Obama Talks About His Faith By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG President Obama addressed his religious faith when he took questions during a discussion with local families in Albuquerque on Tuesday.Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama addressed his religious faith when he took questions during a discussion with local families in Albuquerque on Tuesday.
ALBUQUERQUE — President Obama expounded Tuesday on the reasons he became a Christian as an adult, telling a group of residents here that he was a “Christian by choice” and that “the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brother and sister’s keeper.”
Mr. Obama, who has been criticized by conservative pundits who have questioned his Christian faith, gave a lengthy discourse on it in response to a woman who said she had three “hot topic questions” for him. The first was: “Why are you a Christian?” The second was on abortion — the president said it should be “safe, legal and rare” — and her third was whether Mr. Obama would accept her husband’s chili pepper. He said he would.
The unusual exchange came as Mr. Obama continued his tour of American backyards, dropping in at the home of a disabled veteran and a schoolteacher here. He used his opening remarks to warn that Republicans would “cut back our education spending by 20 percent,” while spending $700 billion to give tax breaks to the rich – money that he said the United States would have to borrow from China, Saudi Arabia or some other wealthy nation.
Mr. Obama sharpened his critique of the Republican agenda during the first stop on a four-state campaign swing intended to gin up enthusiasm among the lackluster Democratic base and remind Americans that he is committed to improving the lot of the middle class. Later on Tuesday, he will head to Madison, Wis., for an old-fashioned get-out-the-vote rally on the university campus there. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will headline a similar rally at Penn State; both are intended to re-engage young voters, especially those who went to the polls for the first time in 2008 to cast their ballots for the Obama-Biden ticket.
With unemployment stuck above 9 percent and voters deeply dissatisfied with Mr. Obama’s management of the economy, the White House has also been deploying the president to the homes of ordinary voters for a series of what it calls “backyard conversations.” Tuesday’s was the fourth such appearance, and two more are on the president’s schedule for later this week, one in Des Moines and the other in Richmond, Va.
The conversation was held at the home of Andy Cavalier, a retired Marine Corps staff sergeant who is disabled, and his wife, Etta, who has taught for 36 years in public schools and is currently a counselor at Los Lunas High school here. (Technically, it was in the front yard, although Mr. Obama did drop into the Cavaliers’ backyard to sip iced tea with them before greeting neighbors in the front.)
The president fielded questions on a variety of topics, including education, immigration, energy and housing policy. It grew emotional at one point, when Mr. Cavalier’s son, Andrew, broke into tears as he told Mr. Obama that his father had “sacrificed his body, 17 surgeries,” and was not getting the medical care that he needed at the local veterans’ hospital. Mr. Obama comforted the man, telling him that he viewed the government’s obligation to caring for veterans as a “sacred trust.”
But the religion question was perhaps the most revealing for the president – and also perhaps the most welcome, given that polls show that the public appears confused about his religion, with some 18 percent of Americans believing, erroneously, that he is Muslim.
“I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes and we achieve salvation through the grace of God.”
Mr. Obama went on: “But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.’’ Yet he said that as president, he also “deeply believes that part of the bedrock strength of this country is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith.’’
After the BS that he sold all of us when he was campaigning and the lies we were told about health-care, finance bill, and how he's using his power to gain control over we the people I really don't believe him or a word that he says. From what I've seen he'll say anything to attain his goals whether it's true or not.
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