I found this interesting. In Albuquerque today, President Obama expanded on his religious philosphy in response to a question why he was a Christian. I think it influences his policy choices and like his beliefs. Here is some of it.
"I'm a Christian by choice," he said, noting that his mother "didn't raise me in the church" and that his family did not attend church every week.
"So I came to my Christian faith later in life," Obama said. "And 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 brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."
WaPo: Obama discusses his Christian faith, chides Republicans in backyard chat
He said he also reached an "understanding 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, you know, we achieve salvation through the grace of God."
He continued: "But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people and do our best to help them find . . . their own grace. And so that's what I strive to do. That's what I pray to do every day. I think my public service is part of that effort to express my Christian faith."
Obama emphasized, however, that "as president of the United States, I'm also somebody who deeply believes that part of the bedrock strength of this country is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith." While the United States "is still predominantly Christian," he said, "we have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, Buddhists, and . . . their own path to grace is one that we have to revere and respect as much as our own."
WaPo: Obama discusses his Christian faith, chides Republicans in backyard chat
For too many years, right wing extremists hijacked Christianity to serve bigotry and the wealthy.
Yet there is a long tradition of both Christian (and other religions, as well as atheists) committment to, yes Glenn Beck, social justice.
Take a look at the religious landscape: The Episcopal Church ordains not simply gay priests, but consecrates gay bishops; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America began ordaining gay pastors this summer; the United Church of Christ has permitted its regional jurisdictions to do so for years. There are gay rabbis among Reform and Reconstructionist Jews. The Unitarian-Universalists have been staunch supporters of gay marriage almost before anyone else dared raise the issue. Do the math and you realize these organizations account for many millions of Americans; you can find their buildings standing prominently in city, suburb and rural areas alike.
Oh, yes, I'm fully aware it's an uneven picture: the Roman Catholic Church stands firmly against gay relationships and gay marriage, as does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Back in the '90s, the Southern Baptist Convention adjusted its rules to allow its regional associations to remove individual congregations seen as not sufficiently opposed to gay ordination and marriage.
But religious institutions as a rule tend to be slow-moving, given to long deliberation. And that makes it significant that in some of the most high-profile organizations in the country, a willingness to embrace gay rights (and rites) has been gradually taking place. And this only 40 years after Stonewall. (If you want a comparison, it took women more than seven decades to gain the right to vote, after the first significant movement for female sufferage got going.)
DADT: the churches ahead of the politicians
I'm not interested in a sterile debate about the philosphy of religion and whether you think a God exists or does not, or whether religion is good or bad overall throughout human history.
What's important to me is many people are religious and it can be a force for illumination. I agree with much of what President Obama says.
being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me
I'm also somebody who deeply believes that part of the bedrock strength of this country is that it embraces people of many faiths and of no faith
There are many religious or non-religious paths to certain insights.
As for his discussion, the FoxNews people will claim he is not Christian, but some people will hear. It should not make a difference, but we live in strange times. The demonization of President Obama is the core tactic of the right.
Good people come in all religions or with no religion at all. I think our President is a flawed person who strives to be a good and decent person, just like most of us.
Update I: Video from Lovepolitics2008 in the comments. The discussion on his faith is about the 36 minute mark.
C-Span video
Update II: from blackwaterdog in the comments: