Obama, Christian Leaders Hold Private Meeting To Discuss Range Of Issues, Including Abortion

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 12 Jun 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) met privately with Christian leaders on Tuesday in Chicago to discuss a range of issues, including abortion, the AP/Google.com reports. Joshua Dubois, Obama's presidential campaign director of faith outreach, said the meeting included "prominent evangelicals and other faith leaders" who "discussed policy issues and came together in conversation and prayer."

According to the Obama campaign, about 30 people attended the meeting, including head of the National Baptist Convention of America Stephen Thurston; Rev. T. Dewitt Smith, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention; and Bishop Phillip Robert Cousin of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Two unnamed sources familiar with the meeting said others attending included evangelical author Max Lucado; Cameron Strang, founder of Relevant Media, which is aimed at young Christians; Rev. Luis Cortes of Esperanza USA; Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; and Douglas Kmiec, who headed the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel in the late 1980s and who was recently denied Holy Communion at a Roman Catholic church because he endorsed Obama for president.

Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, said Obama asked participants to share "anything that's on your mind that is of concern to you." Cizik said, "I think it's important to point out this isn't a group of people who are endorsing Obama," adding, "People were asked for their insider wisdom and understanding of the religious community." Cizik said that participants agreed not to give specifics of Obama's responses to their questions but that "there was nothing softball about this meeting, and that's the way he said he wanted it."

Mark DeMoss, a spokesperson for Rev. Franklin Graham, said Graham also attended the meeting. DeMoss added that Graham found Obama "impressive" and "warm." DeMoss noted that Graham "feels that dialogue with someone who may be president is useful whether or not you agree with them on everything or anything." He added that Graham plans to meet with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Bishop T.D. Jakes -- a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas-based megachurch and who attended the meeting -- said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his "personal journey of faith." Jakes added that the discussion "went absolutely everywhere," and "just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room." Jakes said he also hopes to meet with McCain (Babington, AP/Google.com, 6/11).

KCRW's "To The Point" on Wednesday is scheduled to discuss if McCain or Obama could appeal to evangelical Christians, who make up one-third of the presidential electorate. The program plans to discuss abortion rights, stem cell research and other issues (Olney, "To The Point," KCRW, 6/11). Audio of the segment will be available online after the broadcast.

Related Opinion Piece

Some supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) presidential bid and other "wavering Democrats" considering voting for McCain want to know if McCain would "stock the Supreme Court with foes of Roe v. Wade," Providence Journal syndicated columnist Froma Harrop writes in a Tallahassee Democrat opinion piece, adding that the "answer is unclear but probably 'no.'"

Harrop speculates that McCain's statements in the past year that he would like to see Roe overturned might be "[p]rimary politics" because he said in 1999 that he would not support the repeal of Roe. In addition, McCain worked on the so-called "Gang of 14" Republicans and Democrats who sought "common ground on court appointments," and a likely increasing Democratic majority in the Senate would "put a quick end" to any "controversial" judicial nominee, Harrop writes. "Whatever McCain really thinks, the chances that he would submerge his presidency in the maelstrom of abortion politics seem slim," according to Harrop.

"Curious Democrats ... need not obsess on what a McCain presidency would do to Roe," Harrop writes, concluding, "That is one war McCain is unlikely to wage" (Harrop, Tallahassee Democrat, 6/11).

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