Via UMR,  this post asks a question that I feel this Obama "resigning from Trinity UCC” incident has brought to the fore about church and American politics

What does this say about American politics?  Obama has not announced his decision to join another church.  If it weren’t for his political aspirations, would Obama remain as part of this congregation, or is his decision to depart mainly based upon political expediency?  I understand if Obama is disappointed with comments made from Trinity UCC’s pulpit.  I am disappointed myself.  However, Obama will likely not be the last presidential candidate to rise from a religious community with a controversial pulpiteer, so I ask, is this good for the church, for politics, and for American political discourse?

Will future political candidates choose churches that are more innocuous to American culture?  No doubt some candidates have done so in the past–choosing their faith communities based on the measure of influence they could garner from the congregation/denomination/etc.  As a final question, has anything similar to Obama’s plight taken place with other persons striving to take hold of public office in a way that it has become newsworthy?

Obama Resigns Church Membership « Performing the Faith

While Obama is right that his political position has brought “undue” scrutiny upon Trinity members,  I am still disappointed (but  not surprised) that the idolatry of American governmant and the implied “priority” of the political sphere as the “real way to make a difference” has caused/convinced Obama to “make the break” from what should be the primary alliance.  But of course,  I have not seen Obama as the kind of ecclesially centered member who would insist that American politics has NO authority in his relationship with his church membership.  I guess the closest analogy to what I’m getting at here would be to ask if Obama would set his own family aside and divorce his wife if MIchelle were to become a political liability.  This would be a breaking point in the public mind,  since most would see this as a ridiculous choice.  But one’s relationship to the church is not even in the same ballpark in American culture.  So what sort of family is the church,  if not in fact a real family?