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Andrea Useem, creator and publisher of ReligionWriter.com, is a freelance journalist and editor based in Northern Virginia who specializes in writing about religion. Andrea holds a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, as well as a Bachelors degree in religion from Dartmouth College. Previously, Andrea worked as a freelance journalist in Eastern Africa for four years; she has also lived in Muscat, Oman. She is married and has three sons.

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Should Obama Make a Religion Speech?

April 3rd, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

That was the question this morning at a panel on Islam and U.S. Politics on Capitol Hill.

Have the “accusations” that Obama is a Muslim reached such a pitch that Obama should seize the moment and deliver a historic speech, ala his March 18 address on race? (Background: One-in-ten Americans think Obama is a Muslim.) The answer from some important folks was: Yes, definitely.

The first person to raise the idea of a speech was John Esposito of Georgetown, who said he could understand, politically speaking, why Obama had done little more than insist, over and over, that he is Christian and not Muslim. (Congressman Keith Ellison joked that one positive thing about the Rev. Wright flap is there is no longer any doubt that Obama belongs to a church.) But Esposito criticized “the Democrats” for avoiding the American Muslim community and the issues it cares about, including, most notably, civil liberties issues. Esposito said, however, that Obama would eventually “lose out” if he continued to avoid the hot-button issues around Islam, and the best cure would be a major speech. Said Esposito:

Just as his minister gave him the occasion to set out an inspiring vision [on race,] he has the opportunity to show us what America is about as a multi-religious society.

Jim Wallis, of Soujourners fame, endorsed the idea strongly, advising Obama to speak out as a Christian on relations with Islam and Muslims. Said Wallis:

He should say, ‘I am Christian, but this is my stance toward Muslims.’

Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, said many American Muslims were supporting Obama (didn’t get a chance to ask her if she is referring to specific data here) because he “calls us to our higher selves, to live up to our values and the promises we make to the world.” She did not touch on the somewhat puzzling nature of this support, given that Obama has not yet undermined the idea that calling someone a Muslim is an insult.

(Chimed in scholar Akbar Ahmed: “A Muslim is, what? An untouchable? Something to be despised? This tells me something is seriously wrong in this society.”)

But Mogahed agreed with Wallis’ approach and advised Obama to speak on the issue of pluralism from a Christian viewpoint:

He could say, ‘My Christian faith calls me toward tolerance and inclusion,’ rather than just emphasizing his Christian faith and distancing himself from Muslims.

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Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress was also on hand, along with Andre Carson, the second Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison agreed that Obama had the opportunity to show “transcendent leadership” in giving a speech that used the Obama-is-a-Muslim attacks as a starting point. Ellison began with an eloquent statement on religious freedom in America, saying that while the founding fathers “got race and gender wrong, they got religion right,” both in declaring no religious test for political office and in allowing for freedom of religion. Now, however, “pluralism is under threat,” he said. And further:

A candidate who could pull off a speech [on religion] that would allow us to be who we are, and at the same time tolerate others and be proud of the religious diversity of this country would be a great service.

So what do you think? Is it too weird for Obama to give a speech about not-being-Muslim? Looking back, does the Romney speech offer any clues about the right or wrong way to deal with controversial religions?

There Are 6 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Steve Thorngate on 4 April 2008:

    Yes, he should give a speech, and no, it needn’t be weird. But he should be careful not to lay on the we’re-all-just-children-of-God-here interfaith stuff too thick, as this will just give his conservative detractors new ammunition: Obama’s a UNIVERSALIST! From One of the Most Liberal So-Called Christian Denominations! (As an evangelical student, I was taught that UCC stands for “Universalists Considering Christ.”) He’s gone down this road a couple times already, and, whatever its merits, it’s unhelpful with the people he needs to reassure.

    Instead, Obama should emphasize that the U.S. as a society is neither Christian nor secular but pluralistic. That this tradition was built by the evangelical minority at a time when Obama’s own Congregationalist church was the establishment. That a pluralistic society rightly rejects prejudice against Muslims, just like it ultimately did prejudice against Baptists and Catholics-and that pluralism can unequivocally reject anti-Muslim prejudice without asking anyone to personally accept Muslim beliefs as valid. That our country owes its robust religious culture more to this pluralism than anything else.

  2. Comment by Marcello on 4 April 2008:

    From a purely political and pragmatic point of view, I don’t think a speech on religion is necessary. I tend to agree with Tommy Christopher’s take on the matter:

    “According to the Pew study, voters who think Obama is Muslim are about 13% less likely to vote for him, which, as a portion of 10% of voters is not that significant. What’s more, I think it is important to note that there’s an excellent chance that this handful of folks were never going to vote for him anyway. All in all, if these results are to be trusted, anti-Muslim sentiment in the US seems grossly overstated.”

    It’s conceivable that the Republicans might pull a “swiftboat” and turn these rumors into a hot-button issue, but so far McCain has shown an admirable aversion to such tactics.

    Personally, I’d love to hear what Obama has to say about the role of religion and pluralism in America. But right now he’s in campaign mode, and he’s focused entirely on winning. If he doesn’t feel that such a speech is helpful or necessary, I doubt that it will be on the agenda.

  3. Comment by DH on 4 April 2008:

    I’d love to hear Obama make just such a speech & echo the remarks above…but I’m afraid that the level of anti-Muslim rhetoric seems to be at such a xenophobic level that just mentioning the word ‘Muslim’ is enough to cause a stampede! V. sad statement about the state of our current environment when even the whisper of an association w/ Islam is considered the ultimate insult.

    No, Obama should steer clear of reaching out a hand to the Muslim community at this time - although I’m a Muslim who would love to hear his thoughts on this supposedly pluralistic society - he should wait until he’s in office to come out strongly in ensuring everyone’s civil liberties. I’ll be patient…

  4. Comment by DH on 4 April 2008:

    I’d love to hear Obama make just such a speech & I echo the remarks above…but I’m afraid that the current level of anti-Muslim rhetoric seems to be at such a xenophobic level that just mentioning the word ‘Muslim’ is enough to cause a stampede! V. sad statement about the state of our current environment when even the whisper of an association w/ Islam is considered the ultimate insult.

    No, Obama should steer clear of reaching out a hand to the Muslim community at this time - although I’m a Muslim who would love to hear his thoughts on this supposedly pluralistic society - he should wait until he’s in office to come out strongly in ensuring everyone’s civil liberties. I’ll be patient…I have high hopes that he can bring a uniting, inspirational, uplifting quality back to this wonderful country which has so much potential, but has become mired in ignorant stereotypes & short-sighted foreign policies.

  5. Comment by Jacqueline F-E on 4 April 2008:

    Peace,

    I would love to see the American people make the connection that an attack on any one’s religion is an attack on the very values that make this country great. We are constitutionally guaranteed to practice our respective religions “freely and openly”. Attacking people or using adherence to a particular (religious) creed to demean someone diminishes the ability to practice freely and openly…

    Jews and Catholics were both accused as suspect for many of the same reasons that are presently aimed at Muslims: they had connections to an international faith community, and recognized an authority above and beyond the federal government. Yet not only did both the Jewish and Catholic communities find their way in American society, they brought about global change within their international faith communities. The American Muslim community has an inspiring and hopeful example in our Abrahamic cousins.

    How I pray that We the People will make the connection that religious persecution is an attack on our Constitution and the values of Justice and Equality that founded this country. Obama certainly seems to have the talent for public speaking to bring America a step closer to realizing the goals and ideals laid down in our founding documents.

    I don’t think there is an instance in our history where years later we haven’t regretted our bigotry, suspicion, and fear of different demographics. Slavery, the Trail of Tears, the denial of women’s right to vote, internment camps, and McCarthyism are all examples of bigotry and fear being allowed to dictate public policy instead of the desire to understand each other that stems from truly understanding that, ultimately,
    we’re all in this together.

  6. Pingback by The Compassion Forum: Highlights and Lowlights : ReligionWriter.com on 13 April 2008:

    […] and organizations in the U.S. that she can work with? Can she recognize that, as Jim Wallis said on Capitol Hill last week, the solution to bad religion is good religion, and that therefore an important way to defeat […]

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