Why Obama's church choice matters~Henry G. Brinton

Why Obama's church choice matters

There are political and spiritual implications

By Henry G. Brinton

Does it really matter whether the president goes to church? The Constitution says there shall be no "religious test," so perhaps Sunday morning should be the one day each week when the president gets to sleep in. He certainly works hard enough. But before he hits the snooze button, President Obama should return to the question of whether he and his family will join a congregation in the Washington area. He recently said that his family had not made a decision about joining a church, and I can respect that. Such a decision takes time. But it is a critical choice, with political and spiritual implications.

(Across from the White House: Barack Obama bids the Rev. Luis Leon goodbye at St. John’s Episcopal Church before inauguration festivities./Charles Dharapak, AP)

Politically, church attendance is a sign of integrity. If the president says he is a Christian, then going to church shows that he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. Americans are not interested in the specific doctrinal beliefs of a president, but they consider religion to be a proxy for "personal values." That is why 72% of Americans consider it important that the president have "strong religious beliefs," according to a poll last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Could an atheist be elected president? According to the Constitution, of course. But he (or she) would have to win over that 72% by demonstrating personal values such as faithfulness in marriage, honesty in business and service to the community. This would be a long, tough sales job because religion serves a handy shorthand substitute for personal values.

It's no surprise, then, that most successful candidates have found a way to talk about their personal faith on their way to the White House. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all spoke convincingly of their Christian faith on the campaign trail. Once elected, however, they had widely different records of church attendance. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were regulars, for instance, while Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush rarely attended church in Washington. For most Americans, these attendance records are a non-issue.

Obama's challenge

But expectations are much higher for Barack Obama, for a variety of reasons.

"Obama's ability to talk about his faith helped lead the Democrats out of the political wilderness of being viewed by many voters as hostile to religion," says Eric Sapp, a partner in the consulting firm Eleison Group, which works with Democrats and progressive groups to improve outreach and communication with American faith communities. Since religious talk helped to get Obama elected, people now want to see a religious walk.

In addition, the black church has historically served as the political and social center of the African-American community, so people are naturally curious about what role the local church will play in the life of our first black president. Will Obama choose an African-American church as he did in Chicago, or a multiracial church that breaks the stereotype of 11 a.m. on Sunday morning being the most racially segregated hour in America? One choice would show respect for the past, while the other would send a message of hope for the future.

Perhaps Obama will pick a congregation in the United Church of Christ, which has nurtured his faith as an adult. This liberal Christian tradition is certainly close to his heart. On the other hand, he may prefer a new denomination in order to keep his distance from the black liberation theology of former pastor Jeremiah Wright. "Obama's allies will be looking for him to make an inspired choice that helps reshape America's faith and racial dialogue," says Sapp, "and his enemies will be looking for a choice they can use to undermine his presidency."

Regardless of his particular church choice, Obama needs to practice his faith to address a more fundamental concern — some Americans still express doubt that he is a Christian. According to a March 2009 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 11% of Americans say that Obama is a Muslim, a number virtually unchanged from a similar poll taken during the presidential campaign. An even higher number of white evangelicals — one in five — believes that Obama is Muslim instead of Christian. While there would certainly be nothing wrong with a Muslim being elected president, of course, the political reality is that opponents of Obama are using doubts about his faith to undermine his integrity. As cynical as it may sound, his attendance in a congregation would be a political win, too.

'A communal faith'

The best way for Obama to show that he is a bona fide Christian is to become actively involved in the life of a congregation — although realistically, the participation of an acting president would probably be limited to attending worship and an occasional church event.

"Christianity is a communal faith, not a private spirituality," observes Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity School. It is a team sport, not an individual activity. But Volf disputes the assertion that Obama should go to church to gain credibility with church-going Americans. "He should live out his faith by being part of a Christian community," insists Volf, "he shouldn't instrumentalize his church-going for political purposes."

Perhaps. But the president is clearly a politician, so every choice he makes is going to have political implications, helping him or hurting him in the eyes of the American people.

Many people disapproved of the presidency of Jimmy Carter, but few doubted his Christian faith. His Sunday school teaching took care of that. On the other hand, Ronald Reagan might have shed the criticism that he was acting his way through the presidency if he had actually gone to church, and practiced what he preached.

Politics aside, there is a spiritual benefit to active church participation — it can ground the president and his family in a community of shared values and mutual support. Sunday morning worship includes a chance to pray to a higher power and hear a message of moral clarity, and the programs of the local church provide opportunities to develop supportive relationships. Eric Sapp says that it was the youth program of Foundry United Methodist Church that first attracted the Clintons, as they searched for a nurturing community for Chelsea. Sasha and Malia Obama will need the same.

A full Christian life cannot be experienced by anyone in isolation "This goes for Christians who are the U.S. president, too," says J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington. "So, yes, it does matter whether a Christian president is a part of a local church family." Walker hopes that when the first family is in residence at the White House, it will worship at a church somewhere in the D.C. area. He knows that this can be difficult, and can raise security issues, but Presidents Carter and Clinton were able to pull it off, at First Baptist and Foundry United Methodist.

Walk the walk

For now, Obama says that he enjoys worshiping at Evergreen Chapel, the non-denominational church at Camp David. This is a diverse little congregation, in which the Navy chaplain on duty has to preach simultaneously to both the most powerful man on earth and also to the cook from the Camp David kitchen. Such a congregation can be a community of shared values and support, giving the president and his family the chance to develop personal relationships apart from the politics of Washington. George W. Bush and his family enjoyed the chapel so much that they spent eight straight Christmases there.

It really doesn't matter which church the president walks into. The important thing is that he put some walk behind the talk and practice his faith with integrity.

Henry G. Brinton is pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia and author of Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts.