Today we look at Chapters 3 ("Faith Fit for the Age") and 4 "The Altars of State") of The Faith of Barack Obama. This is also where I start to look back on some of my pre-reading opinions on some of the issues raised, which now appear, if I may be so bold as to say, prophetic.

In Chapter 3, with another conscious effort to remain fair and objective, a la Chapter 2, Mansfield answers the question, "What kind of Christian is Obama?" The answer is straightforward and indellibly etched: Obama is a "Postmodern Christian" and an adherent of the so-called "Social Gospel," with all the standard connotations those terms instills.

The first is developed by examination of the man's own words and sentiments, from various sources. The second is implied by his 20-year affiliation with Trinity United Church in Chicago, although Mansfield leaves the reader with some wiggle-room by concluding with these words: "To be a member of a church is not necessarily to descend into mindlessness, and a mind as fine as Obama's is less likely to accept ideas unexamined than most."

Fair enough. But as to the "Postmodern" label, I think few would disagree that is an accurate badge of Obama's faith, and one, I would venture to guess, proudly worn by the man. Obama is clearly selective of what he accepts as "truth," proclaims a healthy modesty in even those, and is admittedly open to other truths being possessed by those who proclaim other faiths.

This is not what I, and many others, would say "postmodern Christianity" necessarily means, but I am well aware that it is the mainstream consensus, and in that sense, Obama appears to be a poster child for it. My main critique with Obama's Christianity is not that he is suspiscious and selective of truth claims, even those espoused by his own religion for centuries. No. My main critique of Obama's Christianity is that he seems still to regard the Bible as a rescepticle of individual truth claims which can be pitted one against the other, rather than as a single narrative of God's interration with His creation, with all its ebbs and flows that entails, and which must be read as a unified whole in order to understand the truth within it. But that's a diatribe for another day.

Then in Chapter 4, Mansfield sketches a picture of Obama's views of faith in public life, or rather, the development of those views. The story is told be examining Obama's statements during his Senatorial campaign in the Illinois senatorial race of 2004 against Alan Keys, the mezmerizing conservative, Roman Catholic orator who challenged Obama's Christianity at every opportunity. While Obama admits that Keys' eccentricities made him "an ideal opponent; all I had to do was keep my mouth shut and start planning my swearing-in ceremony," he also admits that Keys' accusations led to a re-evaluation of his views on faith in public life, culminating with his now-famous "Call to Renewal" speech in the summer of 2006, where those views had apparently been examined and solidified.

This is where the "prophetic" part of this series comes in. About two months ago, I wrote a piece on the transformation of Obama's views from the 2004 senatorial race to the Call to Renewal speech. In it, I asked the question: "Now I don't know whether Obama has re-considered the issue or whether he's simply playing politics nowadays. I'd like to think it's the former." According to the story Mansfield tells, it was, in fact the former: that the battle with Keys forced Obama to re-assess his views of public faith and come to place where he could give a reasonably detailed accounting of the issue. I must say, for the record, that Obama's fondness of a "civic religion" and an insistence that "Demoncracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religious-specific issues" are two things that deeply concern me. Having said that, the opposing view, and praxis, as demonstrated by the Religious Right over the last few decades, concerned me even more. I guess I would say that Obama's take on the issue is not where I'd want to be, but it is a healthy, though imperfect, transition toward somewhere I would want to be.

I've also written on the issue of faith and presidential politics in general, a sentiment echoed today in a brilliant piece by Michael Spencer at Jesus Shaped Spirituality. But for the one of the best discussion of "God in Public" that I've ever come accross, please take the time to download and listen to this lecture by N.T. Wright called "God in Public? The Bible and Politics in Tomorrow's World."

**NOTE: By the way, don't miss today's debate between the two candidates at Saddleback Church, moderated by Rick Warren. You can catch it on CNN or Fox News today at 8:00 E.T. I may very well interrupt this series to discuss the debate in my next post, inasmuch as it bears directly to the issues we've been discussing so far.**

Mansfield concludes Chapter 4 by discussing what has (wrongly, in my view) become the litmus test of a person's Christian faith in our generation: abortion. Once again, I've voiced my 2 cents on this issue a while back, and Mansfield's discussion of Obama's consistent pro-choice record has done nothing to sway that. His opposition to an Illinois bill outlawing the killing of babies who survived late-term abortions, however, cannot be reconciled with any Christian notion of agape, and serves to underline the main problem with Obama's interpretation of "civil religion," where an unarguable Christian value must sometimes give way to a higher purpose, in this case, a woman's right to choose. If there can be one thing said consistently about "the faith once delivered," it is that there is no higher purpose. One might rightfully disagree with what that purpose is or entails or calls us to, but when, as here, there is really no room for reasonable disagreement, that should really be the end of the inquiry. If the abandonment and killing of babies born alive, despite an attempted abortion, may dent the iron foundation of Roe v. Wade (which, consensus is, it wouldn't), then dent away, I say, and don't even peek back.

Grace and Peace,
Raffi

**Previous Posts in this Series:


The Faith of Barack Obama: An Introduction to a Book Review Series

The Faith of Barack Obama: A Review Series (Day 1) -- A Double Prologue

The Faith of Barack Obama: A Review Series (Day 2) -- A Balanced Look at Trinity United?