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BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
[White House]
1961-
44th President (2009-)
Education: Columbia University, Harvard Law School
Occupation: Community Organizer, Lawyer, College Professor
Political Affiliation: Democrat
Religious Affiliation: United Church of Christ
Summary of Religious Views:
Views on Religion & Politics:
Quotations:
"[A]s president, I want to celebrate the richness and diversity of our faith experience in this country. I think it is important for us to encourage churches and congregations all across the country to involve themselves in rebuilding communities. One of the things I have consistently argued is that we can structure faith-based programs that prove to be successful like substance abuse or prison ministries without violating church and state. We should make sure they are rebuilding the lives of people even if they're not members of a particular congregation. That's the kind of involvement that I think many churches are pursuing, including my own..
" . . .
"One of the things that I think churches have to be mindful of is that if the federal government starts paying the piper, then they get to call the tune. It can, over the long term, be an encroachment on religious freedom." -- "Q&A: Barack Obama", Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen, Christianity Today, January (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52
"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.
"There is one thing that I want to mention that I think is important. Part of what we've been seeing during the course this campaign is some scurrilous e-mails that have been sent out, denying my faith, talking about me being a Muslim, suggesting that I got sworn in the U.S. Senate with a Quran in my hand or that I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. I think it's really important for your readers to know that I have been a member of the same church for almost 20 years, and I have never practiced Islam. I am respectful of the religion, but it's not my own. One of the things that's very important in this day and age is that we don't use religion as a political tool and certainly that we don't lie about religion as a way to score political points. I just thought it was important to get that in there to dispel rumors that have been over the Internet. We've done so repeatedly, but obviously it's a political tactic of somebody to try to provide this misinformation." -- "Q&A: Barack Obama", Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen, Christianity Today, January (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52
"Our Founders understood that the best way to honor the place of faith in the lives of our people was to protect their freedom to practice religion. In the Virginia Act of Establishing Religion Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. The First Amendment of our Constitution established the freedom of religion as the law of the land. And that right has been upheld ever since.
"Indeed, over the course of our history, religion has flourished within our borders precisely because Americans have had the right to worship as they choose -- including the right to believe in no religion at all. And it is a testament to the wisdom of our Founders that America remains deeply religious -- a nation where the ability of peoples of different faiths to coexist peacefully and with mutual respect for one another stands in stark contrast to the religious conflict that persists elsewhere around the globe." -- Religions Tolerance in America: Address at Iftar Dinner, Washington, D.C., 13 August 2010
Misquotations:
References, Links, & Further Reading: Books, Articles, Links
Books
Articles
Links
God & Country Home
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, Times Books, 1995
, Crown Publishers, 2006
, Knopf, 2010
, Thomas Nelson, 2008
, Amistad/HarperCollins, 2007
, Knopf, 2010
, Simon & Schuster, 2010