Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Dude Abides

Home
Progressive Christian
GODSTUFF: The mirror has two faces

GODSTUFF: The mirror has two faces

Last updated on: August 25, 2010 at 8:15 pm by Cathleen Falsani

GODSTUFF: The mirror has two faces 2010-08-25T20:15:39-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

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.

GODSTUFF

2004 interview with Obama about faith

is obama a christian?

Previous Post

August 25, 2010

A LITTLE HAPPY: Mr. Penn vs. Mr. Smith

Next Post

September 5, 2010 Labor Day: Ora et labora

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who had a dream about a statue made of various metals?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel David Nebuchadnezzar Joseph