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So, at Long Last, What Is Barack Obama’s Religion?
President Barack Obama has said that he is “Christian.” But isn’t that a bunch of religions? Which is his? It’s actually complicated as to whether “Christian” is several different religions or “one true catholic and apostolic church,” as many claim. More on that in a moment.
For some reason, the President’s religion keeps popping up. Candidates are asked if Barack Obama is a Christian. Candidates are told by questioners that Barack Obama is Muslim. A recent poll shows one percent of Americans think he’s a Jew. This persists despite the President’s own testimony of being Christian.
If we are going to talk about the President not being a Muslim (after seven years you’d think the media would stop), can we in the same conversation reveal to which religion he actually belongs? Wouldn’t that help rid us of the problem of people claiming he is Muslim?
I’ve followed the President pretty closely and can’t find any time he has said to which of the Christian religions he belongs. I’m reminded of the row over his birth certificate, which subsided greatly once he released it. Why not give some detail about his religion to close out this debate?
So let’s take a closer look, but first let’s visit this issue concerning the difference between a religion and a church (and just to be more confusing, many use the two words interchangeably). The definition of religion, although containing variables by source, in its simplest form, is in two parts:
1. a set of beliefs and practices 2. followed by those committed to the service and worship of God.
The Roman Catholics (themselves suffering an east/west schism) see one church, and while they see Protestants in certain communion with them, it is an imperfect communion. That sounds like one religion with those protesting folks simply doing it wrong. The many Protestant churches (religions?) also see one church – a church they improved magisterially with their reformation in the 1500s. That sounds like one religion, with those Roman folks simply doing it wrong.
However, note that culturally and colloquially, many people see the various Protestant denominations not as separate churches in one religion, but separate religions. Ask a Roman Catholic his religion and he will say “Catholic.” Ask a Lutheran his religion and he will say Lutheran. The same goes for Methodists, Baptists, et al.
In making this determination of what is or is not a separate religion, we might look to what “confession of faith” and what “catechism” a church adheres to. Note that there is among the Protestants the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles, the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and the Reformed Churches Heidelberg Catechism. While the various Protestant confessions and catechisms (Roman Catholics have their own) started with Zwingli, Luther, and Calvin, they were revised many times over the years in many directions.
There are many differences between the Roman Catholic and the various Protestant views of religion. The authority of the Pope is obviously disputed by Protestants. Catholics have saints and venerate Mary, while Protestants don’t. Lutheran and Reformed churches apply the doctrine of sola scriptura, where the Bible is both the highest authority and all one ever needs, while Roman Catholics add tradition as equally important. The Methodists and Anglicans ascribe to prima scriptura, wherein scripture is primary, but inspiration can come from other sources too. There are many more important differences, including those involving the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the forgiveness of sin.
Considering the differences, it’s clear why so many treatments refer to Catholicism and the various forms of Protestantism as separate religions, not separate churches in a religion.
Those who claim there is one Christian religion now should note well there are even efforts to consolidate the Roman Catholics and Protestants into one (thus contrary to the point that it is one religion now). There is a Pontifical Council on Christian Unity. Read this 2013 agreement on baptisms. Or the Evangelicals and Catholics Together Agreement. Or this 1999 joint declaration on justification between Catholics and Lutherans that concerned a central point of disagreement leading to the reformation. In fact, on the 500th anniversary of the reformation in 2017, Pope Francis may sign a document that some believe will finally end the split (you’d think that would be getting more press).
So, at long last, what is Barack Obama’s religion?
I’m going to avoid the claim that holds, “A Muslim is born a Muslim if his father is one.” I’m also avoiding the conversation that says because the penalty for Muslim apostasy is death, he is hiding his childhood Muslim faith to avoid being killed. I’m also skipping the concept of taqyyia, which holds a Muslim is allowed to lie about his beliefs to avoid persecution (if any of you are interested in these things, write your own column – this one presupposes the President’s Christianity).
Let’s start with what we know. As an adult Barack Obama became a congregant of Trinity church in Chicago. That doesn’t tell us enough. Trinity is a local church of the larger religion into which one gets baptized — the United Church of Christ (UCC).
One could probably say that the President’s religion is the United Church of Christ and be technically correct. However, you’d be missing an important detail about his religion if you left it at just that. It would be like trying to predict what state a person is from if they told you nothing more than they were Midwestern.
The UCC was formed in 1957. It was the coming together of two churches: Congregational Christian and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the latter being a prior merger of Reformed and Evangelical synods. The Evangelical and Reformed church used the Heidelberg and Lutheran catechisms and the Lutheran Augsburg confession. That made their protestant linage both Reformed and Lutheran.
The Congregational Christian Church, although started in 1931, obviously from its name had a history with congregationalism, and was Reformist. It also used the Heidelberg Catechism. There are differences in the Reformed and Lutheran beliefs, and there is a good detail of those difference offered here, as well as many other treatments you can find on the web.
Now here is a twist: According to the UCC Constitution, the local churches (like Trinity) remain completely autonomous (a nod to the Congregationalists) and are free to follow the confession and catechesis of their prior lineages, either Reformed or Lutheran.
This is where it gets a little tricky. Trinity UCC in Chicago, where the President is a congregant, doesn’t give any indication (at least not on its website, nor anywhere my Google kung fu can reveal) if it has adopted a confessional or catechism from any particular prior lineage, be it Reformed, Lutheran or otherwise.
And this is where it gets interesting: Trinity Church, being its own highest authority under the UCC constitution, has adopted its own creed (neither Nicene nor Apostles’ creed), written by its pastor found here.
But it doesn’t end there. Trinity, being a proclaimed Black church, has also adopted something called the “Black Value System,” inspired by a man named Manford Byrd and is found here. While I dig the emphasis on Black families, that part about “middleclassness” is shocking.
So what are we left with? What, at long last, is Barack Obama’s religion?
I still don’t know. While Trinity is technically part of the UCC, it appears to be neither Reformist nor Lutheran. Did Trinity start its own religion? The affiliation with the UCC suggests no, but Trinity doesn’t seem to have anything in common as a matter of doctrine with the UCC or any other church or religion. It may be its own religion, dedicated to Black Liberation Theology, which arguable excludes me.
Now it was the tone of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s Black Liberation Theology that led the President to distance himself from Trinity Church. That opens up the questions, did he ever return? Is he somewhere else now?
So I don’t know to which religion, or even a church within a religion, that Barack Obama belongs. I’d say none of us really do. I bet if you asked him about confessionals and catechesis, he wouldn’t know himself. The next time Jimmy Kimmel sticks a microphone in your face and asks you if you know the President’s religion, bet him $1,000 he doesn’t know either.
If Republican candidates are going to be asked to what religion the President belongs, in fairness he should clarify the answer.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
http://www.jpost.com/International/Obama-dismisses-Muslim-faith-claims-says-he-is-devout-Christian-389267
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thedudeabides/obama-on-faith-the-exclusive-interview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmxVlHwLplE
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico44/2012/08/obama-talks-about-his-faith-132696
And add that he has governed according to Wright’s guidance.
Jamie did you not read the OP? “Christian” isn’t informing me to any detail.
Agree with all the folks here who pointed out the only deity Barack Obama recognizes is Barack Obama. It’s not a one-man religion either – there are plenty in the media and Hollywood just waiting for his Presidential Library to be built, so they know which way to face when they pray.
When did we start blindly taking a man’s word about what he believes?
You are correct. I apologize. Can I get a no show job in the White House?
I did and I don’t buy into your premise. Not everyone needs to put other people into neat little boxes that conform to their preconceived notions about how people need to be.
When I grew up and discovered I wasn’t Professor X.
He claims to be a Christian, has demonstrated he’s a Muslim sympathizer, and worships at the alter of big government. I think his religion is Liberalism, and he see himself as Liberalism’s Messiah . . .
I’m surprised you have time for Ricochet what with all the printer jams you are clearing.
Jeremiah Wright, Fred Phelps, David Koresh and me will all be put into a box marked “Christian.”
Sorry but I’m going to need a separate box. I don’t share a religion with those men.
I hope you see that “Christian” informs very little about one’s religion.
isn’t it currently the big thing to be non-denominational christian?
whats the other option regarding religious beliefs?
I told you, I have guys to do that for me. The real problem is I’ve spent the last 20 minutes poking about trying to open a .mdf file – I wish someone had just told me how ;).
That’s really more your problem than theirs or The President’s.
Not sure I know what to make of that comment.
Other peoples religion is not your job to determine.
That’s why they should tell me – the point of the OP.
They have. The fact that you require more is not up to them.
Moralistic therapeutic deism.
Just going in circles now.
We’ll leave it at your belief that there is nothing wrong with thinking Fred Phelps and I share a religion.
If it makes you feel any better, I doubt Fred Phelps considers you–or other Roman Catholics, Orthodox, or Confessional Christians–Christians either.
I have no idea if you do, nor do I care. I do care that you think its someone within your province to label people’s beliefs according to standards you set.
Good. And that is contrary too to Jamie’s point.
What is the Christian Post? That name is meaningless. Apparently.
Can Fred Phelps determine whether or not you are a Christian?
Having spent my youth attending UCC-affiliated churches, I can attest that each congregation publishing its own “personalized” creed is a fairly normal state of affairs.
Likewise, youths confirmed in this denomination submit a personal statement of faith for approval (I do not know of one being disapproved) rather than affirming a traditional creed. Though I did not want to get confirmed when I did, since I did not yet consider my beliefs orthodox enough to count as Christian (though they later became so), my statement of faith, such as it was, was nonetheless approved.
The UCC constitution
The UCC evidently takes this “make the faith your own” thing pretty seriously.
It would be myopic not to recognize that, to those attending UCC churches, this unstandardized state of belief systems is Christianity.
Was this adopted at Trinity in Chicago?
By the way, Faded Midget Rattlesnake,
At your UCC church was there an indication of weather they followed a Lutheran or Reformed lineage, or both?
It isn’t at all; it is an ideology supported by a sorry group of Arab tribal warriors inspired by a “prophet” who engineered a set of rules perfectly suited to his personal desires.
Obama isn’t a Muslim or a Christian; he is a Marxist.