# Obama depends on his Christian faith for his job **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300 "2010-09-10T15:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peeta\_Mellark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/21 "2010-09-11T14:21:50Z")
Christians rely on their faith to do a lot of things. That’s not to say that they are all claiming non-Christians can’t do those things, but that _they personally_ are relying on their faith when they do those things. That’s a large part of having faith. I’m not personally sure if that’s why Obama said anything, but for now I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and not assume he thinks he’s God’s newest prophet. The problem with GWB is that he was claiming to not just be acting on faith, but on God’s will. [Here are some good GWB quotes.](http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/bush.htm) > [@](#): > > God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them. > [@](#): > > The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. [QUOTE=GWB, blaming the Holocaust on godlessness rather than antisemitism] Tyrants and dictators will accept no other gods before them. They require disobedience to the First Commandment. They seek absolute control and are threatened by faith in God. They fear only the power they cannot possess – the power of truth. So they resent the living example of the devout, especially the devotion of a unique people chosen by God. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > I really appreciate leaders from around the globe who have come to share in prayer with us today. It reminds me that the Almighty God is a God to everybody, every person. > [@](#): > > I ask Americans to bow our heads in humility before our Heavenly Father, a God who calls us not to judge our neighbors, but to love them, to ask His guidance upon our nation and its leaders in every level of government. > [@](#): > > I’ve heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for president. When Obama starts talking like that, I’ll be worried. He’s not my favorite president ever, but he’s sure as hell no GWB. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/22 "2010-09-11T15:22:23Z")
I depend on my own Christian faith to get through my own personal problems, and I imagine Obama’s problems are much bigger than mine. Now, I said I depended on my Christian faith to beat up a gay person or talk smack about someone who’s atheist–or burn a Quran–then things are just slightly out of hand. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/23 "2010-09-11T15:52:11Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I wouldn’t use the word devout in a sentence. He claimed to be a regular at his last church yet he never heard any of the interesting sermons that made the rounds. Today it interferes with his golf game. It would be more accurate to say that he’s a Blackberry Christian. I can’t believe the right-wing punditry is trying to make something out of the fact that Obama doesn’t attend church regularly. Bush very rarely attended church in Washington during his term, and Reagan never once attended. The recent President who made it to church most regularly during his term was Clinton, and oddly enough I never see him being held up as an exemplar for Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/24 "2010-09-11T16:00:03Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > He said it. I just saw him say it in his press conference. > > This is what folks knocked Bush for. No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/25 "2010-09-11T16:05:28Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > > [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > > > Obama is a **devout** Christian, I’ve never seen any evidence that he is insincere in his belief. If you read about his life for the past 10+ years, it’s really obvious he’s a devout Christian. Maybe as a young man he wasn’t, but then again neither was Bush. But in a lot of ways the people who become devout at a later stage in life tend to be the more fervent believers. > > > > We’ve already had atheist Presidents, but Obama certainly isn’t one of them. > > I wouldn’t use the word devout in a sentence. He claimed to be a regular at his last church No he didn’t. He didn’t claim to be a regular at all. As a matter of fact, he had been a very infrequent attender for several years before he ran for President. He used the church for his weding and the Christening of his kids, but was not a regular attendant, escially after he was elected to the US Senate and was no longer living in Chicago. GWB and Ronald Regan seldom attended church services either, by the way, and no one ever questioned their devoutness. You know who WAS a regular attendant? Bill Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/26 "2010-09-11T16:09:40Z")
Oops. I hadn’t seen **Doctor J’s** post before I made mine. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/27 "2010-09-11T16:55:46Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > > He said it. I just saw him say it in his press conference. > > > > This is what folks knocked Bush for. > > No it isn’t. Yes it is. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/28 "2010-09-11T17:01:30Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > > > No it isn’t. > > Yes it is. No it isn’t. People knocked Bush for saying that Jesus told him what to do, not for saying he depended on faith to do his job. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/29 "2010-09-11T17:44:42Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > > [@Knorf](#): > > > > Not only that, but he’s a _Born-Again_, devout Christian. > > OK, where does he say any of this? > Best wishes, > hh [Here you go: an interview from](http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/104-32.0.html?start=2)"Christianity Today": > [@](#): > > **You’ve talked about your experience walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ, and kneeling beneath the cross, having your sins redeemed, and submitting to God’s will. Would you describe that as a conversion? Do you consider yourself born again?** > I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals. The whole experience is described in more detail in his 1995 autobiography, _Dreams from My Father_, and there are numerous other similar statements you can find easily in various media sources. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/30 "2010-09-11T19:05:16Z")
As far as I know the only church he’s ever belonged to was the nut-job Rev. Wright’s church and I believe that is an Afro-centric church, not Christian. If Obama is a “mainsteam Christian” as he claims to be then the question is: exactly _which_ denomination of Christian does he claim as his own? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/31 "2010-09-11T19:44:08Z")
> [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](#): > > As far as I know the only church he’s ever belonged to was the nut-job Rev. Wright’s church and I believe that is an Afro-centric church, not Christian. You believe incorrectly on both counts. It’s part a very mainstream denomination which is majority white. > [@](#): > > If Obama is a “mainsteam Christian” as he claims to be then the question is: exactly _which_ denomination of Christian does he claim as his own? [United Church of Christ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Christ). Quite whitebread. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/32 "2010-09-11T20:20:33Z")
> [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](#): > > As far as I know the only church he’s ever belonged to was the nut-job Rev. Wright’s church and I believe that is an Afro-centric church, not Christian. “As far as I know.” Translation: “I’ve done nothing but listen Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or other comparable hearsay with nothing more than ignorance and blatant political bias, I implicitly mistrust everything Obama himself says or has said\*, and I have done no research on my own.” \*Obama’s autobiography is from 1995, long before he ran for public office. It’s amazing how many people don’t know this. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300/33 "2010-09-12T06:50:01Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > > [@handsomeharry](#): > > > > OK, where does he say any of this? > > Best wishes, > > hh > > [Here you go: an interview from](http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/januaryweb-only/104-32.0.html?start=2)"Christianity Today": > > > [@](#): > > > > **You’ve talked about your experience walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ, and kneeling beneath the cross, having your sins redeemed, and submitting to God’s will. Would you describe that as a conversion? Do you consider yourself born again?** > > I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn’t ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn’t want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals. > > The whole experience is described in more detail in his 1995 autobiography, _Dreams from My Father_, and there are numerous other similar statements you can find easily in various media sources. Thank you. Best wishes, hh [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-depends-on-his-christian-faith-for-his-job/553300.md?page=1)