President Obama\u2019s recent statement on gay marriage has again thrust his religious views onto the front pages.<\/p>\n
In defending his position, Obama stressed that he and his wife were \u201cpracticing Christians\u201d and that his stance was supported by Christ\u2019s teaching of the Golden Rule.<\/p>\n
Since his quest to win the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois in 2004, Barack Obama\u2019s faith has provoked controversy.<\/p>\n
In that campaign, his Republican rival Alan Keyes \u2014a black Catholic\u2014 accused Obama of stressing his faith only \u201cwhen it\u2019s convenient to get votes.\u201d When faith must be followed, explained, and serve as a basis for policies, Keyes protested, Obama pled the \u201cseparation of church and state\u201d\u2014a concept that was neither constitutional nor scriptural. \u201cChrist would not vote for Barack Obama,\u201d Keyes asserted, because his behavior was so contrary to that of Christ\u2019s.<\/p>\n
These charges prompted Obama to reassess how his faith related to his approach to politics. He concluded that his typical responses to Keyes\u2019 criticisms \u2014that \u201cwe live in a pluralistic society\u201d and \u201cI can\u2019t impose my own religious views\u201d on others\u2014 had been inadequate.<\/p>\n
By 2006, Obama had decisively changed his tactics. At the Sojourners\/Call to Renewal conference,he chided Democrats for refusing to talk about religious values out of fear of offending people or belief that religion had no role to play in the public arena. Ignoring \u201cthe power of faith\u201d in the lives of Americans was \u201ca mistake.\u201d Obama urged Democrats to discuss \u201chow to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n