The Associated Press
CHICAGO – Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and other issues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have been criticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.
Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas megachurch, said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his “personal journey of faith.”
The discussion “went absolutely everywhere,” Jakes told The Associated Press, and “just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room.”
Jakes, who does not endorse candidates and said he also hopes to meet with Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said some participants clearly have political differences with Obama. The senator’s support for abortion rights and gay rights, among other issues, draws opposition from religious conservatives. Some conservatives have criticized Jakes for praising Obama.
Jakes said the meeting, at a law firm’s offices, seemed designed to prompt a wide discussion rather than to result in commitments from either Obama or those attending. Others familiar with the meeting said some participants agreed to attend only because it would be private.
Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella organization for evangelical churches and ministries, said Obama asked participants to share “anything that’s on your mind that is of concern to you.”
“I think it’s important to point out this isn’t a group of people who are endorsing Obama,” Cizik said in an interview. “People were asked for their insider wisdom and understanding of the religious community.”
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for the Rev. Franklin Graham, said Graham attended and asked Obama whether “he thought Jesus was the way to God, or merely a way.” DeMoss declined to discuss Obama’s response.
Graham, who succeeded his father as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, found the senator “impressive” and “warm,” DeMoss said.
“He feels that dialogue with someone who may be president is useful whether or not you agree with them on everything or anything,” DeMoss said. Graham expects to soon meet with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Joshua Dubois, the Obama campaign’s director of faith outreach, said the meeting included “prominent evangelicals and other faith leaders” who “discussed policy issues and came together in conversation and prayer.” Similar sessions will occur “in the months to come,” he said.
About 30 people attended, the campaign said, but it released only three names: the Rev. Stephen Thurston, head of the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., a historically black denomination; the Rev. T. Dewitt Smith, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., which was home to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders; and Bishop Phillip Robert Cousin Sr., an A.M.E. clergyman and former NAACP board member.
Two sources familiar with the meeting, but who spoke on background because the session was private, said others attending included conservative Catholic constitutional lawyer Doug Kmiec; evangelical author Max Lucado of San Antonio; Cameron Strang, founder of Relevant Media, which is aimed at young Christians; the Rev. Luis Cortes of Esperanza USA; and Paul Corts, president of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.
Kmiec, an abortion opponent who worked for the Reagan administration’s Justice Department, was denied Communion in April at a Mass for Catholic business people because he had endorsed Obama. Church leaders later apologized, according to syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne.
Cizik said the issues discussed Tuesday included “protecting the traditional family, same-sex marriage, gay rights, religious freedom, genocide, poverty and hunger in America, and how we might even improve America’s standing in the world.”
He said he told Obama: “Religious Americans want to know why is it you love this country and what it stands for and how we can make it better.”
Cizik said participants agreed not to give specifics of Obama’s responses to their questions, but that “there was nothing softball about this meeting and that’s the way he said he wanted it.”
Jakes said there was just a brief mention of Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor, who became the focus of a political flare-up earlier in the year after videos of his sermons showed him cursing the government and accusing it of conspiring against blacks. Obama eventually broke with Wright and resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ.
AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in New York and Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
posted June 11, 2008 at 8:31 pm
All the names that did come out as having met “in private” with Obama were just plain scary.
posted June 11, 2008 at 8:58 pm
“Kmiec, an abortion opponent who worked for the Reagan administration’s Justice Department, was denied Communion in April at a Mass for Catholic business people because he had endorsed Obama.”
That’s pretty scary. Betcha no one was demoted for it!
I’m guessing those who really listen to Obama and to McCain will notice Obama is a good deal deeper. Which can talk the religious talk? Hard to say; it may not be exactly natural to either.
They will have met Christian leaders and Israeli influence peddlers. Will Obama and McCain meet Muslim leaders? Atheist leaders (hah, like we could be led)? I’m guessing it would be a cold day in a fictional hole.
posted June 12, 2008 at 10:16 am
Liberal Christians can work with all sorts of folks. One of the basic presuppositions from which we opperate is that it is better to get to know each other so we can more easily work together when the time comes. We don’t want others to be like us, nor are we likely to becme like them. Diversity is one of the best stengths. The UCC, from which Obama has gotten most of his religious background, is usually close to the front when anything ecumenical gets going. And I think Obama learned in his community action days that churches, for all the division that is fomented, work well togethr on key and important projects. In many ways this is what “W” was trying to do but had no experience or “head” for it.
nnmns,
Are there readily identifiable leaders in atheism that would be representative enough for a meeting with candidates to be worthwhile? (No meanness or enmity intended here, this is a genuine and earnest question). Or would they make their case in other forums, say a gathering of scientists dedicated to a particular issue.
posted June 12, 2008 at 12:03 pm
j, there are writers and thinkers some unknown fraction of us read and organizations a probably very small fraction of us belong to, let alone participate in. And of course many scientists are agnostics or atheists but many are not.
No, there could be a group of, I suppose you could say “opinion leaders” but more in the sense of pushing string than pulling it. More in the sense of herding cats than opening a can of cat food.
posted June 12, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Kmiec, an abortion opponent who worked for the Reagan administration’s Justice Department, was denied Communion in April at a Mass for Catholic business people because he had endorsed Obama.
Well, i just love this!
More control by the church over secular matters and matters of either law or of personal opinion.
So disgusted with the stranglehold churches of any stripe hold over our political system.
posted June 12, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for the Rev. Franklin Graham, said Graham attended and asked Obama whether “he thought Jesus was the way to God, or merely a way.” DeMoss declined to discuss Obama’s response.
No one should really give a rat’s a** about the answer, and frankly, I’d be more scared if Obama answered yes to the first part of the question.
Here are a few things I think way more important than Obama’s views on Jesus:
what are you going to do to increase jobs?
what are you doing to do about the economy?
what are you going to do to improve the nation’s infrastructure?
what are you going to do to decrease dependence on foreign oil?
what are you going to to to try to revise the tax code?
what are you going to do to decrease the deficit created by your republican financially conservative and responsible (cough, cough) predecessor?
The list could go on and on.
posted June 12, 2008 at 3:06 pm
They will have met Christian leaders and Israeli influence peddlers.
Why are the Christians “leaders” and the Israelis, “influence peddlers”?
Very, very biased.
posted June 12, 2008 at 3:34 pm
ecl the people described in the article above are presumably in general leaders of groups of Christians. The people at the AIPAC meeting deal in influence in favor of Israel. Sorry if it sounded biased, not intended that way.
I’m not too well disposed toward either group.
posted June 12, 2008 at 3:43 pm
ecl wrote, “So disgusted with the stranglehold churches of any stripe hold over our political system.”
I am glad to say our denomination is not of any discernable stripe -we are more of a paisley type organization. Stripes are far too organized for what we do. As to strangleholds -we can barely hold onto each other, let alone grasp someone else by the neck!
As to your other excellent questions – I think those are the very questions on everyone’s mind. How he answers will be a surer indication of how his faith operates in his life. Answering some theoretical theological query indicates very little.
posted June 12, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Sorry if it sounded biased, not intended that way.
apology appreciated and accepted!
posted June 12, 2008 at 4:40 pm
jest – my turn to apologize.
I only meant the ones that seek what I consider undue influence over national policy. did not mean to paint such a broad brushstroke.
posted June 12, 2008 at 6:27 pm
ecl:
To “ditto” jestrfyl…excellent questions.
And IMO, more important than an answer to the DeMoss question!
posted July 1, 2008 at 3:49 pm
On Franklin Graham’s one-on-one questioning of Obama -
The question presented was whether Jesus Christ is THE way or merely A way to salvation. Mr. Obama reportedly said “Jesus is the only way for me. I’m not in a position to judge other people.” The clear implication of Mr. Obama’s answer is that Jesus may not be, or is not necessarily, the only way for the entire human race.
That which Mr. Obama’s answer implies is fully confirmed as reported by CATHLEEN FALSANI , Sun-Times Columnist (April 5, 2004) who in an hour long interview with Mr. Obama reports that Mr. Obama stated the following:
“I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”
[http://www.suntimes.com/news/falsani/726619,obamafalsani040504.article]
OK there you go – Jesus Christ is not the only way. That’s what the man believes. But ostensibly Mr. Obama believes the Bible is truth. If so, the Bible says at John 14:6 that Jesus Christ said:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come unto the Father but through me.”
John 14:6
Likewise, Acts 4:12 says:
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
So, Mr. Obama says there are “many paths to the same place”. Mr. Obama makes Jesus Christ a liar because Jesus Christ said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man can come unto the Father but through me.”
Mr. Obama refuses to acknowledge as true Jesus Christ’s claim that He is the only way to God and salvation for ~ not just Mr. Obama ~ but the entire human race. Pluralism repudiates truth as an absolute for all and embraces the notion that what is true for you need not be truth for someone else. Tolerance used to mean (and by my book still does) that one “puts up with” folks that don’t have it right. . . but now means (to many) that I must accept opposing views as equally valid as mine.
The keystone to Christianity and to the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ is the only way to God & Salvation for the ENTIRE human race. Everybody else is wrong and in need of Jesus Christ. Mr. Obama does not hold to this and is therefore not a Christian, as his belief falls outside the pale of Biblical orthodoxy i.e., his belief is heretical.
Given the fact that mutuality exclusive tenets of world religions cannot both be true and given the fact that the Bible states Jesus Christ is the Only Savior of the world it seems all Protestants, Baptists and Catholics must, unless the be rank hypocrites, repudiate Mr. Obama’s pluralistic view about how people are saved and how they get to God.
I will admit that, to be consistent, President Bush is off base also and shares the same company as Mr. Obama. ABC’s Charles Gibson interviewed President George W. Bush. Mr. Gibson asked the below questions and President Bush responded as indicated:
Q. “Do we all worship the same God, Christian and Muslim?”
A. “I think we do. We have different routes of getting to the Almighty.”
Q. “Do Christians and non-Christians and Muslims go to heaven in your mind?”
A. “Yes they do. We have different routes of getting there.”
I will note that President Bush did concede in the same interview that some believe in a false god: Q. Does bin Laden? Does Abu Musab al-Zarqawi pray to the same God that you and I do? A. I think they pray to a false god otherwise they wouldn’t be killing innocent lives like they have been.
But President Bush’s confusion does not redeem Mr. Obama from the false statement that he is a Christian. In any event, if indeed President Bush and Mr. Obama both refuse to admit there is only one way for salvation for the entire human race than they are Universalists and don’t believe in the Biblical keystone of the Christian faith: that Jesus Christ is the only way to God & Salvation for the ENTIRE human race.