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| Barack Obama |
HARTFORD (06/24/2007) -- US Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), a member of Trinity United Church of Church in Chicago and a candidate for President of the United States, challenged a crowd of over 9,000 UCC members to make a difference in his keynote address to the 50th aniversary General Synod at the Hartford Civic Center on Saturday. Stressing the need to maintain the separation of church and state, he summoned believers to remember "I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper. And that it's not enough to just believe this -- we have to do our part to make it a reality."
Obama briefly described his journey to faith, which began in a household that was not formally religious, though he called his mother "one of the most spiritual souls I ever knew." His encounter with believers came as he was working in community organizing in Chicago. In those relationships, he found "that without an anchor for my beliefs, without a commitment to a particular community of faith, at some level I would always remain apart, and alone." So he visited Trinity Church, where the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright's sermon "The Audacity of Hope" was the seed that, growing, led him to affirm his Christian faith.
"It Got Hijacked" |
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Obama accused the "so-called leaders of the Christian Right" of using faith to exploit what divides Americans. "At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their Church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage; school prayer and intelligent design. There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich. I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version." |
"But my journey is part of a larger journey -- one shared by all who've ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society," Obama said, recalling the faithful of UCC churches and their predecessor traditions who had inspired the Boston Tea Party, led the quests for prison reform, public education, women's rights, and the abolition of slavery; stood with the civil rights marchers beneath the billy clubs, and cheered Dr. King. "And in all these ways, they helped make this country more decent and more just."
The conscience of the nation, Obama said, cannot rest while several moral problems, "rooted in both society indifference and individual callousness," confront the nation. He called for increased care for those in poverty, including expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage. He pledged to sign a universal health care bill in his first term as President. He called for an end to the genocide in Darfur.
The crowd stood and applauded when Obama declared, "we should close Guantanamo Bay and stop tolerating the torture of our enemies. Because it's not who we are. It's not consistent with our traditions of justice and fairness. And it offends our conscience." Further, he called for an end to the war in Iraq, and promised to keep working for its end, "because the Iraq war is not just a security problem, it's a moral problem."
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| 9,000 Applaud |
On immigration, Obama spoke thoughtfully about the the need to balance legitimate concerns: the duty to protect the borders, the concern that increased immigration will lower wages, and the worth and dignity due to human being whatever the status of their documents. "Our conscience cannot rest until we not only secure our borders, but give the 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country a chance to earn their citizenship by paying a fine and waiting in line behind all those who came here legally."
Obama called for a politics of conscience that would cross the divides of religious creed. "We all have it within our power to make this a better world," he said. "Because we all have the capacity to do justice and show mercy; to treat others with dignity and respect; and to rise above what divides us and come together to meet those challenges we can't meet alone."
"And if we can do that -- if we can embrace a common destiny -- then I believe we'll not just help bring about a more hopeful day in America, we'll not just be caring for our own souls, we'll be doing God's work here on Earth."
