I’ve seen some comments on Facebook today speculating on the
sincerity of President Obama’s faith. I’ve heard such speculation in the past, though not completely sure where it comes from. Do they have to do with his personal narrative? Or do the questions arise from his social
policies, which some Christians don’t agree with and some do?
First of all, to state what I hope is the obvious, it’s
pretty unhelpful to try to judge the sincerity of someone else’s faith, or to
determine whether they get to call themselves the same thing that I call myself. I’d say the same if it were Mitt Romney being
inaugurated today and people were debating whether Mormons are really
Christians. Why is that up to me? If someone calls him- or herself a Christian,
I’ll give them the respect of assuming it’s true. We might disagree on matters of theology, and
we might disagree about what it means to faithfully follow Jesus, but for
goodness sake let’s not quibble over the labels.
At the same time, helpful or unhelpful, I admit I have also wondered
what really prompted Obama to join a church and to start calling himself a
Christian.
I read Obama’s memoir Dreams
From My Father a long time ago, and though I don’t remember all the
specifics now, I believe he wrote about meeting Christians and working with
churches through his job as a community organizer, and how at some point, it
started to feel like something he needed, too.
I’m paraphrasing a lot there.
Maybe that’s how it happened: a conversion, a turning point, a change
wrought by people who witnessed to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Or Obama’s story is the story of an aspiring politician who
realized how useful it would be to have not only a label, but the connections
of a faith community.
Or maybe it is a combination of both.
Or maybe it is a combination of both with a lot of other
factors added in too.
The truth is, there are a million reasons that anyone who is
part of a faith community is part of a faith community. Maybe it’s because I grew up going to church
every Sunday, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what you do. Maybe it’s because I was lonely in a new town
and looked for a way to meet some people.
Maybe it’s because I’m looking to be part of something bigger than
myself, even if I’m not entirely sure yet what that is. Maybe my parents make me. Maybe my spouse makes me. Maybe I want attention, and can get it reading
Scripture and chairing a committee. Maybe
I’m looking for people who can help me—who will give me money, give me rides,
visit me in the hospital, or even who will vote for me.
Good reasons? Bad
reasons? Should we make a list and
divide them up?
I grew up in the church, and my experience in my own home
church and in my college campus ministry led me to want to not only participate
in a faith community, but to pastor them.
I go to church because I want to follow Jesus and I think we do that
best when we figure it all out together.
I go to church because I believe God called me into ministry.
But I also go to church for a lot of other reasons. I go to church because it’s what I learned to
do as a kid. I go to church because
throughout my life, I have met good people there. I go to church because I like the hymns. I go to church because it looks pretty at
Christmas. I go to church because
sometimes there are tasty potlucks. Some
Sundays, when it is early and dark and raining, I go to church simply because I
don’t want to get fired.
I know people, furthermore, who came back to church after a
long hiatus because they wanted their kids to have some sort of spiritual
grounding, or because it was important to their significant other, who are now
leaders in our congregation and, as far as I can tell, people of deep faith.
At any church, people are there for a million different
reasons, “good” reasons and “bad” reasons that are inextricable from each other,
reasons that change over time. And as
far as I’m concerned, Jesus doesn’t have a tally sheet marking off each person’s
reasons for coming that day and determining whether they are valid or invalid. Jesus says, “Come on over.” Just like he did to the people who found
themselves hanging around him in first century Palestine—people who needed
healing, people who needed food, people who needed a refill on the wine, people
who wanted to watch a miracle, people who needed affirmation, people looking
for adventure, people who were curious, people who were suspicious.
Is Obama a sincere Christian? Who knows?
Am I? If I had to guess, I’d
guess Obama calls himself a Christian for a mix of reasons that are personal,
spiritual, social, and political. And if
that mix of reasons isn’t valid, then whose mix of reasons is?
