Nearly a year later, Obamas still looking for a church home
WASHINGTON — Nearly a year after a painful break from his Chicago church, President Barack Obama and his family are considering joining several churches of various denominations in the nation’s capital but have yet to settle on one, and aides said that they’re unlikely to decide before Easter.
The delay reflects how the economic crisis has crowded out some personal considerations since Obama’s inauguration in January, but it also underscores the complexities of this personal decision by a public man.
Past presidents have grappled with how and where to worship, but Obama’s pick is especially guaranteed to provoke interest and scrutiny.
His former pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons on institutional racism and American foreign policy imperiled Obama’s presidential campaign last year and finally forced Obama’s break with Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Even as the church controversy roiled, a small percentage of Americans continued to believe falsely that Obama was Muslim because of his late, estranged Kenyan father and his childhood in Indonesia.
As America’s first black president, Obama faces another unique conundrum: whether to join a historically black church.
Then there are standard logistical concerns: What churches could accommodate frequent presidential visits without seriously disrupting the existing congregation’s ability to attend services? Which can the Secret Service best secure? Which routes work well for a motorcade?
Of those churches that best fit the Obamas culturally — ideologically and in terms of community service — which have the best youth programs for children Sasha and Malia?
“The Obamas are committed Christians, and they are certainly looking forward to a place to worship in their time in Washington,” said Joshua DuBois, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and one of a handful of aides assisting the family’s search.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com …
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Church smurch… The Obama’s are Godless Communists. Church for them only offers cover for their underlying agenda. The irreverent Wright’s church got them what they needed, notoriety, so they have no need for a “church” any longer.
Perhaps a D.C. neighborhood mosque would be more to their liking.