Obama urges faith to unite, not divide, Americans

WASHINGTON — Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast for the first time, President Obama urged Americans to bridge religious divides and said his administration would seek to “foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith.” “There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the […]

WASHINGTON — Addressing the National Prayer Breakfast for the first time, President Obama urged Americans to bridge religious divides and said his administration would seek to “foster a more productive and peaceful dialogue on faith.”

“There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same,” he said Thursday (Feb. 5), speaking to thousands of religious and political leaders in a hotel ballroom.

“We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. … But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being.”


Obama, who also announced an overhaul of President Bush’s faith-based initiative into the new White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said he is not naive about making divisions disappear quickly.

“But I do believe that if we can talk to one another openly and honestly, and if perhaps we allow God’s grace to enter into that space that lies between us, then the old rifts will start to mend and new partnerships will begin to emerge,” he said.

“In a world that grows smaller by the day, perhaps we can begin to crowd out the destructive forces of excessive zealotry and make room for the healing power of understanding. This is my hope. This is my prayer.”

In a speech that reflected his own unorthodox religious journey, Obama quoted Jewish and Muslim texts, referred to people of different faiths and of no faith, and said Buddhists, Confucianists and humanists join others in following the golden rule, “the call to love one another.”

The president noted that he was “not raised in a particularly religious household.” Obama’s father was a Muslim-turned atheist and his grandparents didn’t practice their Methodist and Baptist faiths, he said. And despite his mother’s skepticism about organized religion, he said, “she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known.”

Obama said he came to Christianity on Chicago’s South Side after college when he worked with “church folks” on community organizing.


“It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me,” he said. “It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose — His purpose.”

The event’s keynote speaker, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, spoke of God’s unconditional love, and encouraged Obama as he began his presidency.

“Should it ever be tested, I hope your faith can sustain you. And your family,” Blair told Obama. “The public eye is not always the most congenial.”

The Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla., attended the prayer breakfast and the subsequent Oval Office ceremony where Obama signed an executive order to overhaul the faith-based office. He also agreed to serve on the office’s advisory council.

“He connects his faith with public service and … especially, with making sure that the disadvantaged are paid attention to,” Hunter said. “I think that’s part of his faith personally and I think he really likes this. I don’t think this is just a political thing. I think this is a heart thing. It’s part of how he believes he can do the most good.”

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Bishop Vashti McKenzie, who oversees African Methodist Episcopal Church congregations in Tennessee and Kentucky, said she particularly appreciated Obama’s emphasis on bridge-building.


“We’ve been preaching that sermon for a long time — in our neighborhoods, in our congregations,” said McKenzie, another member of the new council. “Finally, this conversation is being lifted to a platform where others can hear that. I’m happy about that.”

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