In his books, Obama says he might not have become a Christian — his mother was a skeptical secularist and his absent father an atheist — if not for the special character of the black church. “Out of necessity, the black church had to minister to the whole person. Out of necessity, the black church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from collective salvation,” he writes in “The Audacity of Hope.” It also matched his intellectual curiosity. “Perhaps it was out of this ... grounding of faith in struggle that the historically black church offered me a second insight: that faith doesn’t mean that you don't have doubts.”
Several comments in reply to Sullivan’s backstory, as well as Obama’s stream of thought.
First, even secularists can be, and are, contributors to social justice, Amy. I know you keep flogging the issue that the Democratic Party in general and too many white Democrats in particular are anti-religious, which is of course not true.
Second, re both Sullivan and Obama, many white preachers at white majority churches also talk about doubt and its role in faith. That goes back to the Niebuhr brothers. Hell, it goes back to Martin Luther himself.
Third, Unitarians have been multicultural for far longer, and far more in-depth, than mainline Protestant denominations that have made the effort at fully inclusive outreach.
And, political bonus points — Unitarians are often the liberal elite Starbucks drinkers that are Obama voters!
Given Sullivan’s increasing vapidness, and now her name/assignment dropping she engages in, at every post at Washington Monthly, though, none of what she says in Time should be a surprise.
Oh, if you think Amy’s a twit on her guilt-the-Democratic-Party religious writing, or in general, show her a little “love” at her e-mail address.
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