How Does a President Chose a Church?

My good friend Amy Sullivan is a very hard act to follow in any writing assignment, and she covered this topic very well for Time last week.  But in an attempt to help provide a little perspective for our good friends on the other side of the Pond, here are my thoughts on the difficulties Obama will face as he and his family try to decide where to worship.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2008/nov/24/usa-religion

Amid all the speculation about decisions president-elect Obama will have to make when he takes office, the question of where will he and his family go to church has been getting a lot of attention recently.

To some, this question may not rise to the level of, say, how Obama plans to tackle the banking crisis. After all, neither Ronald Reagan nor George W Bush even went to church while president. The Clintons chose a local Methodist church with a strong youth programme for Chelsea, and the first President Bush went to an Episcopalian church. Jimmy Carter actually taught Sunday school while president at a Baptist church in Virginia.

Yet there are several reasons that Obama choice of church will be more scrutinised than that of any other American president. In a country where nearly half the voters attend church weekly and another third attend at least once a month, Obama's ability to talk about his faith helped lead the Democrats out of the political wilderness of being viewed by many voters as hostile to religion.

Furthermore, race and faith in America have always been intertwined, and the black church has historically served as the political and social epicentre of the African-American community. And so in the same way that Americans wondered what kind of influence the Pope would have when Kennedy became America's first Catholic president, they now wait to see what role the local church will play in the life of America's first black president.

Finally, Obama's last church choice nearly derailed his presidential aspirations when YouTube clips began circulating of Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, preaching anti-American and racially-charged sermons.

Combine all of these factors, and Obama's allies will be looking for him to make an inspired choice that helps reshape America's faith and racial dialogue ... and his enemies will be looking for a choice they can use to undermine his presidency. So putting aside the potential effect of his church choice on his immortal soul, the political stakes will clearly be high.

For example, many people assume Obama will worship at an African American church as he did in Chicago. But Obama has often quoted Martin Luther King's critique that America's most segregated hour is 11am on Sunday. If the first black president chooses to worship in a predominantly black church, does that call into question whether he really thinks this is a problem or perhaps imply that it's a problem only white people are responsible for fixing? Conversely, if Obama chooses a predominantly white church, many black people in this country will feel abandoned.

The same sort of dilemma applies to his choice of denomination. Most past presidents have come into office with a clear denominational affiliation, which helped narrow their options. But Obama was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ (UCC) in Chicago, an anomaly in the UCC for being a predominantly African-American church in a mostly white denomination. The UCC is also one of the most liberal denominations in America, and joining another UCC church would inevitably raise the issue of Jeremiah Wright again. But it is also the denomination he has belonged to for his entire adult life, and people would read all kinds of things into his decision to leave it.

Another question is whether he will choose a church with a social justice and prophetic tradition that reflects his theology but risks another Jeremiah Wright moment. Or should he chose a more "relational" church focused on community and Christian growth that would provide a nurturing environment for his daughters but might be viewed by supporters as the easy way out?

It's hard enough to find a new church without being president. So what is a president, a father, a husband, and an inspiration to an entire race and new generation of American voters to do? Despite (or perhaps because of) all the political implications of this decision, there will not be a "smart" political choice. All will be fraught with peril. But Obama proved throughout the campaign that often the best political choice is just to do what feels right and then honestly communicate why he did so to the American people.