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Reflections on the Obama Speech from a Foreigner

// August 30th, 2008 // Comments Off // Uncategorized

The Audacity of Hope: A Foreigner’s Reflection on Obama’s Speech » Blog » Podcast of Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries).

Quick Thoughts on the Obama Speech

// August 29th, 2008 // Comments Off // Current Affairs

Review of The Faith of Barack Obama

// August 27th, 2008 // Comments Off // Current Affairs

Last night after watching the Democratic National Convention I finished up reading Stephen Mansfield's The Faith of Barack Obama.  The following paragraphs will be an attempt to summarize and give some thought to Mansfield's book which is enlightening and encouraging on some levels yet disturbing and tired on some others.

Early in the the book Mansfield acknowledges that this work is not a statement for or against the candidate but is an attempt to understand the faith of the man who could be our next president.  Obama, if elected, will be the first president who was raised in a non-Christian home and for many voters the values and ethics that shape the man are incredibly important on deciding whether he is worthy of their support.  The book seems to be well informed and does a great job at quelling some of the very bad disinformation that is out their about Obama's history.

The Faith of Barack Obama gives you an idea of how Obama can be so broad in his viewpoints on religion and how it informs his actions.  Over a series of pages Mansfield points out that Obama was raised by an atheist mother.  Over time as a child he finds himself in Muslim schools, in Catholic churches and part of a family that is skeptical of all religion yet gives space to folk practices such as warding off the evil eye.  Over the pages that describe Obama's childhood it is easy to see how it can and would take many years to reconcile this swirling of faith backgrounds.  Mansfield does give great space to Obama's decision to become a follower of Christ and attempts to elaborate on how this might really look different than what most average evangelical white readers would understand.  Not only does Obama come out of a youth that is a spiritual swirl but after years of education, he finds himself in Chicago working as an activist yet he is trying to reconcile a loneliness that is inside of him.  Like many African Americans, and other non-white cultures, he seems to be captured first by the community to which he is accepted.  The community and its sense of belonging, plus its sense of battling against oppression in all forms, may be a view of Christianity that is hard for many of us to understand. 

This view though is common among many Christianities outside of the USA and what Obama seems to have been shaped by at Trinity reminds me of some levels of what I know about liberation theology – a system of thought that I must admit I don't completely understand because I have not walked the road of oppression.  I think Mansfield touches on this but I'm not sure there is enough there to help the average reader understand how different Obama's worldview may be based on his experiences.

I think that after reading the book Obama is simply a picture of many in America who are struggling to reconcile faith and action.  This seems to have been expressed in his speech in which he questions which Christianity will we follow (Dobson's or Shar'pton's)?  Many young adults in America struggle with this and are trying to figure out how we reconcile much of what we see out of Christians when it seems so far from what Jesus did.  I think part of his allure is and will be his push to stop fighting and talk. This is encouraging and is a breath of fresh air to many who are just tired of the senseless non-stop fighting that seems to be built in to our psyche.

The parts of this book that are hard to reconcile are Obama's positions on abortion in light of his faith.  The book touches on some other issues that will be hard for evangelical Christians to work through in supporting Obama but abortion is the main issue touched on in this book. After reading the book I feel like Obama is dealing with a divide in his life.  The book touches on the factors that create this divide but I'm not sure how faith has shaped his position is clearly articulated.  He states that he is not "pro-abortion" and that he doesn't know anyone that is.  I feel like Mansfield touches on how his family background, his faith journey, his church back ground and his political views all lead him to a place of seeing government influence in the decisions of a woman as oppression of her rights.  One thing I think that he is consistent on is the fact that government should not oppress the rights of any group.

The area of abortion is also the part of the book that is really tired to me.  I feel like Mansfield falls into the trap of grabbing one issue and honing in on it.  In a book that is this significant, I'm not sure that it is fair to play to the evangelical hot button of abortion.  Obama is given little credit for his "pro-life" views in that he has been consistent in his views on seeking diplomacy and not engaging violent conflict.  For many in the USA who come from a place of distrust of government and who feel lied to about the war in Iraq, Obama's faith leads him to what it seems Jesus would do:  to sit down and talk with your enemies.  This is part of who he is is given little space in the book but it is a huge reason many young followers are drawn to him.

In all I enjoyed the read.  It dispelled some lies that are out there about Obama and helps you see who he is while at the same time it leaves me with questions.  I think one of the things that concerns people about Obama is that he is ambiguous and I'm not sure that this book really helps clear any of that up.  I do think that Mansfield did a great job of portraying Obama from many different perspectives but I'm still not sure I know the man.

This ambiguity mixed with politics can be equally dangerous as Mansfield points out.  Do we end up with a different civil religion than we have now?  Is Obama's faith/political mix just an effect to a cause. Bush must be credited with being so open about his faith but his administration has used faith as a banner.  Yet it appears to walk away with no legacy that resembles Christian values.  Mansfield makes a great point in that the danger of an ambiguous civil religion is that we can make it whatever we want – this fits our cultures tendencies well but may lead us down more paths of destruction.

I hope that readers will approach him and the book with an open mind.  There is no doubt that his passion is contagious and in the book you will learn much about him.  I walk away thinking that Obama is a man still in process.  As a believer I must trust that if his relationship with God is real then God is still working on him.  I think he has a chance to be a healer in some ways but will he must find a way to be understood if he is going to be effective across the board of American culture and sub-culture.  In an effective intro to one chapter Mansfield points to another American president who was misunderstood and beat up for his religious and political views.  He was said to be a man whose Christian character was not strong enough for him to be president.  That man was Abraham Lincoln.  He kinda did okay. He may be our next president but I still put my trust in the King of the Universe and not in earthly kings or their kingdoms.

Obama seems to be a product of what America has now become and we must decide as believers if we will find our place in changing America and the world from the bottom up or the top down.  This may be the biggest challenge that lies out there for Obama – convincing many Americans that have come to intertwine Christian faith with being American (the cross and the sword so to speak) that we can and are often wrong and civility and love win out over dominance and control.  I think he believes this but this book and in his own writing and speaking their is a struggle to articulate that vision so that it taps the heart of evangelical America.

Donald Miller’s Prayer

// August 26th, 2008 // Comments Off // Religion

HT: Ragamuffin Soul