Jun 02 2008
Why Barack Obama Finally Left His Church…
Normally I like to wait for the official story and direct quote from the source, but I wanted to blog about this while it was still fresh in my mind. Some of you may have heard that Barak Obama “resigned” from his church this weekend. In the circles I run in most people don’t really resign from a church, they leave the church. In fact, not to long ago a friend of mine had this to say about folks leaving the church. Hundreds of blog posts and articles have been written about the reasons people leave a church. I think for Barack Obama it came down to two main issues.
First, Obama left the church because the presidential campaign began interfering with the church’s ability to function. Dozen’s of calls each day, as well as parishioners being harassed by the media turned the place into a circus. The attention shifted from what the church should be doing, to containing the firestorms that kept erupting every time Obama commented about his faith or the church.
Second, Obama left the church because the former pastor’s words, as well as the words spoken by current speakers, were erroneously attributed to his ideaology and message. Obama repeatdly shared with his critics that not everything that was said from the pulpit in the church lined up with his point of view, or how he believes the country should be run. The most damaging statemtents that were frustrating to Obama were the various racist statements that were made by his former pastor. I’d like to add the the most inflamatory statments made by the former pastor were made after the pastor retired from the chruch and had moved on.
This brings up an interesting conundrum.
First, in our day to day lives we represent the chruch we go to. At work, at school, at home and online if you have a church that you call home you are representing it in one way or another. Most people think that their behavior should only be above repraoch if they are in leadership or work for the chruch. But I think Jesus would disagree. Granted, their are folks in the chruch that have issues of sin that may haunt them and plage them throughout their Christian walk, and thus they are not fit for leadership. However, I’m talking about the average person that regularly attends the same chruch, gives of their time, talent and treasures to the church and yet their life outside of church is lived differently. Perhaps even worse, is when churches ignore immoral behavior and continue to allow someone to represent their chruch and in turn represent Christ, despite their actions.
Second, in it’s words and actions the church represents us. When a church ignores poverty, allows unrepentant sin to continue and preaches a message contrary to the Gospel, it reflects on who you are as a church-goer. Is it okay to stay at a church that allows women to be pastors, practicing homosexuals to serve and preaching pastors to subvert and dillute the Gospel? What about something not so obvious… like a preaching pastor that denies a 7-day literal creation? Or an Elder board that allows baptism and communion to happen only when it is convienant to the worship schedule? Or Deacons and Deaconesses to spend more time gossiping during their prayer meetings than serving the needs of the body? When do the actions of your church cross the line and begin to reflect poorly on you?
I know for Obama, he was VERY patient and VERY careful not to leave and abandon his church at the first sign of controversy. From the beginning Obama was very clear that the chruch was very important to him and that he had willingly overlooked the faults of the past, as well as the words and actions of his foremer pastor. Obama made it clear that he was a part of the chruch, but that he had his own individual ideas and thoughts when it came to running the country. Obama only left AFTER a guest speaker had made sarcastic remarks about one of his rivals in the campaign, which we all know is something a speaker has no business doing from the pulpit. I am sure it was a tough decision for Obama and his family, but I believe it was the right one. Hopefully the church will learn from it’s mistakes be able to recover from the firestorm and hopefully Obama will be able to find a new church that will allow him worship his Creator in a slightly less controversial environment.
