What is Obama's religious background and where does he stand today on the subject of religion?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

From Obama's book 'Audacity of Hope':

"I was not raised in a religious household. My maternal grandparents, who hailed from Kansas, had been steeped in Baptist and Methodist teachings as children, but religious faith never really took root in their hearts. My mother's own experiences as a bookish, sensitive child growing up in small towns in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas only reinforced this inherited skepticism. [...] My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.

It was because of these newfound understandings–that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and loved–that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized. It came about as a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth."

Source(s):

BUY THE OBAMA BOOK NOW...
http://www.amazon.com/Audacity-Hope-Thou…

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thank you! I haven't read his book, but I can't think of a better way to understand his religious belief than in his words. As a person raised in the catholic church, but feeling that too often the catholic dogma is beyond logic and intellect, I totally understand his position as he describes it.

Answer 2

Obama is a Christian and has always been a Christian.

The Muslim rumor is being sent out by Warren Tompkins of SC (the same guy who sent out the rumor of McCain's illegitimate black child for Bush in 2000). They are saying it's Hillary's rumor to kill 2 birds with one stone.

Answer 3

Obama is wiccan. He worships trees and he also speaks to them. They speak to him.

Answer 4

He's a Christian, He believes in God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Answer 5

If you are asking because of the circulating e-mail ,I checked today and the news was that for the past 20 years he has been active in a strong Christian church .one of the many websites stated that he does stand for the pledge and he was sworn in on his family bible there was a lot more but seeing that I am a strong constitutional republican ,I didn't keep reading

Answer 6

Obama belongs to a church branched off from the United Church Of Christ. They are predominately black congregation who's beliefs are loyal to Africa. He claims to be a Christian. He was raised a Muslim. The only thing I have heard Obama say on anything in "change" but does not say what kinds of change. He is very vague.

Answer 7

Obama is Muslim although, since he's a presidential candidate, this is being denied vehemently . He follows the milder Quaran (http://news.google.com/news?q=obama+musl… teachings, but his ideas for America are not in the best interests of America and its citizens.

Ron

Answer 8

He is Christian... His mother was Christian.... he was raised Christian... his father was Muslim but he did not really know his father... he does know about the Muslim religion b.c he wanted to know about his other heritage... but technically he is half and half... but he has made it clear that his religion should not matter in this election.....

Answer 9

Obama is a Christian, anything else said is slander and lies.

He feels that separation of church and state is very important.

Answer 10

He is Muslim!

Answer 11

Scientology just like Tom Cruise and Ron Paul. He is God.

Answer 12

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (black muslim) of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas. (white atheist ).When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya. His mother married Lolo Soetoro -an Indonesian Muslim -moving to Jakarta with Obama when he was six years old. Within six months he had learned to speak the Indonesian language. Obama spent "two years in a Muslim school, then two more in a Catholic school" in Jakarta. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim while admitting that he was once a Muslim, mitigating that damning information by saying that, for two years, he also attended a Catholic school.Obama's father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a radical Muslim

Source(s):

abc, nbc, cnn, etc.