Nobody’s business which church the Obamas choose

June 30, 12:05 PMSpiritual Life ExaminerRabbi Ben Kamin

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So much trouble in the world, so many real decisions to second-guess, yet a host of people are following the drama of the presidential family mulling over which church to attend in Washington.  Thankfully, it appears that there was more public concentration on the choice of First Dog—a dyslexic coincidence?  

It shouldn’t matter to anyone else but to the four members of that family, parents and two young children, where—or if—they regularly, intermittently, or ever attend a church.  They can pray whenever and wherever and however they want; one would think that worship would be a rare opportunity for this ultimately private family to find comfort in each other and with whatever their notion of sanctity is without the intrusion of a busy-body nation and the infringement of basic church-state principles.  President Obama’s personal faith was politicized enough during the campaign.  Let him commiserate with his family and daughters when it comes to spirituality; he does not owe us an explanation nor an address.

It shouldn't matter to anyone else but that family where or if they attend church.

Ironic: When President Clinton’s interminable infidelities and indiscretions were publicly examined (and politicized to a degree beyond any chart of hypocrisy), people cried, “It’s none of our business.”   Why are so many people so concerned about this president’s relationship to a prayer book when it’s so clear that his relationship with life is healthy and transparent?

In Chicago recently, I stood with my family in the Hyde Park section and saw, from behind barricades, the Obama family home—and the lovely byzantine synagogue immediately adjacent.  It’s known that the Jewish house of worship informally “claims” the president and his family as members.  Every church, mosque, and temple of every denomination should reach out to this most inclusive and post-denominational chief executive—thus sparing him and his family the safety concerns, the gratuitousness, the inevitable petty feelings that will result from rejected DC churches once he “chooses” a church.  Anything we can do in God’s name to still the national gossip culture is also a sacrament.  Pray in peace, Obama family.

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