Forum topic: Ties between faith, politics

Obama campaign spurs discussion

The Barack Obama presidential campaign was back in the Lowcountry on Saturday, this time to discuss the intersection of faith and politics.

Joshua DuBois, national director of religious affairs for the Obama campaign, led a forum at the Mount Pleasant Public Library in which several church ministers and supporters gathered to explore how the ethics and morals of the faithful can be harnessed to produce social change.

The forum, one of many held throughout the country, was a result of Obama's early observation that people of faith are always among the leaders of social movements in the U.S., DuBois said.

Obama, who began his public service career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, has devised a simple formula that allows him to translate faith into action, DuBois said.

Ingrained in a person's religious convictions are certain values that help the faithful distinguish between right and wrong, he said, and those values are readily applied to issues that affect citizens and drive leaders to improve government.

Faith leaders were on the front lines of the abolition, women's suffrage and civil rights movements in the past, and they should be at the forefront of the fight to reform health care and education today, the Obama campaign says.

The problems society faces "should offend our conscience," DuBois said.

The discussion of faith in politics comes as many Democratic and Republican candidates for president are speaking openly about their beliefs. A 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 59 percent of Americans say religion's influence on the country is declining and consider the trend an unhappy development.

The Rev. Joseph Darby, pastor of Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, said a candidate's faith should not be a critical issue in a campaign, but that if a candidate is a person of faith he should feel free to express himself in those terms.

The danger, Darby said, is that candidates and voters sometimes assume that a "good Christian" is the same thing as a "good politician." It's one thing to appeal to the faithful in order to gather information about people's concerns and priorities,

it's quite another to dictate personal values, he said.

Obama has succeeded in making his faith an integral part of his campaign in a way that invites feedback without pandering for votes, said Darby, who has not endorsed a candidate. "I think he's doing that in an authentic way. His forthrightness is refreshing."

DuBois said Obama has been trying to reclaim the language of faith in order to bring people together. Obama, a committed religious pluralist who once taught constitutional law, believes there is a big difference between the religious pundits who have hijacked religious discourse and the majority of believers, DuBois said.

For real change to occur, government must "tap into the moral underpinnings of the country," while respecting its religious diversity, he said. "Faith can inform our thinking and should be embraced."

Obama is interested only in the way faith can inform moral choices, DuBois said. It's not something that can be legislated. While Obama does not object to the idea of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, he will take a close look at the office and make it more transparent if elected, DuBois said.

During the forum, the Rev. H. Mazyck said she appreciated the diverse and inclusive qualities of the Obama campaign but wondered if the candidate would remain true to his ideals rather than his political affiliations and succeed in appealing to a broad enough constituency. Mazyck is optimistic.

"It's not about being qualified enough," she said. "But will he be given the opportunity?"

Reach Adam Parker at 937-5902 or aparker@postandcourier.com.