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2004 Interview With Obama About Religion and Faith Confirms His Progressive Views
We spend a lot of time on Muckmakers criticizing religion, and even more time criticizing the religious leaders and politicians who use their misguided beliefs to justify the persecution of those of us with more freethinking lifestyles. This is not to say that we don’t respect those with spiritual convictions – atheists can always find common ground with agnostics and those who consider themselves “spiritual,” but not “religious.” These people are much less concerned with dogma and the converting of “sinners” and will freely admit doubts they have about the existence of a higher being or an afterlife. I have friends of many faiths who subscribe to so many varying ideas that it makes my head spin, but at the end of our lengthy late-night philosophical discussions, we always walk away as better and stronger companions because we’re that much closer to understanding each other. We may never change each other’s minds, but tolerance (and eventually, acceptance) will always yield more than persecution. It’s the obstinate, greed-fueled religions (such as Catholicism and Islam) that are the true enemy to our freedoms, not the challenge of confronting new or conflicting ideas. It’s the people that are unafraid of having these friendly debates (because no one knows the true answers for sure, after all) that are going to further this country’s welfare, and it was that factor that won my support of Barack Obama very early on.
As soon as his name started making the media rounds about two years ago, I immediately began digging up everything I could on the guy. One of the first videos I ever saw him in was a speech he did about the need for religious tolerance in America, and I was absolutely floored. I couldn’t believe that a politician was speaking so openly about his actual beliefs like that. As we’ve seen since the days of Regan, anyone running for public office nowadays have to mention the Christian god at least five or six times per speech to even be considered by voters, and this guy was even calling atheists and agnostics his brothers. George Bush Sr. told a reporter that he didn’t even consider atheists real citizens and no one even blinked an eye. Bush Jr. used “god” to score votes and push an unjust war and nobody broke a sweat. As much as I totally dug what Obama was saying, I thought that he’d be dead in the water right there. Would he even make it to the primaries speaking that honestly?
Well, we all know how he beat the odds there. So when he started talking about faith-based programs during his campaign or saying “God bless America” one too many times during his speeches, I never raised an eyebrow – it’s politics, and if he didn’t pander to the largest demographic in this country once in a while, he wasn’t going to last against “I’ll Say Whatever It Takes” McCain. The Jeremiah Wright thing didn’t even get to me; after reading his memoirs and hearing those sincere, respectful speeches about religion and faith, I knew that Obama, like many Christians, took his family to that church to share his faith with others, not shove it down the throats of everyone who doesn’t care to hear it. Ever been in a black church? They’re all like that, and, really, they’re no more of less quirky than any white sects of Christianity…just a tad more…passionate. Ok, I think they’re idiots too, but how many churchgoers do you know that agree with their church on every stance they make? (Birth control, for example.) It was a “death by association” comparison, and the GOP knew it. Besides, Republicans had preachers on their side that could make Jeremiah blush.
But I digress. TPM brought my attention to an amazingly candid interview that Cathleen Falsani did with Obama back in 2004 about his religious beliefs that has not be published in full until now – this is a must-read and completely supports my view of this man. Here are some highlights…
FALSANI: Jack Ryan [Obama's Republican opponent in the U.S. Senate race at the time] said talking about your faith is fraught with peril for a public figure.
OBAMA: Which is why you generally will not see me spending a lot of time talking about it on the stump. Alongside my own deep personal faith, I am a follower, as well, of our civic religion. I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big believer in our constitutional structure. I mean, I’m a law professor at the University of Chicago teaching constitutional law. I am a great admirer of our founding charter, and its resolve to prevent theocracies from forming, and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamentalism from taking root in this country.
As I said before, in my own public policy, I’m very suspicious of religious certainty expressing itself in politics. Now, that’s different form a belief that values have to inform our public policy. I think it’s perfectly consistent to say that I want my government to be operating for all faiths and all peoples, including atheists and agnostics, while also insisting that there are values that inform my politics that are appropriate to talk about.
A standard line in my stump speech during this campaign is that my politics are informed by a belief that we’re all connected. That if there’s a child on the South Side of Chicago that can’t read, that makes a difference in my life even if it’s not my own child. If there’s a senior citizen in downstate Illinois that’s struggling to pay for their medicine and having to chose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer even if it’s not my grandparent. And if there’s an Arab American family that’s being rounded up by John Ashcroft without the benefit of due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
I can give religious expression to that. I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper, we are all children of God. Or I can express it in secular terms. But the basic premise remains the same. I think sometimes Democrats have made the mistake of shying away from a conversation about values for fear that they sacrifice the important value of tolerance. And I don’t think those two things are mutually exclusive.FALSANI: Do you think it’s wrong for people to want to know about a civic leader’s spirituality?
OBAMA: I don’t’ think it’s wrong. I think that political leaders are subject to all sorts of vetting by the public, and this can be a component of that. I think that I am disturbed by, let me put it this way: I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate. I think there is this tendency that I don’t think is healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them.
The guy lists Gandhi as an influence to his faith. He views Jesus more as an historical figure than a magical deity in a man’s body turning water into wine at parties. He understands and actually respects those of us with no faith whatsoever. This is what gives me hope for the future of the United States; that a deep and rational thinker made this far up the national food chain. I wish him luck in undoing the damage that people like Bush Jr. and Palin have done to this nation’s critical thinking skills. In fact, (your) god bless…you’ll need all the divine intervention you can get.
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I read interviews like this and I like Mr. President even more. Just another reason that justifies my vote for him!