It’s always encouraging to hear of a skeptic-turned-believer; especially when that person is a presidential candidate.
In a recent New York Times article, writer Jodi Kantor chronicles the faith journey of Senator Barach Obama who emerged from a secular family to become a Christian some twenty years ago.
Kantor observes that Obama’s faith has “infused not only his life, but also his campaign.” Some instances, she notes: “he began his presidential announcement with the phrase ‘Giving all praise and honor to God,’ [he] often talks about biblical underdogs, the mutual interests of religious and secular America, and the centrality of faith in public life, [he] talks of faith as a moral force essential for solving America’s vexing problems…[and] ”he has said he shares core Christian beliefs in God and in Jesus as his resurrected son…” Ms. Kantor continues,
Mr. Obama has written that when he became a Christian, “[I] felt God’s spirit beckoning” and “submitted myself to His will and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.”
All well and good. But then there’s this,
“[H]e admitted uncertainty about the afterlife, and what existed before the Big Bang….”
And this,
“He tends to emphasize the reasonableness of all people.”
And finally this,
“[H]e tells conservative Christians that he understands why abortion horrifies them and why they may prefer to curb H.I.V. through abstinence instead of condoms. (Emphasis added.)
Elsewhere, the junior senator of Illinois said, in reaction to the recent ruling to uphold the partial-birth abortion ban,
“I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women.”
While it’s always encouraging to hear of someone coming to faith, I’m not quite sure what to make of the faith that Barach Obama has come to.