THE PRESIDENT IS A TRUE BELIEVER

By Bill Dunn

Ever since Barack Obama began his historic run for the U.S. presidency, he has been accused of being a “secret Muslim.” Certain detractors point to his childhood in Indonesia, where he attended an Islamic school. Spokespersons for the president refute these allegations by noting Obama’s long association with Trinity United Church in Chicago, where he and Michelle were married in a Christian ceremony, and where their two daughters were baptized as Christians. This proves Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, it is argued, but rather a Christian.

Well, maybe. But actions speak louder than words. Or as the Bible says, “By their fruits you will know them.” Based on the “fruits” of his actions, our president’s true religious beliefs do not appear to be Muslim, nor to they appear very Christian. It seems Mr. Obama’s true religion is Secular Humanism.

Other than politically-oriented functions, such as Ted Kennedy’s funeral, Mr. Obama does not attend regular church services. Unlike most previous presidents in recent memory, he noticeably shunned the National Day of Prayer observances last May.

President Obama is by all measures the most pro-abortion president in history, not something a devout Christian or devout Muslim would proudly put on his resume. He de-funded a small school-choice program in the failed Washington, DC, public school system because poor children were using the vouchers to attend religious schools.

Most of Mr. Obama’s political mentors and current staff have two things in common: they are leftists with a radical agenda for American society, and they are committed secularists who detest traditional religion.

Most tellingly of all, just a few weeks ago high ranking officials in the Obama Administration hosted a meeting with 60 members of an atheist advocacy group, the Secular Coalition for America. This first-ever “White House atheist summit” gave a major boost to the legitimacy of the group’s relentless and false cries of, “The theocrats are coming!”

By the way, we live in a democratic republic, not a theocracy. Personally, as a conservative, pro-life Catholic, not a single person with whom I worship wants religious leaders to run the government. They can’t even run their local churches smoothly, and the Secular Coalition claims we want them to run a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise? God forbid. (But then again, could they do any worse?)

After rejecting the existence of God, secularists must fill the resulting spiritual void with something else to worship. Oftentimes the new object of devotion is the State. This is why political systems where the State is supreme—such as the former Soviet Union and present-day Communist China—outlaw organized religions, as the totalitarian leaders do not want citizens to have mixed allegiances. 

The president of the United States can be whatever faith, or non-faith, he wants. And he can go, or not go, to church as he sees fit; that’s his business. But I suspect many folks who voted for Mr. Obama would be quite surprised to learn his spiritual beliefs and actions are quite similar to people who are extremely hostile to traditional religious faith.

No, our president is not a Muslim. However, traditional Christianity does not seem to be much of a force in his life either. Mr. Obama is a Secular Humanist who bows his knee at the altar of Big Government. He sincerely believes an elite cadre of enlightened intellectuals, through coercive state control over the unwashed masses, can create a Utopia on earth. It is a false faith that always, always leads to disappointment.