Obama Dispels Notions Of Muslim Ties At Macon Church

By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report

Macon, Ga

(1/28/08) Throughout most of this contentious nominating season, the residents of South Georgia have come no closer to a presidential candidate than the signals on their satellite dishes. But on Sunday there were two Democratic candidates within 60 miles of each other.

That was the signal that the early season is just about over, and the candidates are commencing a mad dash for delegates, where ever they think they can get them. Which is what brought Barack Obama to a church church here Sunday morning, and John Edwards to the Farmers Market in Dublin about an hour later.

It's not surprising Obama would choose to make his first appearance at a church after his sweeping victory in Saturday's South Carolina Democratic Presidential Primary. But what kind of church he visited is worth noting.

Harvest Cathedral is a mixed-race church -- “a colored congregation, of many colors,” in the words of Pastor Steve Sawyer. It espouses what Sawyer called “Biblical prosperity,” although the pastor cautioned that concept is “not just about money.”

Sunday's service had a band with electric guitars and synthesizers, and the church announcements were flashed on a screen and read by an anchor woman. First-time visitors got mugs and cds.

This is, in other words, something closer to a modern megachurch than the traditional African-American churches which Democratic candidates, white and black, are fond of visiting when elections near. It was chosen to underscore Obama's theme of a new kind of political coalition which looks past race toward a multi-ethnic America.

“Twenty years ago this wasn't possible. I don't know if 10 years ago, this would have been possible. But today Harvest stands as a witness to what is possible,” Obama said.

The Illinois senator had one not very thinly veiled political message: The party needs unity, he said, but “the unity that is needed cannot be purchased on the cheap.” But most of Sunday morning's message, while it had a political purpose, was about religion.

In some detail, Obama told of how he had come to walk down the aisle and get baptized, while doing social work with churches on the Chicago South Side.

It was only at the suggestion of the preachers he was working with, Obama said, that he began attending church. He noted how his mother was skeptical of organized religion, while his father – who left when he was two years old – was absent.

Obama described his conversion as a slow and unremarkable turning toward faith.

“The skeptical bent of my mind didn't suddenly vanish, but kneeling beneath the cross I discovered God's spirit beckoning to me,” Obama said.

It seemed Obama was less interested in making his road to the cross dramatic than in making it plausible: A simple story which many in the church could relate to, settling any lingering doubts about the stories on the web that he has Muslim ties. In some of the Feb. 5 states where he'll be competing, such a long explanation might not be necessary. In South Georgia, which Flannery O'Connor once referred to as "Christ-haunted," it is.

Obama spent some time talking about the poor and the downtrodden, which was appropriate for church, but may also have had a political intent.

Edwards comes out of South Carolina trailing far behind Obama and Clinton, but he vowed Sunday to continue his fight. (According to the Macon Telegraph, he drew about 400 people to his Dublin rally.)

That means that while the great contest may now be between Clinton and Obama, there are a lot of places in Feb. 5 primary states across the South where Obama and Edwards may be competing for votes, as they were in South Georgia Sunday.

Thus, in this newfangled church, Obama found room for a little old-fashioned populism.