Obama Undecided on New DC Church
President-Elect Barack Obama hasn't decided yet on which church to attend in DC. Watch here and read the ABC This Week transcript below:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've been without a worship community now for about a year. Do you miss it?
OBAMA: I do and it's been a difficult time. Now, I've got a wonderful community of people who are praying for me every day, and they call me up and -- you know, but it's not the same as going to church and the choir's going and you get a good sermon.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, do you have a church here in Washington?
OBAMA: Not yet. And so, one of the things that Michelle and I will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what's comfortable. It is tougher as president. You know, this is not just an issue of going to church, it's an issue of going anywhere. You don't want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being magged every time you go to church. And so, we're going to try to be balancing, not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of Washington D.C.
But one of the things that I don't like historically about Washington is the way that you've got one part of Washington, which is a company town, all about government, and is generally pretty prosperous. And then, you've got another half of D.C. that is going through enormous challenges. I want to see if we can bring those two Washington D.C.s together.
A couple points to keep in mind. You can probably expect the Obama's to attend a Church that has a good Sunday school program for their children. Also, the Church will obviously need to have a community organizing aspect to it and most likely concentrate on social justice issues.
Those close to him tell me that what will be most important for the President-Elect is for him to surround himself with a small circle of pastors who pray with him and for him on a regular basis. These would be pastors that have nothing to do with the Church he attends or want anything from him politically.
