Obama discusses conversion to Christianity, defends position on abortion

September 30, 2010

President Barack Obama spoke on September 28 about his conversion to Christianity. The president, who attended a Catholic elementary school when he lived in Jakarta, was baptized as a United Church of Christ member at the age of 27.

“My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church,” he said. “So I came to my Christian faith later in life.”

“It was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead-- being my brother's and sister's keeper, treating others as they would treat me,” he added.

“And I think also understanding that, you know, that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings-- that we're sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes, and that we ... achieve salvation through the grace of God.”

“Now, with respect to the abortion issue, I actually think-- I mean, there are laws both federal, state and constitutional that are in place,” he said later. “And I think that this is an area where I think Bill Clinton had the right formulation a couple of decades ago, which is abortion should be safe, legal, and rare."”

The president described abortion as “a difficult, oftentimes tragic situation that families are wrestling with.”

“I think the families and the women involved are the ones who should make the decisions, not the government,” he said, adding: “I do think actually that there are a whole host of laws on the books that after a certain period, the interests shift such that you can have some restrictions, for example, on late-term abortions, and appropriately so.”

 

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Further information:

• Obama answers the question: Why are you a Christian? (Reuters)
• Obama Says Teachings of Jesus Christ 'Spoke to Me,' then Defends Abortion (LifeSiteNews.com)