{"id":1184,"date":"2008-11-17T15:08:53","date_gmt":"2008-11-17T21:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2008\/11\/yes-rod-barack-obama-is-a-christian\/"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:08:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:08:42","slug":"yes-rod-barack-obama-is-a-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2008\/11\/17\/yes-rod-barack-obama-is-a-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, Rod, Barack Obama Is a Christian!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My soon-to-be-blogalogue partner, Rod Dreher, has today questioned Barack Obama\u2019s profession of Christian faith<\/a> based on a snippet of a 2004 interview in which BO refers to Jesus as a \u201cbridge between God and man.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, BO is not a trained theologian, so we might wish he would have chosen words that more precisely articulated the role of Jesus Christ in redemption, the equality of the second person of the Trinity with the Father and the Spirit, etc.<\/p>\n

But it seems that this language has been interpreted by Rod and Joe Carter<\/a> as code for a liberal Christianity that denies aspects of the Nicene \u2014 even the Apostles\u2019 \u2014 Creed.\u00a0 What I find troubling, however, is all of the assumptions laden in both Rod\u2019s and Joe\u2019s posts.\u00a0 BO was never asked to affirm the Nicene Creed or the Chalcedonian definition of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Instead, they are reading between the lines of his comments and, by extension, assuming that he would deny the Nicene Creed.\u00a0 Further, they are ignoring his very clear statement to Christianity Today<\/i><\/a>, \u201cI am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the
\nredemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that
\nfaith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may also be guilt-by-association since some persons in the United Church of Christ<\/a>, the denomination of BO\u2019s former church, do deny the Trinity or the divinity of Christ.\u00a0 The UCC is known to be a denomination somewhat lenient toward such things.\u00a0 But just because BO worshiped in a church that is by definition Congregational and therefore non-creedal<\/i> does not mean that BO himself would deny any of the \u201corthodox\u201d definitions of Christ or the Trinity.<\/p>\n

(BTW, I am very likely one of the postmodern believers that Rod chastises in his final paragraph.\u00a0 I presented a somewhat controversial paper at Wheaton a couple years ago, and I wrote about it first here<\/a>, and then when it was rejected for publication in a book on the conference here<\/a>.\u00a0 (In a little turnabout-is-fair-play, the rejected essay, which you can find on that latter post, has been downloaded over 3,000 times, which I\u2019m guessing is more than that book will ever sell.)\u00a0 I\u2019m also friends with and a great admirer of<\/a> Christian Smith, who coined the phrase \u201cmoralistic, therapeutic deism,\u201d and I\u2019ve thoroughly digested the book in which he explicates that idea<\/a>.\u00a0 And, let me tell you, Chris doesn\u2019t mean what Rod thinks he means.\u00a0 MTD is not characteristic of teenagers who make up their own religion, but is instead indicative of the lack of precision and passion with which teenagers can articulate the faith that they claim to hold.)<\/p>\n

Well, the comment section to Rod\u2019s post pretty much already holds all of the theological counterpoints that I\u2019d make to his statement, \u201cI can\u2019t agree that [Barack Obama is] a Christian.\u201d\u00a0 So I\u2019ll end with this: It seems that there is one sine qua non for Christianity, and it was articulated by St. Paul in Romans 10:9,<\/p>\n

<\/span>That if you confess with
\nyour mouth, \u201cJesus is Lord,\u201d and believe in your heart that God raised
\nhim from the dead, you will be saved.<\/a>
<\/i>
And it is abundantly clear that Barack Obama has, on many occasions, affirmed that Jesus is Lord.
<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My soon-to-be-blogalogue partner, Rod Dreher, has today questioned Barack Obama\u2019s profession of Christian faith based on a snippet of a 2004 interview in which BO refers to Jesus as a \u201cbridge between God and man.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, BO is not a trained theologian, so we might wish he would have chosen words that more precisely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,27,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-politics","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nYes, Rod, Barack Obama Is a Christian!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My soon-to-be-blogalogue partner, Rod Dreher, has today questioned Barack Obama's profession of Christian faith based on a snippet of a 2004 interview in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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