Barack Obama: Faith of His Father

By Robin Caldwell

There was a woman who didn’t drink, dance, smoke or cuss who attended Bible study with me. Quite often, she’d reference the salvation of others by pointing to their flaws, which were sinful ways in her mind. If someone cussed or talked about going to the club, she would smile and tell them, “That’s okay; we’re going to get you saved.” She had no problem questioning the sincerity or legitimacy of someone’s faith in Christ, but I had a problem with her.

I’m a pretty smart cookie and early on surmised that people who drank, cussed or smoked or even danced the hoochie coo could be saved. Those were superficial sins that could easily disappear with maturity. People who even constantly questioned or attacked people’s salvation could be saved as well though they were pharisaical in their approach to evangelism and following Christ.

My litmus test for salvation came from the Word of God and it involved the fruit of the Spirit and 1 Corinthians 13. If, in my mind, there was evidence of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, patience, etc, then someone could be saved.

When the litmus test failed or fell short, I should say, I’d then listen to their values. Did they care about the things that Jesus cared about in terms of feeding, clothing, housing, loving the least of these? Did they even reference Jesus in their personal decisions? Did they, in some way, attempt to model Him in some part of their lives?

My Sunday school teacher said, “There’s going to be a lot of non-smoking, non-drinking, non-cussing, good people in hell.” He was right, because even if our lives do not adequately represent a Christian walk, then we know that the tenets of our faith and its foundation rest in what we consider to be truths centered on the virgin birth, death and resurrection of our Savior. And we know that we are to have a personal relationship with Him that will ultimately reveal not only the fruit of the Spirit, but a behavior and even changed attitudes that reflect His character.

That sister at the Bible study would probably have a cow and question my love for Jesus based on an interesting fact: My great-grandmother was a Muslim. Her “Christian” name was Beatrice but her name after converting to Islam became Kareema, and she took on the long garb that covered her body in keeping with her new found religion. I simply called her “Dossy” and loved her fiercely, but that’s what little children do.

Dossy was my eccentric grandma who before Islam, smoked, drank and cussed. She wore some of the most beautiful pieces of clothing, including a mink coat that had a diamond broach on its lapel. She was funny and fiery. And I loved her.

However, when it was time for me to decide between Islam and Christianity, I didn’t keep my ear turned to my Muslim grandma or boyfriend or the teachers who were trying to instruct me. I didn’t even keep my ear turned to my Christian godmother or the Bible teacher who were trying to instruct me. Instead, I inclined my ear to God. Something in my spirit needed to know this one truth desperately, not only for my soul’s salvation sake, but for the sake of my intellect. I’d made a lot of bad decisions before that pivotal day and would make more, but in this one area of my life I knew I needed to make the right choice.

I chose Jesus. I chose consciously to follow Jesus Christ.

Recently, during one of the many presidential debates, I heard the female candidate ask Barack Obama, the mixed-race man who identifies as African American, to denounce any association with Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who’d endorsed him. I heard her intimate that this particular association was a dangerous one. Apart from the gall it took to make those remarks, I laughed at the thought that someone, maybe her, could ask me to disassociate myself from my Grandma Dossy or Kareema, because she was a Muslim. The gall.

Maybe the very next day after that confrontation, I read where she was asked by an interviewer if she believed Barack Obama was a Muslim, and her response was “To my knowledge, he is not.”
“To my knowledge, he is not.”

In college, I studied rhetoric and semantics. People are not always the best communicators, but they will find a way to articulate the meaning of the words they use. “To my knowledge, he is not,” is a rhetorical way of raising doubt and fear in the mind of a listener. It implied that while she didn’t have personal knowledge of his Muslim faith, she also didn’t have a personal knowledge of his Christian faith. And it also implied that Mr. Obama was a religious suspect who could possibly breach our national security, because he was potentially a closeted Muslim.

She played on our worse fears. Shame on you, female candidate for president. Shame on you!

From the beginning of Barack Obama’s campaign for the highest political office in our land, his faith allegiance has been questioned, attacked and heavily scrutinized. And the funny thing is his faith allegiance has been questioned by people who attacked the people they believe are too fanatical in their Christian faith – people who love Jesus a wee bit too much and who bring Him into their politics. (Like anyone knows what a real Christian looks like, sounds like or smells like, for that matter.)

Moreover, the questioning of Barack Obama’s faith in Jesus Christ is founded on something as absurd as (1) his middle name, Hussein, (2) the fact that his father was a Muslim and (3) he attends a church in Chicago that is arguably one of the most controversial, socially active, liberal congregations in the country. I know people who attend that church and who are also some of the most influential and affluent folks and guess what? They love Jesus. To question Mr. Obama’s faith based on those three factors is crazy. Most mainline denominational black churches in this country are controversial, political, liberal and socially active.

So, it leaves me to believe that the questioning of Mr. Obama’s faith is no more than a political tactic that plays on the fears of a U.S.A. that was terrorized by men who bore Islamic names like Barack Hussein Obama Jr.’s.
The faith of his father bears no meaning in this case, because Barack Hussein Obama Sr. left his son when he was 2 years old. And it especially bears no meaning given that the president we currently have in office said he was a Christian and the economy and public trust have both been terrorized.
But I digress…