Six years ago, I sat down with a young Illinois state senator for a lengthy interview about his faith. At the time, the fresh-faced politician with an unusual name was still toiling in relative obscurity in Chicago.
When my “spiritual profile” of Barack Obama ran in the Chicago Sun-Times, it was greeted with modest interest, mostly for the novelty of a Democratic candidate speaking at length about religion.
That all changed a few months later, when Obama, by then a candidate for the U.S. Senate, delivered an electrifying keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and began an international meteoric rise.
Ever since Obama’s keynote address, scarcely a day has gone by when I haven’t received at least a couple of e-mails from curious readers asking about my interview with Obama. I thought such interest had reached its zenith during the 2008 presidential race when Obama was subjected to a religious litmus test by both the far right and the far left.
Silly me.
With the release of a Pew poll showing that nearly one in five Americans believes Obama is a Muslim (rather than the Christian he professes to be), and the president’s comments affirming the right of Muslims to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero, I’ve seen a virtual tidal wave of renewed interest in that old interview.
To date, it remains the longest and most-exhaustive interview Obama has ever granted on the subject of his faith. Although Obama talked honestly about his “Christian faith and a personal relationship with Jesus,” he didn’t give pat, easy answers.
Thousands of pundits, from loud-hailers like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh to average-Joe armchair political enthusiasts, have unearthed the transcript of my 2004 interview. Hundreds have e-mailed me directly to share their conclusions about the president’s spiritual predilections.
And this is where it gets interesting.
Depending on who is doing the reading, two polar-opposite portraits of Obama as a man of faith have emerged. Many conclude he is, in fact, a spiritual charlatan who says he is a Christian but who is actually something wholly “other.” A Muslim. A Universalist. A secular humanist. Perhaps even, as more than a few have suggested, the Anti-Christ.
Still others look at that old interview and see the portrait of a man of complex, complicated, and a modern, modest Christian faith. They see a person of faith much like themselves, for whom traditional labels of “liberal,” “conservative,” “progressive,” and “devout” do not apply — at least not neatly.
“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition,” Obama told me. “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.”
My interview with Obama has elicited more response than anything else I’ve written in more than 15 years as a journalist. Why? That’s a question that persists for me as a journalist and, more poignantly, as a person of faith.
Why are we so fascinated with the faith of celebrities in general, and politicians in particular? It goes far beyond an interest in what religious beliefs might tell us about the moral character of the leader of the free world. And it surpasses our national pastime of celebrity voyeurism.
In the case of President Obama, it is, to me, a wholly spiritual phenomenon.
The Obama interview is a mirror that readers hold up to themselves. What they see in it, and the conclusions they draw from it, say far more about the condition of their souls than the president’s.
The curious and the malicious alike see themselves reflected in Obama’s statements about his faith. Either they find a kindred spirit or a supernatural enemy, depending on the preconceived political and spiritual notions established long before they began reading the interview transcript.
They do not take the president — who has never publicly claimed to be anything other than a simple Christian — at face value. They believe their own faces, reflected brilliantly or grotesquely in the mirror of Obama’s naked words, to be the gospel truth (pun intended.)
They see only what they want to see.
As I read some of the thousands of new responses to Obama’s interview about his faith (and doubts) that were sent my way in recent days, I am reminded of something another Christian Chicagoan, evangelist Dwight L. Moody, said more than a century ago.
“Of 100 men, one will read the Bible,” Moody said. “The 99 will read the Christian.”
Moody meant it as a caution, not an endorsement.
It is not important for us to know if President Obama is a Christian or not, but his perception publicly of his understanding of his belief is important to us. This is not a cop out, I also have a mirror to look at my own walk. I would not want something that I do publicly cause a fellow Christian to question his own beliefs; or if I say I’m a Christian but do not act like it publicly – then I am wrong. On judgement day, when we stand before the Lord, that is the time when our true beliefs will come out. What I say or do will not effect President Obama’s belief or non-belief, just my own. I read my Bible to gain a better understanding of where I should be, and to praise God’s word. But–when I accepted Christ as my personal Savior – he became “MY Personal Savior” – not Barrack Obama’s.
You stated:
“Either they find a kindred spirit or a supernatural enemy, depending on the preconceived political and spiritual notions established long before they began reading the interview transcript.”
Just one or the other? Is it really so black and white? I found your interview very interesting and informative. It didn’t leave me feeling as though I had exactly encountered a kindred spirit, nor did it leave me feeling like I had just gained evidence of an exposed supernatural enemy at all. I was just left feeling like I understood our President’s position on his own spirituality and his own personal understanding and experience of Christianity compared to that of my own. I saw differences, as I more often do than not, but what it did more than anything is help me understand a little better how closely connected he seems to be to his familial Muslim ties. I’m not sure how we could have a strong spiritual sense about us without experiencing that wonder.
I first read your interview with Barack Obama on the Christianity Today Politics Blog back in November 2008. I agree, most people will see in him what they want to see, but he is neither a saint or a devil, he is just a man working out his own salvation while doing the hardest job in the country. Here is part of my blog post about Barack Obama’s faith and his commitment to the separation of church and state…
“Obama was a constitutional law professor, not a seminary professor. He ran for the highest office in the land, not to be our national pastor. Perhaps what scares some is his admiration of our Founding Father’s resolve to prevent theocracies from forming here in America… Only time will tell if Obama will be a good president, and only God can judge Barack Obama a good or bad christian.”