Who’s a hypocrite here? You say it’s Obama’s business to attend church or not, yet then question that he doesn’t. I completely understand his not wanting to disrupt the service. He’s a celebrity in a way, and too many people will want his attention while he’s available. How would he be helping the church if he’s busy answering all his ‘fans’? I applaud his discretion.

how do you or any of us know what the secret service is telling him at the moment? How can you question his choice to attend public service in one breath and remind us of religious liberty? And he certainly does not owe one American where and how he is meeting his personal religious needs. HIs job at the moment is getting ready to heal this country with the job of the excutive office. Employment, war, education, economy, enviromental. Seperation of church and state is another American policy.

Thanks Audrey! I could not have said it better myself.
I DON’T know what the Secret Service is telling him. But if that is the reason, he should say so.
The opportunity is to explore the issues of faith. If he chooses not to, so be it. But like you, I find myself looking for a better answer than the one offered. You decide it must be security. I do not know what it is.
I do think we would all be the better for know though. Not because there is a correct answer, but because greater transparency in government is one of the things which many of has have been missing for many years. This would have been a real chance to address that need.

our president elect is abosoulutely right.
before he can enter the church it needs to be empty, bomb dogs etc and brought along to snif and the First Family and their secret service enters first and are also all over the place.
Members of churches really find this a problem,
Better to hold those services you want to in your new home the White House in your living quaters.
You could certainly get a minyon if it was needed!
hugs
Laura

Perhaps the real dilemma Sen. Obama is facing is not if, but where, to attend religious services. It would not be politically expedient to return to the congregation led by the not-very-Rev. Jeremiah Wright after all the furor that worthy’s remarks caused during the campaign. And, of course, the Senator disavowed his relationship with Wright, at least at the time.
So maybe he is attempting to locate a church which will be politically, racially, and culturally neutral, so as to be politically correct and offend nobody.
The only way, of course, to offend nobody is to do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
Ben Hall

You have hit the nail on, Ben. And it’s not a good head. If the only way to function is to pretend to please all people all of the time, then we will experience the paralysis which you describe — doing nothing, saying nothing, being nothing. That would be worse than sad.
That is why we all have a role to play in making this better: the president-elect in saying more than his version of nothing, and the public in being willing to respectfully hear whatever he wants to say about the choice he has made.

What part of, “It’s none of your business” does the good rabbi not understand?
No, Obama was not elected Religious Leader-In-Charge, and it is not his duty to start any discussion about FAITH. In fact, he has a constitutional duty NOT to undertake any such subject. The government is not supposed to promote any religion or even religion in general.
The dear rabbi seems to be a rather slow learner in that he repetitively tries to make governments involve themselves in religious affairs. This is not Israel, and we see what a mess the rabbis in Israel have made of the mix of religious and civic affairs.

President-elect Obama should say once sentence on this matter.
“My family’s worship arrangements are being handled.”
I’d love to hear him tell the self-righteous Pharisees exactly where to put their concerns, but they would first have to remove their heads.

It will be interesting to see if Mr. Obama settles into any kind of regular public or private worship routine after he takes office. How often did he go to church while he was a senator? Perhaps he’s going through an adjustment phase right now, and does not want to feel compelled to go to church when he has enough on his plate at the moment.

“And even if one accepts his rationale for not attending church with others, it does not explain why the president-elect has not made alternative arrangements for formal prayer in a more private setting. He would be far from the first public figure to do so.”
In the President-elect’s faith tradition, supervision of prayer by a pastor, priest, or rabbi is not required. Perhaps he sees how leaders of formal prayer for other presidents have exploited their connection to power. And at any rate, you hardly know whether he has or hasn’t. Is Brad Hirschfield now chief of staff? After all, as you noted and should take much more seriously, it’s not your business.

So here on the one hand we complain about public officials making their private faith issues public and wearing their religion on their sleeve and accuse them of doing it for show; then we turn around and say, “Why isn’t he in Church?”?
I couldn’t care less; I haven’t noticed he hasn’t been in Church; nor do I care.
He needs to work on healing the nation.
If we were to vote in an atheist as president, we wouldn’t want that person to work on enforcing the image that faith is not important to the nation.
The bottom line would be, is, and should be, fix the nation’s problems.
Obama owes us nothing by way of explanation on his church-going or non church-going habits.

Why would a Barack Hussein Obama go to church anyways? How many other Barack Hussein Obama’s go to church?
Did you know that Hussein was the grandson of Muhammad? I didn’t know that.

this is none of our business. i couldnt agree with Scott more. Not that faith and community isnt important to people but it not our presidents job description. and rabbi u took my post and translated it back to ur agenda not what i was stating at all. yes let us disagree but not use my words to tell me what i “decided.” how insulting.i am an old woman. english is not my first language although i think do real well generally speaking.
In a time where i am struggling to pay for my medications, my grandchildren are on the brink of bankruptcy and my great grandchildren have no health insurance i know i am not alone. there are thousands of americans sadly in the same boat. in these difficult times i question the topic that has been brought forward. it is serves not to provoke thoughtful constructive ideas but fill a blog. i will continue to attend shul and read chabad.org i am done with this rabbi’s lack of priorities and listening skills. Do you know what arguing for the sake of arguing gets u? a headache. I have enough at this stage of my life.

Audrey,
We would be sorry to see you go. You, and all of the other commenters are especially important to Windows and Doors because the conversation is the key.
I do find it ironic that of all the commenters, you – the one to whom I gave a direct and serious response, are the one to complain about my “listening skills”. I think you, like many people, may be confusing listening with agreeing.
But if you are strong enough to hang in with people even when you don’t agree, and I bet you are, then I hope you will keep reading and keep commenting. We need your voice.
Peace

I am honestly not surprised that Mr. Obama has not selected a new church and it does not bother me at all. I do not think he needs a clergyman or congregation to pray or to reflect on the HUGE responsiblities that are now his.
As the president-elect, attending church would provide some logistical hurdles. These would be a huge distraction for the congregation as well as for the Obama family. It might be very uncomfortable for the girls. I don’t think it would be terribly relaxing or spiritually fulfilling.
If Mr. Obama is to choose a church in Washington, I imagine it will happen after he and his wife have some time to get to know people and figure out where they would be comfortable and feel as though they were among REAL friends not just people who want to go to the church the president attends.
Finally, our religous choices are personal. Even as president, he has a right to privacy. If he needs to work-out on Sunday mornings right now, then that is what he should do.
Lucy

I think my friend the Rabbi may be barking up the wrong tree. With all the attention focussed on him in a way that is different from the campaign, with the rigors of the transition process, getting used to the even tighter security he now experiences, perhaps the President Elect can be taken at his word.
Let’s wait and see what happens.
To those who think this point is never relevant, keep in mind that this is a man who has made faith a part of his political personality. So at some point how he puts that faith into practice is a fair question. But right now, lets just chill out.

“…perhaps the President Elect can be taken at his word.”
Now there’s a concept.

Dave’s silliness notwithstanding, Barack Hussein Obama is a Christian, and Christians, whether or not they choose to live by the words of Jesus, do have them to guide their decisions. I think I remember learning that Jesus told his followers to pray in their closets rather than in public (for show). So if Obama is a praying man (and we have no reason to believe he is less so than previous presidents and some reason to believe he might be more so than many of them), maybe he’s just spending time in the closet as directed, avoiding what certainly would be the spectacle of VERY public prayer.
L’Shalom,
Chaim

One of the reasons I did NOT vote for Obama was his association with Rev. Wright. I would rather he had been in no church at all than know that he sat idly and listened to those diatribes and did nothing until it was obviously a political liability for him.
Logistics aren’t really the issue. All of the presidents in recent memory have fund their way into a Washington area church. (And look how much it helped keep Nixon and Clinton on the straight and narrow…) I hope he finds a place to pray that suits his needs.

Saul,
You got that right, and read my mind.
What if Obama picked a church with which “others” had issues, like the one he was in with Jeremiah Wright?
Honestly – there are better things to get worked up about than Obama’s not announcing which church he now attends. I need him to run the country.

why is this any of our business? why does he need to explain?
one’s faith-lack of same-searching, etc. should NOT be public property.I am tired of the constant insistence that politicians proclaim their faith and that everone embrace the “Judeo Christian” denomination whatever that is. Maybe it meansChristiansshould go to church on Purim & we should goto shul Sunday morning

I heard on O’Reilly, that paragon of no spin, that someone posted an atheist sign next to an Xmas display in some government building in Washington State saying that religion was not good. Of course, Bill-O and the Xians are up in arms. “How dare anyone else have any idea that does not honor Xianity.”
The Xians put their religious ideas on public property, but no one else has the right to express contrary ideas. And Yes, Rabbi Brad is here promoting the idea that The President-elect should bring more RELIGIOUS FOOLISHNESS into the public realm.

The First Family could actually WALK to St. John’s Church on Lafayette Square across from the White House, less than half a mile. The Church has welcomed many Presidents in the past.