JEWEL SAMAD AFP/GETTY IMAGES
President Barack Obama spoke to Christian leaders at a White House breakfast earlier this week. The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church and Victoria and Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church were there.
When President Obama bared his soul before Christian leaders at a post-Easter breakfast in the East Room of the White House Tuesday, his words should have assuaged any doubts about the president’s faith, say Houston religious leaders who were there.
The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, and Victoria and Joel Osteen, pastors of Lakewood Church, were there and, in fact, the three sat at a table with the president during breakfast.
Obama called the audience of nearly 90 pastors, community activists, and bishops his “brothers and sisters in Christ” and spoke of “our risen savior” and the inspiration he takes from Christ’s resurrection.
“(Tuesday’s) statement was one of the clearest, if not the clearest, strongest declaration of Christian faith ever uttered by a sitting president. If anyone ever doubted his Christianity or beliefs, yesterday’s statements clarified it and then some,” Caldwell said.
During his campaign as well as in his presidency, Obama has been criticized on the religion front for several things. Early on, he caught flak for being a member of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, pastored by the fiery Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Internet and e-mail rumors that he’s really a Muslim have dogged him. Back in 2009, 10 percent of those polled refused to believe Obama is a Christian, despite his delarations of faith. And the most recent criticism is that he’s turned his back on black religious leaders.
So how did Tuesday’s audience receive his comments?
“You could have heard a mouse walk on cotton,” Caldwell said. “Folks are going to listen to a president anyway, but they hung on every syllable of every word of every sentence of every paragraph. The speech was only five minutes or so, but every word was action-packed.”
Caldwell was also one of about 20 black clergy who met with the president privately before the breakfast. The group prayed and talked about needs in the black community — particularly summer jobs for youths amid a faltering job market.
Obama’s meeting with black clergy came as some were grumbling that the president brushed aside black leaders during his first year in the White House.
“His first year, he was hit with so much — many people were anticipating our chance to sit down with him,” said the Rev. Cynthia Hale, a megachurch pastor from Decatur, Ga., who attended the meeting and gave a blessing at the breakfast.
Despite the grumbling, Hale said Obama’s support among blacks remains strong.
“The health-care disparity is our issue. Education is our issue. Consumer protection is our issue,” Hale said. “The president is addressing the concerns of African-Americans every day.”
