President Barack Obama's religion is said to be Christianity, but what does Christianity and religion mean to Barack Obama, and how does Barack Obama's religion shape his policies? We address these and other questions by probing President Barack Obama's revealing word about his religion, but start by retracing Barack Obama's journey through religions. The first religion in President Obama's life was Islam, the religion of his father, who named him Barack Hussein Obama before divorcing when the President was six years old. President Obama's mother then remarried an Indonesian Muslim whose beliefs had an inclusive flair. In his autobiography, President Obama described his stepfather's beliefs as "a brand of Islam that could make room for the remnants of more ancient animist and Hindu faiths." The young Barack Obama moved with his mother to his stepfather's Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, where the future President spent three years at a Catholic school and one year at a public Muslim school. Barack Obama began to attend church in adulthood in Chicago, and from 1989 to 2008 was a member of the 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." Despite the past and present pain and suffering, the (continued...)
1. Are you a Christian? Obama: (response pending) 2. When and how did you become a Christian? Obama: (response pending) 3. How has becoming Christian changed you? Obama: (response pending) 4. How would you define and describe your relationship with Jesus today? Obama: (response pending) 5. In the past 12 months, how many hours have you read the Bible per week? Obama: (response pending) 6. Which gift has the Holy Spirit given you, and what fruits has it borne? Obama: (response pending) 7. What has been your greatest failure as a Christian? Obama: (response pending) 8. What is the greatest challenge you face today as a Christian? Obama: (response pending) 9. If you had to choose between God and country, which would you choose? Obama: (response pending) 10. Whom do you think Jesus wants as our next President, and why? Obama: (response pending)
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