Barack Obama’s Speech on Faith and Politics

In June of 2006 Barack Obama spoke at a church for Sojourners’ Call to Renewal conference. It gave voice to some of my concerns about the way we lump Christian political issues into the all too narrow categories of abortion and gay-marriage. He speaks candidly about his conversion and affirms the value of faith in politics and the need for more inclusion of people of faith in political movement. A book that goes along with Obama’s message about the exclusion of people of faith in politics is Stephen L. Carter’s “A Culture of Disbelief.” Carter’s book centers around the trivialization of faith in American politics by a misreading of the “separation of church and state” clause. But Obama goes even further and shows the other side of the coin as well. He doesn’t just see the need for a-religious Washington to open up to people of faith, he also sees the need for a broader view of what Christian politics really is, to include Christians with political concerns other than what is traditionally considered Christian politics (for instance: creationism and school prayer). Anyway, you should just listen to it, even if you are skeptical. Here’s the clip.