Barack Obama - Religion
Barack Obama claims his religion is Christianity, but what Barack Obama said
about his religion prior to setting his sights on the White
House (see below), as well as his choices and background, raise questions about his religion.
The first religion in Barack Obama's life was the
Islam of his father,
who named him
Barack Hussein Obama before
divorcing when his son was 6 years old. Barack Obama's mother then married
an Indonesian Muslim whose beliefs had an inclusive flair. In
his autobiography, Barack Obama described his stepfather's religion as,
"a brand of Islam that could make room for the
remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths."
Barack Obama moved with his mother to his stepfather's
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, where the future president spent
one year studying at a Muslim school after three years at a Roman Catholic school.
Barack Obama began to attend church as an adult. From 1989 until his 2008
presidential campaign, he was a member of Chicago's predominantly
African-American, Trinity United Church of Christ, which introduced
itself online as,
"a congregation with a
non-negotiable commitment to Africa ... and remain true to our native land, the
mother continent."
In 2004, prior to setting his sights on the presidency, the then Illinois State Senator
Barack Obama spoke candidly about his religion during an interview with a Chicago newspaper:
"The difficult thing about any religion, including
Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and
proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some quarters, that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as
their personal savior, they’re going to hell."
- Barack Obama, Chicago Sun-Times, April 2004
The
"call to evangelize"
is both a duty and a privilege for all Christians
(see
Personal Testimony of Faith),
not
"the difficult thing" for just those
"at some level." And "
the
belief... that if people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior,
they’re going to hell" isn't just
"in some
quarters"; it is in the Bible (see
Bible verses about Heaven and Hell).
And who goes to hell?
Jesus told us,
"For God did not send
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not
believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God." (
John 3:17-18)
But Barack Obama opined,
"What I believe in is that if I live my life as well
as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don't presume to have knowledge of what
happens after I die." - Barack Obama, Chicago
Sun-Times, April 2004
What constitutes living well a life of good works?
"Then they said to Him, “What shall
we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." (
John
6:28-29)
But Barack Obama continued,
"I believe that there are many paths to the same
place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are
connected as a people, that there are values that transcend race or culture,
that move us forward, and that there’s an obligation for all of us individually
as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived."
- Barack Obama, Chicago Sun-Times, April 2004
The
"many paths" in Barack Obama's religion
sound open-minded, inclusive and magnanimous but have one problem: they contradict the exclusivity of Jesus' declaration:
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father EXCEPT through ME."
(
John 14:6, emphasis added; for an explanation of why there is no other way,
see
Justice of God.)
Note also that the
"paths" in Barack Obama's
religion lead not to a person but a
"place," and not to
"the Father," but to a
"higher power."
What is the source of Barack Obama's insights?
"I think I have an ongoing conversation with God.
Throughout the day I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing,
why I am doing it." - Barack Obama, Chicago
Sun-Times, April 2004
If he has
"an ongoing conversation with
God," he should be asking God those questions; if he is
"constantly asking myself"
those questions, then the conversation he is having is with himself, not with God.
In early 2008, the presidential candidate Barack Obama declared himself Christian to
a Christian publication:
"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."
- Barack Obama, Christianity Today, January 2008
"Feeding the hungry and healing the sick" may
be the
"most important" if there were no life
after death. But our existence continues in
heaven or hell
for eternity, compared to which our lives on the earth are but
"vapor":
"... For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time and then vanishes away." (
James 4:14)
What is
"most important" to
Christians isn't how well fed and healthy we are during our vanishing
vapor, but Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, which doesn't
merely provide
"a path" to be cleansed of sins; it
is what cleanses us of our sins so that we can spend eternity with Jesus
in heaven instead of paying the penalty for our sins on our own in the fire of hell:
"... It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather
than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be
quenched." (
Mark 9:43)
Barack Obama's own words reveal his religion to be centered on neither
the cross of Christ (see
Justice of God) nor the Bible.
Instead, his focus is the poor and the outcast, which he was in his youth. As a
young lawyer, he found churches already helping the poor and the outcast in Chicago's
south side whom he desired to help, and joined one of them.
For Barack Obama, Christianity appears to be the means to the end of helping those he considers
to be oppressed by the
"powerful,"
including the poor, African Americans (see
Racism & Obama),
homosexuals and
"punished" women (see
Obama & Abortion).
As indicated by his current
Rating, Barack Obama will accelerate
America's Decline.
>> Continued
1. Are you a Christian?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
2. When and how did you become a Christian?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
3. How has becoming Christian changed you?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
4. How would you define and describe your relationship with Jesus today?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
5. In the past 12 months, how many hours have you read the Bible per week?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
6. Which gift has the Holy Spirit given you, and what fruits has it borne?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
7. What has been your greatest failure as a Christian?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
8. What is the greatest challenge you face today as a Christian?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
9. If you had to choose between God and country, which would you choose?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
10. Whom do you think Jesus wants as our next President, and why?
Barack Obama: (response pending)
11. Do you believe
Jesus is God or the Son of God?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
12. Do you believe Jesus was born to a virgin,
died and rose from the dead?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
13. Do you believe
Jesus ascended to the Father and will return
riding on clouds?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
14. Do you believe the bread & wine turn into
Jesus' flesh & blood when blessed?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
15. Do you believe
Jesus and Satan were once brothers?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
16. Do you believe
heaven and hell are places that really exist?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
17. Do you believe only those who obey
Jesus as master will go to heaven?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
18. Which books do you believe to have been
inspired by God and without error?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
19. Which passage(s) from those books troubles you, and how do you deal with it?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)
20. The beliefs of which Christian leader alive today resembles your beliefs?
Barack Obama: (answer pending)