Amazingly, Protein Wisdom’s Karl gives a fair account of Obama’s evolution as a Christian, and presents the mixed motives that Obama obviously felt when converting. What’s remarkable about Obama is his honesty in describing the alloyed motives he had for finding Christ. But no Christian would argue his faith is thereby false. On the contrary. God works in mysterious ways and sometimes redeems us when we least expect or deserve it. Karl also notes, however, the liberal Christianism this implies:
Obama is far more a candidate of the Religious Left than most realize, and far moreso than any GOP candidate has identified with the Religious Right.
That’s pushing it. I don’t hear Obama’s speeches making religious arguments for public policy; just describing a spiritual and religious core of his identity. To give one example of where Obama differs from the religious left: he does not support equal civil marriage rights, while Jeremiah Wright does. His only real explanation for this is political, not theological. He wouldn’t call a civil license "sacred" as Bush did. (It’s worth pointing out here that I don’t actually believe that the Catholic sacrament of matrimony should be extended to same-sex couples. Catholic theology cannot do that, given the way it has constructed matrimony theologically. But civilly, the issue of equality is a slam-dunk for a secular Christian like me.)
The Dish 