Bulletin 154 Date : 21st Jan 2009
In God we still trust Well, the American people have made their choice and Barack Hussein Obama has been sworn in, somewhat awkwardly if you watch the TV footage, as the 44th President of the USA amidst the euphoria from a crowd estimated at 2,000,000 in front of the White House. In his speech, he commented on the fact that only 40 years ago, he would have been denied service in some restaurants because of his colour and here he is, the most powerful man in America and probably the world.  There seemed to be some misgivings about announcing his full middle name (Hussein) at the start of the proceedings – an apparent break with convention – and announced Barack H. Obama instead. There is an ironic similarity too between his surname (Obama) and the name of another high profile middle-eastern figure – (Osama) Bin Laden. One wonders whether he would have been elected only 4 years ago at the height of the Iraq / Afghanistan struggles.
But why is there such euphoria in the American public and across the world? I must admit that during the campaign I still felt that America would play it safe and go for McCain. I sensed that Obama stands for values which, at heart, many Americans share but have been reluctant to articulate under the Bush administration. It has come as a sense of relief that finally they can say the Iraq invasion was not as ‘ethical’ as we were led to believe and that Guantanamo Bay needs urgent attention for the sake of America’s world image if nothing else. Also, there was tangible jubilation that America has finally exorcised the demons of the Civil Rights struggles championed by Martin Luther King Jnr. back in the 1960s.
During a prayer walk last night I was chatting with a friend about what Jesus would have said in an inaugural speech, had he been elected to President, which, of course, would have been highly unlikely given his radical theology in passages like Matthew 5:39 where Jesus urges non-retaliation. Luke 4:18-19 came to my mind where Jesus sets out his own manifesto at the start of his ministry, quoting from Isaiah 61:-
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind and to release the oppressed. To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (NIV abbreviated)
Much of what Obama said in his speech was about setting people free but in order to express the values underpinned by the Christian Gospel, rather than for the sake of selfish ambition which has landed us in the present economic turmoil.
Obama’s inauguration gives us an excellent platform for talking with non-believers about the importance of Christian values in the world. Time will tell whether the American people will allow him to apply the teachings of Jesus rigorously or whether he will be hounded by those who still hold to the ‘eye for an eye’ way of thinking in foreign policy.
Whatever the future may hold, this is an historic moment when, as people who stand firmly by Christian values, we can celebrate that God has acted to reveal his will and purposes to the world through the election of an overtly Christian President of the USA.
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