Obama: "I Believe In The Redemptive Death And Resurrection Of Christ"

Christianity Today:

In a recent interview with Christianity Today, presidential candidate Barack Obama shared his religious beliefs, and answered questions on questions central to evangelical interests, such as abortion.

On his faith:

"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals."

On abortion:

"Ultimately, women are in the best position to make a decision at the end of the day about these issues. With significant constraints. For example, I think we can legitimately say -- the state can legitimately say -- that we are prohibiting late-term abortions as long as there's an exception for the mother's health. Those provisions that I voted against typically didn't have those exceptions, which raises profound questions where you might have a mother at great risk. Those are issues that I don't think the government can unilaterally make a decision about. I think they need to be made in consultation with doctors, they have to be prayed upon, or people have to be consulting their conscience on it. I think we have to keep that decision-making with the person themselves."

Read the full interview here.

Read the whole story: Christianity Today

Comments

[Larry of Corrales]

09:29 AM on 01/28/2008

What I want to hear from a candidate before I vote for them are John F. Kennedy's words on how strongly they believe in the separation of church and state. I am so fed up with candidates for the highest office in the land telling us how religious they are.

[Rescisco]

09:43 PM on 01/27/2008

I hope one day a candidate might say, in response to the religion question, "as President I will preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. This includes the the free exercise and the establishment clauses of the First Amendment. I also will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitutional ban against any religious test for holding office. Finally, I will remind you that your question, which presumes that you or any voter might judge my fitness for the presidency by my personal relgious beliefs, is as offensive to me personally as it is insulting to the very notion of Liberty."

[happycat]

06:49 PM on 01/27/2008

I think that it is fine and dandy that Obama considers himself a Christian. Having said that, I wish that he wouldn't talk so much about his faith. It makes me very uncomfortable. I believe in the absolute separation of church and state. I think that Obama while sincere in his beliefs as a Christian is also pandering to the Evangelical Christians out there. I don't want another religious zealot (like Bush) in the White House. The United States is made up of many religions. Many of us are not Christians.
I find it interesting that Obama always mentions during the debates that he is a "Christian". Maybe he is trying to allay the fears of the fools out there who worrly that Obama is a Muslim.

[drblack]

06:48 PM on 01/26/2008

Well keep it to your god damn self.
fairy tales for the frightened are no way to lead.
If we want to become a third world country owned and dominated by China this is the path to take.
When primitive faith based cultures run up against scientific reason based cultures the primitives with their faith ALWAYS lose to the scientific based culture.

[Silpat]

11:24 PM on 01/25/2008

How can the Clinton camp insinuate that a U.S. Senator (Obama) is less trust-worthy and possibly more dangerous to the country than the illegal immigrants filtering in from heaven knows where? Duh! One can only assume that background checks are performed on all top-level government officials, which would also include State and U.S. Senators. Wow, I just can’t imagine intelligent people falling for the Clinton's nonsensical tactics.

If I were the Republican candidate, I would make hay of the fact that the Democrats want to protect America against a U.S. Senator in their own Party, but not protect the country against illegal immigrants (regardless of nationality) coming across our borders. It seems to me that the Democrats are making the Republicans job easier and easier. Funny.

[realitytrumpsbull]

09:49 PM on 01/25/2008

Well, I believe I'll have the double whopper, and a coke. And, I don't believe in the Invisible Man, or organized religion, but I do believe they have a lot of money, and want to play political games...

[BUSHsurvivor]

06:49 PM on 01/25/2008

Another B.O. religion piece. We must be nearing the South Carolina primary! Didn't see this in Iowa, New Hampshire or Sin City!

[itsnotmyfault]

05:27 PM on 01/25/2008

“A Humanist Manifesto
In every age, the bigot's rage requires another focus,
Another devil forced on stage by hatred's hocus pocus.
The devil used to be a Jew and then it was the witches,
And then it was the Negroes who were digging all the ditches.
The devil once was colored pink and labeled Communistic,
Now, all at once, in just a blink, the devil's Humanistic.
--Curt Systma (cited in Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism and page 208 of The Fundamentals of Extremism.)

[StephenDedalus82]

04:53 PM on 01/25/2008

Why wouldn't he believe in Him? He sees Him in the mirror every day?

[johnnyjust]

04:23 PM on 01/25/2008

Oh, no, PuffPosters...Barry prays to the invisible magic man in the sky who came back from the dead!!!

What will you do?

[Zanti]

03:17 PM on 01/25/2008

I'm the opposite of an Obama fan, but this is clearly something he has to do, what with the present smear campaign regarding his faith. More power to him.

To those who regard his behavior as the worst kind of pandering, what a perfect world you must live in. How do we get there? Does it even exist outside of your imagination?

[GhiaccioPronto]

03:08 PM on 01/25/2008

Huckabama!

[Felicty]

02:37 PM on 01/25/2008

See, I can totally understand Barack having to recruit the ignorant & stupid. All the other candidates are doing it.

[StephenDedalus82]

02:24 PM on 01/25/2008

I guess the new politics still has room for pandering.

[Tugboat]

02:03 PM on 01/25/2008

When did a Christian believing in the central tenet of Christianity become news?