In the last post, I highlighted Michael Brendan Dougherty's contention that Americans are theologically illiterate. Well, here's Exhibit A: a fascinating, and illuminating, controversy started by Joe Carter, who questioned whether or not Barack Obama is a Christian. As a statement of minimal Christian orthodoxy -- that is, what it is necessary to believe to be a Christian -- the Nicene Creed is as basic as it comes. And yet, in a 2004 interview with Cathleen Falsani, published in full the other day by Steve here on Bnet, Obama apparently professed a heterodox Christology:
FALSANI: Who's Jesus to you?(He laughs nervously)
OBAMA:
Right.Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he's also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher.
And he's also a wonderful teacher. I think it's important for all of us, of whatever faith, to have teachers in the flesh and also teachers in history.
Unless Obama was being incredibly and uncharacteristically inarticulate, this is heterodox. You cannot be a Christian in any meaningful sense and deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. You just can't.
Joe's concern -- and mine -- is strictly theological; as he explains (again) in this follow-up post -- which contains links to Andrew Sullivan's and Freddie de Boer's criticisms of his initial remarks -- he doesn't think Obama's theological orthodoxy has anything to do with whether or not he'll make a good president (which, by the way, was why I was annoyed by the belief that Mitt Romney's Christian heterodoxy had anything to do with the kind of president he'd have been).
But how can we say that Obama is not a Christian? Here's what he said himself, in the first question out of the box:
FALSANI: What do you believe? OBAMA: I am a Christian.
The question, obviously, is "what does he mean by Christian?" If he cannot affirm the , or the earlier Apostles Creed, then I can't agree that he's a Christian. Words mean things. But see, this is what it means to live in a postmodern culture that doesn't take religion seriously, but is still "religious." People think you can make this stuff up as you go along, and that nobody has the right to define authoritatively what any of it means. It's the Church of Christianity without Christ. It's Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, so let's call it what it is -- but not what it is not, which is Christianity.
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Larry, I so agree with you. I've been saying the same thing since the election.
Pray the Rosary!
Obama's thinking on this issue follows that of the Urantia Book. It is believed that Obama has a copy of the book, as does his sister in Hawaii.
Obama’s thinking on this issue follows that of the Urantia Book. It is believed that Obama has a copy of the book, as does his sister in Hawaii.
Jesus - in the Urantia Book on the subject of a loving God and eternal damnation: (compares with Obama's)
"My father, it cannot be true÷the Father in heaven cannot so regard his erring children on earth. The heavenly Father cannot love his children less than you love me. And I well know, no matter what unwise thing I might do, you would never pour out wrath upon me nor vent anger against me. If you, my earthly father, possess such human reflections of the Divine, how much more must the heavenly Father be filled with goodness and overflowing with mercy. I refuse to believe that my Father in heaven loves me less than my father on earth."
http://urantiabook.org/newbook/papers/p125.htm
(about the 6th paragraph down - Paper 125:0.6)
When was Obama Baptised? I've never heard of this occuring. The Catechism asks us: "Who is a Christian?" The answer desired is "One who is baptised."
I'm curious where you're getting the information that Obama denies the Trinity, because I don't see that in the interview, and the quote you gave also doesn't provide it. I don't see him affirming the Trinity, but that's not the same as denying it. He may well not believe in it, and it's surprising that he doesn't come close to it in his explanation of his view of Jesus if he indeed does believe it, but you're still putting words in his mouth by saying he denies it. There's no reason to think he affirms it, but I still think you overshoot to say he denies it.
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