Obama's Religious Background

One of my friends on my e-mail list asked me to look into the e-mail rumors that have made the rounds regarding Barack Obama's religious background and affiliation. The claim/statement suggests that Obama was born Muslim and retains that affiliation, and suggests that he avoids pledging allegiance to the United States and would take the oath of office on the Koran rather than the Bible.

What I've found suggests this is not true. For details, click here. What appears to be the case is that Obama's father (for whom he is named) grew up Muslim in Kenya, though by the time he met and married Barack's mother at the University of Hawaii he was not a practicing Muslim, and in fact was more agnostic. Barack's mother (white and from Kansas) was also pretty much agnostic, though she had sort of an anthropomorphic fascination with the variety of world religions and taught this sort of intellectualized religious background to Barack as a child. Barack's father left his mother and they divorced when Barack was 2. Later, his mother married another Muslim man, which is why Barack lived for a time in Indonesia. Indonesia is of course a predominantly Muslim nation, but his mom picked his schools more based on the quality of education than their religious affiliation, so he also attended a Catholic school for a couple of years. He then was sent back to the U.S. to live with his maternal grandmother.

Barack himself appears from my reading to have accepted, along the lines of his mother, more of an intellectual view of religion. Obama as a young adult also apparently struggled with his racial identity to a degree, and I think began to identify more and more with the African American community. He made his place and his early political career in the Chicago area.

It appears that as he became more involved in the African-American community in Chicago, he saw how important the Christian churches had been to the black community historically, and also how involved they are today in striving to address the social problems of poor inner city blacks. This seemed to deepen his respect and feeling for Christianity, and he identifies himself as a Christian, or as he puts it, he says he is now "rooted in the Christian tradition." Certainly he has stated that he does pledge allegiance to the United States with his hand over his heart regularly, and he would take the oath of office with his hand on a Bible.

What I don't know is how involved he is in his church on a formal basis, or what his private religious practices are, but at least he claims to be a believing Christian.

The one other aspect of his religious affiliation that does trouble me somewhat, is that the pastor of the church he has belonged to in Chicago (Rev. Jeremiah Wright) has made statements saying that their "theological perspective starts from the vantage point of Black liberation theology being its center." This is a link to their web site discussing this issue here. Despite their explanation, any time someone centers their ideas on a racially exclusive basis, it bothers me. I haven't heard Obama speak to this point directly, so I don't know for sure what his own thoughts and feelings on this are. I imagine he would not condone these views, but it's strange to me that he would attend and affiliate with a church and pastor like this.