Obama espouses role of spirituality
U.S. President Barack Obama sought to emphasize his Christian faith on Thursday, telling a key election-year voting bloc that he prays every morning and has crafted elements of his economic policies in line with Jesus’ teachings.
Obama, who rarely goes to church and speaks far less about his religion than his White House predecessors, told about 3,000 people at a National Prayer Breakfast that the challenges facing the United States required him to listen to God, avoid “phoney religiosity,” and pursue “bold action” in the face of resistance or indifference.
“I wake up each morning and I say a brief prayer, and I spend a little time in scripture and devotion,” Obama told the annual gathering at a Washington hotel, also saying that pastors periodically stop by the Oval Office, phone him and send e-mails so they can pray together.
“I don’t stop there. I’d be remiss if I stopped there, if my values were limited to personal moments of prayer or private conversations with pastors or friends,” he said. “I must try to make sure that those values motivate me as one leader of this great nation.”
U.S. voters care deeply about religion, with two-thirds saying it is important for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs.
When he emerged on the national stage, many Americans were uncertain about Obama’s religion and as many as one in five thought he was a Muslim. The president has previously said that although he did not grow up in a religious household, he became a Christian as an adult “by choice.” On Thursday, he described a 2010 meeting with evangelical leader Billy Graham as transformative to his religious thinking, saying he had “prayed from the heart” at Graham’s North Carolina retreat and frequently thereafter.
“I have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment — asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong,” he said.
Mitt Romney, Obama’s most likely opponent in the Nov. 6 election, is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose followers known as Mormons espouse socially conservative values and believe Jesus appeared to founder Joseph Smith in the United States.