August 3, 2009
Why Obama's church choice matters
by Henry G. Brinton
USA Today
Does it really matter whether the president goes to church? The Constitution says there shall be no "religious test," so perhaps Sunday morning should be the one day each week when the president gets to sleep in. He certainly works hard enough. But before he hits the snooze button, President Obama should return to the question of whether he and his family will join a congregation in the Washington area. He recently said that his family had not made a decision about joining a church, and I can respect that. Such a decision takes time. But it is a critical choice, with political and spiritual implications.
Politically, church attendance is a sign of integrity. If the president says he is a Christian, then going to church shows that he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. Americans are not interested in the specific doctrinal beliefs of a president, but they consider religion to be a proxy for "personal values." That is why 72% of Americans consider it important that the president have "strong religious beliefs," according to a poll last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Could an atheist be elected president? According to the Constitution, of course. But he (or she) would have to win over that 72% by demonstrating personal values such as faithfulness in marriage, honesty in business and service to the community. This would be a long, tough sales job because religion serves a handy shorthand substitute for personal values.
It's no surprise, then, that most successful candidates have found a way to talk about their personal faith on their way to the White House. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama all spoke convincingly of their Christian faith on the campaign trail. Once elected, however, they had widely different records of church attendance. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were regulars, for instance, while Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush rarely attended church in Washington. For most Americans, these attendance records are a non-issue.
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