Andrew Sullivan excerpts this reader comment over at the Daily Dish:

I firmly believe that Obama is a typical Ivy League atheist who plays at Christianity in a cynical way to get elected to public office.

God-o-Meter is frankly shocked that there are people–Democrats even–who believe this.
If Obama’s an atheist, his plan to “play at Christianity” has been breathtakingly comprehensive and labor intensive.

Obama went through the trouble of getting baptized in his mid-20s. In the ensuing years his preacher married him, baptized his children, and blessed his house. Obama wrote extensively about his experience coming to Christianity in two books, one of which took its name from a sermon by his preacher.
On the campaign trail, Obama is known to quietly attend church some Sunday mornings.
Obama openly discusses his faith to an extent that should make George W. Bush blush. Consider Obama’s keynote address at a 2006 Call to Renewal conference, his address on AIDS at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church the same year, or his meeting with a big group of Hispanic evangelicals in Texas during the current campaign.
One of Obama’s first campaign hires was his director of religious outreach, a former associate pastor in the Assemblies of God church who previously worked in Obama’s Senate office. He applied for a job there after being moved by Obama’s “We worship an awesome God in the blue states,” line in his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech.
Obama has printed up literature detailing his faith life for distribution in this campaign.
When videos of Jeremiah Wright caused the biggest political crisis of his campaign to date, Obama refused to wholly denounce him, saying “[H]e has been like family to me…. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
Could all this be an elaborate scheme to “play at Christianity” to get votes? Sure. But it’d be one hell of a ploy, and one that’s caused Obama as much grief as political benefit.

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