In Quest of Barak Obama's Faith

In reading about Barak Obama’s faith in his own words in his #1 New York Times Bestseller The Audacity of Faith I come away with the following impressions.

1. Barak was nurtured in and by his mother’s lack of formal faith. He describes her life as “devotional” in that she saw the value and beauty of each individual and the world around her, but, as well, she was skeptical, secular and with an attitude toward the various faiths we might call broadly ecumenical.

2. For Senator Obama the Scriptures of the Judeo-Christian faiths are not inspired in the theological sense that traditional Christians believe them to be. Example: “…nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount.” (p. 222). He does not see the texts of Scripture as complementing one another by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but rather as differing opinions in opposition to one another requiring the interpreter to choose one and discard the other.

3. Whatever salvation means to the Senator he does not state it in terms of believing in Jesus as personal savior. Of course, I am responding here to the way he describes his faith in this one book, so he may have expanded his view of salvation in another book, on the stump, or in personal conversations with friends.

4. He basically views abortion as a “good thing” and stands opposed to those who, in good faith, cannot bring themselves to accept it even for the supposed good of the mother. He does not speak in terms of expecting the pregnant woman to make sacrifices on behalf of her baby, of bringing a new precious life into the world, or making their child’s life better than their own in spite of the influence of his mother who believed “in the ultimate value of this brief life we’ve each been given” (p. 206, italics mine).

5. Barak accepts his mother’s fundamental faith “in the goodness of people” (p. 205) essentially discounting the Bible’s theological doctrine of the nature of humanity. Here’s how he applies this view to the abortion issue; “I explained my belief that few women made a decision to terminate a pregnancy casually; that any pregnant woman felt the full force of the moral issues involved and wrestled with her conscience when making that heart-wrenching decision;…” (p. 197). Are abortion, war, criminal activity, or global warming, for that matter, just the unintended consequences of the mistaken actions of good people wrestling with their consciences? Will President Obama be able to look into the soul of Valdimir Putin (as “W” says he did) and see that he is a good man despite the Russian incursion into Georgia or her posture towards the nations of Eastern Europe?

6. Barak describes a foundational lack of assurance about matters of faith. In recounting a conversation with one of his daughters he says “I wondered whether I should have told her the truth, that I wasn’t sure what happens when we die, any more than I was sure of where the soul resides or what existed before the Big Bang” (p. 226).

Like most Americans, even those who disagree with some or all of his political, social, and religious ideas, I like Senator Obama. I am delighted that (despite continuing problems in our nation) his nomination for President by a major political party has witnessed to the progress in race relations that America has made since the days of Jim Crow. His book is very well written and entertaining, and I like the family role model that he, Michele, and their children are setting for the families of our nation. I will pray for him, and where possible agree with him and support him, if he is elected President. He will be, as I have felt about all Presidents in my lifetime, my President.

His unorthodox “Christianity” is his choice. For many in the American Baptist Churches in the USA his theological doubts and weaknesses are similar to their own. He is welcome among us and, if he is not officially settled elsewhere, I invite him to become part of the ABC, often described by our leaders as the most diverse group of Baptists in the country. But, I have to confess, I hope he will come to believe the Bible. I hope He will understand it is God’s Word and not simply the fantastic thinking of religious fanatics wandering in the desert somewhere. I hope he will find assurance of salvation through personal, sincere commitment of his soul to Jesus Christ. And, I hope he will understand that seeking the good of all people in the world requires a commitment to standing for righteousness whether one is President or not.