Obama: Dems Should Find Religion
Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL, scolded his colleagues on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans. "Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," Obama, the only black in the Senate, said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty."It is doubtful that children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance feel oppressed or brainwashed as a consequence of muttering the phrase 'under God,'" he said. "Having voluntary student prayer groups using school property to meet should not be a threat, any more than its use by the High School Republicans should threaten Democrats."
Obama said millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews have traveled similar religious paths as he, and that is why "we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse.... In other words, if we don't reach out to evangelical Christians and other religious Americans and tell them what we stand for, Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons will continue to hold sway."
Obama also issued a warning. "Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith: the politicians who shows up at a black church around election time and claps, off rhythm, to the gospel choir." But at the same time, he added, "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square."
As a result, "I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people and join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy."
Obama mentioned leaders of the religious right only once, saying they must "accept some ground rules for collaboration" and recognize the importance of the separation of church and state.
- June 28, 2006
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