President Barack Obamaâ??s remarkable eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, one of the nine victims of the recent tragic shooting there, has again called attention to the presidentâ??s often misunderstood faith. Obamaâ??s singing of the venerated Christian hymn â??Amazing Graceâ? and focus on the theme of grace has been widely discussed. Sadly, Obama has been called upon to play the role of our national pastor, our comforter-in-chief, numerous times in his six and half years in officeâ??in the aftermath of shootings in Tucson, Aurora, Colorado, Newtown, Connecticut, Boston, the Washington Navy Yard, and Fort Hood, Texas; tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri and Moore, Oklahoma; and an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas.
Despite his repeated testimony to his Christian faith (Obama has shared his personal faith journey more than any other president), many Americans either profess confusion about his religious convictions or consider them to be irrelevant. It is well known that numerous polls, especially during his first term, report that only half of Americans consider him to be a Christian. The other half either do not know what his faith was or think he is a Muslim. Undoubtedly speaking for many, James Fallow asserted recently in the Atlantic Monthly, â??if asked to describe Obama,â? he would probably use many other adjectives before he employed â??â??religiousâ?? or â??Christian.â??â? The president is â??much more likely to explain his viewsâ? by referring to history, literature, economics, or jurisprudence â??than to the teachings of his faith.â?
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