Why Its OK to Have Hope in Today's Inauguration

Today, along with perhaps a couple other billion people in the world, I watched the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. Afterwards, I watched the "facebook drama" unfold in much the same way it did the day after Obama won the election. And alas, after watching numerous Christians make naive or unresearched, I felt motivated to write a response.

Over the last couple months, and particularly today, I've seen this recurring line of thinking among Christians responding to the fact of Obama's presidency that goes something like (and no, I'm not making these statements up):

["You shouldn't put your trust in a man. Obama is not the Messiah. You should only put your trust in God. All this hype about Obama is a sure sign that we as a nation have forgotten God's Truths and no longer follow him, and we need to get back to the faith of our founding fathers who proclaimed 'in God we trust' and 'one nation, under God'."]

You've probably heard similar statements yourself. Now let's be straight here: I don't think one should place the kind of trust in a man that ought to only be placed in God. I'll go even further: I agree that there are issues in which it is right and proper for a Christian to disagree with some of Obama's positions (and I'll get to some of those in a second). But the trite, sound-byte comments swiriling around in Christian circles that I mentioned above need some critique because they're seriously problematic. Allow me to respond to these issues in the reverse.

One Nation, Under God?
People, before you make statements about the founding fathers, please do some researching first. "In God We Trust" was not something our founding fathers developed. Its not in our Constitution or in our Declaration of Independence. In fact, it didn't appear on a US coin until 1864 and wasn't our national motto until 1956 under President Eisenhower (who, by the way, was never a member of a church until he began running for President, because it was a sure way to connect with voters - cause who wanted a non-churchgoer to be President in the 50s?). Eisenhower was also the one to have "under God" inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance. Just think, millions of Americans said the pledge of allegiance before the 1950s without ever saying "under God."

America's historical trust in God is not as cut and dry as people want to make it. I wouldn't put too much bank in the faith of our Founding Fathers. Many of them were deists, secular humanists, and/or products of Enlightenment Rationalism. Jefferson wrote his own version of the Gospel account (removing the miracles and the Resurrection). Jefferson once wrote, "The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it... In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills."

Thomas Paine, one of the most influential figures of the American Revolution (his name probably sounds vaguely familiar to you as the author of the pamphlet, "Common Sense"), was a deist who advocated against Christian doctrines and once said, "There are also many who have been so enthusiastically enraptured by what they conceived to be the infinite love of God to man, in making a sacrifice of himself, that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden and deterred them from examining into the absurdity and profaneness of the story."

James Madison, the 4th President of the US and principal author of the Constitution, once said, "Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and all of which facilitates the execution of mischievous projects. Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." Apparently, he didn't have much use for the Church.

Consequently, the "God" of many of our so-called founding fathers is not the God that the majority of Evangelicals have in mind in our contemporary situation. And the formidable documents of America make this very clear. The Declaration of Independence does not speak of the God of the Bible but of "Nature's God." And the statement, "We hold these truths to be self-evident," bears witness to the immense influence of Enlightenment Rationalism - and the philosophies of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, and others - during the day. Man is at the center of such "self-evident" ideology, such trust in Reason, not God.

We have forgotten God's Truths?
My beef with this comment is that inherent in the statement is a presupposition that before the majority of Americans (and the rest of the world) desired Obama to become President, the American people, generally speaking, did seek God's direction and wisdom in choosing a President - a presupposition that simply cannot be verified. Why is it, now that a Democrat is in the White House, that Evangelicals suddenly believe America is no longer in God's favor, no longer depending on God? The majority of people in America, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, don't vote based on "what God wants" (as if we were capable of getting into his mind and knowing for sure!) - they vote based on the economy, desire for protection from terrorism, or some other more practical, tangible reason. There is simply nothing to indicate that America is farther from God today than it was four years ago when it reelected Bush.

These comments assume that Obama is anti-Christian, that he's self-reliant, and egotistical, when in reality, he himself claims to be a Christian who seeks God's wisdom. At least give him the benefit of the doubt on this one as was given to Bush and previous Presidents - men who all made very dreadful decisions that would seem to lack any real seeking of the face of God. Indeed, we should be grateful for a President who has a wife that has told interviewers that she sees it as her job to help keep her husband humble and make sure he doesn't get too big of a head (a quality every wife needs to have).

Now, there are definitely some things about Obama that make me wary. When he spoke today about how "we will defeat" our enemies and all those who oppose democracy, I cringed, because, while I think its necessary for the President of a nation to be a proponent of bearing arms (when it is indeed necessary!), I do not feel that it fits within the spirit of Jesus who called us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. And when Obama said that "America is now ready to lead the world once more," I thought, "You don't get it!" The world is sick of us leading (although, because of our prosperity and power there are areas in which, unfortunately, we are the de facto leaders of the world). The world is sick of us thinking we have to be in charge. The spirit of humility is not to proclaim ourselves as the leaders of the world. Instead, America ought to now be ready to listen and learn from the rest of the world - two qualities Bush was notorious for not having.

The Hype and Hope
Now, to those who constantly remind us that Obama is not the Messiah, I agree with you - and I think most of those Christians who voted for Obama and Obama himself agrees with you. What gets me, however, is this presupposition that the hype/hope related to Obama is somehow worse than what has been placed in past Presidents. 4 yrs ago, I was working at an Evangelical church and when Bush won reelection, my coworkers danced in their chairs, wore American flag lapel pins to work (how's that for separation of church and state?), and hung on every word of his victory speech. How is that any different? How is the trust and hope Evangelicals placed in Bush any different - and where has it gotten them?

But we are called to trust people, to hope in people, to have faith in people. 1 Corinthians 13:7 reminds us that love "always trusts...always hopes." We place faith in people everyday when we trust that they will come through on their promises, when we believe that what they say they will do. We place faith in people every time we get behind the steering wheel of a car, that the people coming from the other direction won't swerve into my line. Life incessantly involves trust. And if Obama indeed pulls through on many of the promises and dreams he has envisioned, we ought to be hopeful about that. We ought to have hope that America will truly walk alongside the poor countries of the world, as he said today. We ought to have hope that the people held prisoner in Guantanamao Bay will finally be treated as human beings. We ought to have hope that Obama will help restore the reputation of America in the world that Bush and previous Presidents tarnished and hope that he will bring more justice and equality to the world. These are not bad things to hope in.

Furthermore, its hard to distinguish the hope "in the man" and the hope and awe and wonder people have simply in the event itself and the symbolism Obama portrays. Whoever you voted for, there is something good and true and beautiful about the fact that an African-American is now the President of the United States, that millions of people who would have not been allowed to vote 45 years ago were able to see this event come to fruition. There is something inspiring about that story, something redemptive about it that we should rejoice in. There is something amazing about the fact that we live in a country where Rick Warren and Reverend Lowery and pray for our nation. For all the atrocities that progress has brought, we can rejoice that America has progressed this far and hope that more success will be made towards the end of racism. For all the horrible events that have occured in our nation's history, all the countless minorites who have beem mistreated in the name of America's God, we can shed a tear of jubiliation for witnessing what has occurred today. Just think about all the African-Americans who were at the Memorial Mall today. Think about all the African-Americans who participated in the Inauguration festivities. Think about all the descendants of slaves who finally have a good reason to be excited about being a part of this country. These are not bad things to be thankful for.

And yes, in a way, Obama is a messiah, just like every person who follows Christ is called to be a messiah, a "little Christ," a liberator of the broken, a lover of the crushed in spirit, and a helping hand to those in need. God always loves to use people to make his presence known, to bring about his work, to achieve good in the world. That was his goal for Israel - they were supposed to bring God's hope and blessing to the world (Gen 12:2). And so too with all who are members of God's church - we are God's ambassadors and God is making his appeal through us (2 Cor 5:20). It just so happens that Obama has a tad bit more influence than most of us to bring about a spirit of liberation and justice in the world.

So here's to hoping our brother in Christ, Barack Obama, comes through by making this world a better place, a more just place, a safer place, a more humane place, and an environmentally sustainable place so that there's something left for our grandchildren.