Messiah College Professor: Obama is America's 'Most Explicitly Christian President'
In a new article, Messiah College professor John Fea says that President Obama "may be the most explicitly Christian president in American history."
Fea is the chair of the History Department at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania and has also written a book titled "Was American Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Perspective."
The article, written for Patheos, begins by posing a series of rhetorical questions to the reader, all centered around whether or not they would vote for a man who has done certain religious acts, such as claiming that "Christian faith motivates him as a leader" or quoting "C.S. Lewis in speeches."
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Fea later suggests that language analysis of President Obama's speeches and comments would "put most other American presidents to shame."
Fea adds, "I think there may be good reasons why some people will not vote for Obama in November, but his commitment to Christianity is not one of them."
Still, Fea's piece was not entirely supportive of Obama's faith.
Later in the article, Fea writes, "Unfortunately, for all of his religious rhetoric, Obama the president has failed to articulate the faith-based political vision he promised us," and points out that Obama has not succeeded in framing his controversial policies in terms of Christian teachings, nor has he fulfilled a campaign promise to reduce abortions in the United States.
Fea's article comes at a time when Obama's faith has been publicly called into question on several fronts.
The president came under fire from religious groups for including a mandate in his healthcare plan that religiously affiliated groups must offer contraception to female employees. Many Catholic leaders protested the decision, even after the administration altered the policy so that insurance companies, rather than the religious groups, would have to provide the contraception.
The contraception debate led most recently to a congressional hearing chaired by Representative Darrell Issa investigating the issue. The hearing was titled "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"
Obama's faith came into question again on Sunday after comments from Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum accused the president of following a "phony theology, not a theology based on the Bible."
While Santorum later clarified that he was questioning Obama's "world view" rather than his faith, the remarks ignited a debate both about Obama's Christian faith and whether or not it should be questioned during a political campaign.
