It’s hard to imagine that Mainline Protestantism, however exactly conceived, won’t have more of a talking presence in and around the Obama administration than it has had during the Bush dispensation. Barack Obama’s own religious beliefs and values seem to me to be as mainline as they come. In this regard, the Christian Century uses a somewhat odd locution in reporting the good wishes extended to Obama from mainline denominations:

Continued pastoral support to the Obama family was offered by the top executive of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that the Illinois senator was aligned with until he broke with Chicago’s Trinity UCC over inflammatory remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Isn’t Trinity UCC part of the UCC? And didn’t Obama belong to that church for most of his adult life? And didn’t Obama address the national convention of that church as its most prominent member in 2007? In any event, it will be interesting to see where the Obamas decide to worship once they take up residence in the nation’s capital. Amy Sullivan speculates.