BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: In Washington, speculation is running high about where Obama and his family will attend church after they move into the White House. Earlier this year, Obama cut ties with his longtime Chicago congregation, Trinity United Church of Christ, because of its controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Kim Lawton takes a look at some of the Washington churches Obama may want to consider.
KIM LAWTON: If the Obamas want to go with an establishment mainline congregation, they may want to consider National Presbyterian Church. It’s regularly attended by cabinet officials, members of Congress, and Supreme Court justices. Congregational archives claim that most presidents since James Madison have visited the church at least one time. National Pres, as it’s called, has about 2,500 members, and note to Obama daughters Sasha and Malia: there’s an active children’s program with about 400 kids.
National Pres has a special Chapel of the Presidents, dedicated to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike was the last president to make this his church home. He was actually baptized here while he was president.
My vote is for Obama to choose the Southern Baptist Church Praise and Worship Center, if only because it is co-pastored by Rev. Doom and Rev. Doom. If I was a news anchor I would get great pleasure out of saying, each Sunday: “Today, President Obama listened to doom this morning” or “Again the president faced doom today…” Even more fun would be to be a writer for the Sunday news. The job certainly would never grow stale.
On a more serious note, I was intrigued to learn that Dwight D. Eisenhower was not a Christian when he was elected president. (Since apparently he had never been baptized.) That surprised me. Although I am myself a traditional Anglican, there strikes me as something refreshing about a time when people could be elected based on their policies and character (if based on nothing more substantial than “I like Ike”), without having to have their religious convictions examined by the right and the left.
I would recommend Capital Hill Baptist Church.
Eisenhower was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and his childhood home was a place of worship for that sect. The JWs are, of course, pacifists who reject military service.
I hope Obama exercises more discernment and care in choosing this church than he did with his last one.