Some very interesting comments on my post about whether the Internet is to blame for a rising number of people believing Obama is Muslim.
A few of them help me understand something that’s been puzzling me. Remember that whole Jeremiah Wright controversy, which dominated the news for about a month? It almost killed Obama’s candidacy but, I figured, well, at least this will teach people Obama isn’t a Muslim. He may have sat in the pews listening to a zealot but at least it was a Christian church and a Christian zealot.
Apparently not. Writes “Ricky Pickles”:

“Obama as an adult joined the a Black Liberation UCC church. There is decidedly nothing Christian about this religion.”

For what it’s worth, here’s a statement from the United Church of Christ website:

“The United Church of Christ embraces a theological heritage that affirms the Bible as the authoritative witness to the Word of God, the creeds of the ecumenical councils, and the confessions of the Reformation. The UCC has roots in the “covenantal” tradition–meaning there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members. Christ alone is Head of the church.”

I’m no theologian but that statement sounds Christian-ish.
“Sara” makes a slightly different argument for why Obama’s church wasn’t really Christian:

“Obama may not be a Muslim but he settled in a ‘Christian’ Black Nationalist church that sounds like the Nation of Islam. In addition his “mentor”, Rev. Wright, gave an award to the Nation of Islam leader and traveled to meet Quadifi with Farrahakan.”

There’s all sorts of reasons to complain about Wright; his church’s honoring of Farrahakan showed moral obtuseness. But it does not mean that all those people who showed up every week in that church to praise Christ were weren’t actually Christian.