven, just because” and rejects the entire Christian concept of “salvation,” or something else. But later the interviewer does get specific about a few items:
“Do you believe in heaven?”
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.
“What is sin?”
Being out of alignment with my values. [What is the consequence of sin?] 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.
She then, however, moves on to blander questions such as “what inspires you?” and nowhere in the interview is there any point at which Obama is asked about or directly makes a statement of faith about the key defining beliefs of Christianity. At no point is he asked, “Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and is himself God?” At no point is he asked, “Do you believe that Jesus’s death on the cross procured redemption from sin?”
Bottom line: Obama is probably not a Christian, when looking at the key points of doctrine that Christians agree among themselves to be the key defining elements. He may nonetheless see himself as one, due to his belief that if you identify yourself with the traditions of Christianity, even if the traditions as you’ve learned them from Rev. Wright himself, then you are. After all, “it’s not a lie if you believe it’s true.”
And it is ironic that he media is so hell-bent on insisting that he is a Christian, because he says he is, but is just as willing to accommodate Obama’s and various Islamic leaders’ insistence that ISIS is not Islamic, even though they likewise say they are. You’d almost say it’s inconsistent, unless you recognize that it is wholly consistent: in both cases, religions are whatever Obama says they are.
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