Posted by
Joe Knippenberg on Friday, March 14, 2008 12:59:37 PM
Earlier today, a pundit friend asked me for links to some things I'd written about Barack Obama's religion. As I went back over my op-eds and blog posts here and at
No Left Turns, I discovered that I'd written quite a bit. For what it's worth, I'm gathering them here, with a bit of commentary from time to time.
But first, here are links to major "documents"--interviews and speeches Obama has given.
- Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta (January, 2008)
- Hartford (June, 2007)
- Selma (March, 2007)
- World AIDS Day (December, 2006)
- Call to Renewal (June, 2006)
- National Women's Law Center (on choice, November, 2005)
- Sojourners Forum Q&A (June, 2007)
- Civil Unions and the Sermon on the Mount (March, 2008)
- Beliefnet Interview (February, 2008)
- Christianity Today Interview (January, 2008)
- Street Prophets Interview (January, 2007)
- UCC Interview (June, 2006)
I've written two op-eds on Obama and religion:
And innumerable blog posts:
While he speaks frequently about human dignity, all he has to say about abortion is that Catholic efforts to go beyond it are praiseworthy (so long as they agree with the rest of his agenda) and that religious conservatives use it to divide us, as if they don’t take the issue seriously. He has, in the past (before he was a presidential candidate), had somewhat more nuanced things to say about abortion. He has, in the past (before he was a presidential candidate), been more willing to emphasize the spiritual dimensions of our problems, problems that can be addressed by churches and faith-based organizations, but not necessarily or exclusively by government.
I once thought he might be willing to test the limit of faithful witness in the Democratic Party, to say "hey, we’re all brothers and sisters; let’s respect our differences and find a way to take seriously the concerns of folk who care about the unborn, who worry that we’re playing God when we give carte blanche to the stem cell researchers, and who have honest moral scruples about same-sex marriage." He might not agree with any of these positions, as they’re expressed by religious conservatives, but to hold him to the same standard that he holds those he criticizes, he shouldn’t demonize and dismiss them.
In the end, however, Obama isn’t willing to push the envelope. He wants the support of secular Democrats and religious liberals, and if he has to caricature religious conservatives to do so, so be it. For his current political purposes, which clearly trump his "conscientious" religious views (which makes him no different from those on the faith-based right he criticizes), the only religious witness that can have a seat at the national table is that of the religious Left. I’m disappointed, but not at all surprised.
In this post, I probably (nay, doubtlessly) underestimated the appeal of mere "faith-friendliness." That is, I think, the core of Obama's outreach to believers. He and Hillary Clinton are both "faith-friendly," albeit not friendly to the policy conclusions or moral judgments drawn by conservative or orthodox believers.
That's all folks!