COUNTRY FRIED

Obama's Testimony

In an interview this week with Christianity Today, Barack Obama was asked whether he considers himself "born again," and he responds with the following statement of faith:

I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.

Wow. After reading that response, I went back to the beginning of the article to make sure that this was an in-person interview (as opposed to a submission of written questions to which he could then draft responses). That was his spoken answer, which is an impressively bold, thoughtful, and informed expression of Christian faith. Well done.

Obama then directly addresses those ubiquitous, anonymous emails alleging that he is actually a Muslim:

There is one thing that I want to mention that I think is important. Part of what we've been seeing during the course this campaign is some scurrilous e-mails that have been sent out, denying my faith, talking about me being a Muslim, suggesting that I got sworn in the U.S. Senate with a Quran in my hand or that I don't pledge allegiance to the flag. I think it's really important for your readers to know that I have been a member of the same church for almost 20 years, and I have never practiced Islam. I am respectful of the religion, but it's not my own. One of the things that's very important in this day and age is that we don't use religion as a political tool and certainly that we don't lie about religion as a way to score political points. I just thought it was important to get that in there to dispel rumors that have been over the Internet.

Hat Tip: Andrew Sullivan

Martin Luther King, Jr., & the Mountaintop

As we honor Dr. King today, here is a clip from his final address delivered on April 3, 1968, where he shares with the crowd that he "has been to the mountaintop."

He was assassinated the next day. Almost forty years later, we are still working our way to the Promised Land that he saw from that vantage point.

A lengthier clip of his earlier "I Have a Dream" speech can be viewed here.

Tom Cruise on Scientology

I'll just let Tom do the talking . . .

In case you are wondering after watching a few minutes . . . according to a quick Google search, KSW stands for "Keeping Scientology Working" (a series of pamphlets written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard), "Orgs" stands for Scientology Organizations (or churches), and "SPs" are "suppressive persons" (people who criticize Scientology).

Based on news reports, this video was produced by the Church of Scientology. Here is a link to a CBS News video segment with an interview of a researcher of Scientology who provides some explanation of the video content.

Can Barack Obama Appeal to Conservative Evangelicals?

Crunchy Con author Rod Dreher recently published an email from a friend whom he describes as "a conservative pro-life Evangelical, a Republican, a Virginian and a thoughtful, critical observer of the cultural scene" who confesses that he is tempted to vote for Obama. His friend explains that he is being tempted to break from the GOP:

Because of what Obama represents: a decisive break from President Bush's foreign policy; a shattering of the racial ceiling on the presidency; youthful energy; and an exceptionally bright mind.

Furthermore, Dreher's friend explains that his consideration of Obama is shaped by Obama's "personality, tone and even voice" and not so much his policy preferences. The email makes it clear, however, that there is no corresponding temptation to vote for Hillary Clinton.

UPDATE: In a post from earlier this morning titled "Obama's liberal Christianity," Dreher takes a deeper look at the ways in which Obama has spoken about the details of his own faith and identifies some difficulties that may arise as "tempted" conservative Evangelicals learn more about Obama. (And, just to be clear, those concerns have nothing to do with the smears being spread--mainly through inflammatory emails--falsely alleging that Barack Obama has some sort of "secret" Muslim identity.)