Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate: "Barack Obama's Problematic Religious Outreach"

Deal Hudson writes at InsideCatholic on "Barack Obama's Problematic Religious Outreach":

... If Obama finally clinches the nomination, the key to his success or failure will be his campaign's religious outreach.

Obama's point man for this outreach is also an African-American, Joshua DuBois. The stepson of an African Methodist Episcopalian minister, DuBois is a member of a Pentecostal Assemblies of God church. He is described as "guarded in discussing his personal positions," not wishing to offer his view of abortion during an interview with WORLD magazine.

Instead of taking specific positions, DuBois stresses his conversion to Christianity in college and speaks about it in the traditional language of an Evangelical: "I am saved by the grace of God. I'm a strong believer in Jesus Christ."

DuBois's approach to messaging Obama's religion is likewise general, but intensely personal. In comments to the Christian Science Monitor, he explains that Obama's politics are "an outgrowth of his reading of some of the seminal parts of the Bible about doing unto the 'least of these' just as we would have done unto Christ."
It is fair to say that, as a candidate of the Religious Left, Obama invokes care for the poor just as predictably as a Religious Right candidate invokes protection of the unborn.

Thus far, Obama has been slow to gain support among Catholics; he has consistently been beaten by Hillary Clinton among Catholics in the primary. An article on Politico outlining his problem with Catholic voters was met with immediate, and hostile, disagreement from the Obama campaign. (Click here for my own story on Obama's poor record, thus far, with Catholic voters.)

DuBois shrugged off the problem, promising that the campaign would be aggressively reaching out to Catholics. Former Indiana Congressman Tim Roemer, a Catholic, who has emerged as the most visible surrogate for Obama among religious voters, also dismissed any "Catholic problem." "The more Catholics see him and learn his positions on social justice and dignity of life issues, the more they like him," said Roemer.

While Obama's appeal to religious voters is real, the obstacles facing him, especially with Catholics, are real as well. It will not help Obama with Catholics if he surrounds himself with surrogates like Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife. (Mrs. Kennedy recently endorsed Obama and accompanied Roemer at a campaign stop in Ohio to meet with Catholic voters.)

The Kennedy factor will only serve to remind Catholics that Obama, while he speaks inspiringly about faith, is another pro-abortion Democrat -- a fact that Obama himself, surprisingly, continues to underscore. When he was asked in a televised presidential debate to name a mistake he had made while in the Senate, he said he erred on voting to allow Teri Schiavo's parents to have a legal hearing on their daughter's medical condition. "I think I should have stayed in the Senate and fought more for making sure that families make those decisions, and not bureaucrats and politicians.''

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But, at the end of the day, Obama's appeal to religious voters, especially Catholics, will be limited by the content of his own convictions. Voters who earnestly practice their religion are primarily concerned about the hostility of government and culture to their families. No matter how inspired the call to relieve poverty, it will not trump the ongoing concern of religious voters about raising their children and grandchildren.

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