Barack Obama may not be a particularly keen churchgoer, but the President is, according to Joshua DuBois, a longtime spiritual adviser to him, a Christian whose faith in Christ has “deepened” more recently.
Even though formal prayer in a church is not Obama’s cup of tea, he does allegedly spend a lot of time reflecting on life, praying alone and meeting with his religious influencers in the Oval Office.
DuBois, who led the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Barack Obama’s first term, told reporters the following, according to a Politico report .
“The president’s faith has deepened in the second term; he’s said as much. The president’s Christian faith is not connected to or dependent upon anyone else’s beliefs about him, any particular policy issue, any moment in the news cycle or anything else. The president’s faith existed long before the While House and will continue after he closes the door to the White House for the last time.”
According to Obama’s two closest religious advisers, DuBois and Joel Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor, the president is deeply spiritual and a devoted Christian, in his own way.
As Hunter shared about the president, “Reading scripture every day yields a certain amount of personal growth, and he’s done this every day for years. It’s a good indication that he is growing in his faith,” he said.
Barack Obama himself revealed the following at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
“I’m far more mindful of my own failings, knowing exactly what [Abraham] Lincoln meant when he said, ‘I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.’”
Meanwhile, senior pastor Derrick Harkins spoke about the president’s visit to his church, which he attended along with Michelle Obama, acknowledging that, “The president and the first lady are never hesitant to share that they found the worship time valuable to them. It’s absolutely genuine.”
Harkins, who was a former advisor to the Democratic National Committee, also added, “If we were to judge spiritual depth and fulfillment based on who went to church and who didn’t, there would probably be a lot of surprises. I never try to determine what the spiritual engagement of another person is. It’s an awfully pretentious thing to do about anybody, let alone the president.”
