June 29, 2009
Posted: June 29th, 2009 04:10 PM ET
The Obamas attended Easter services at a church near the White House but have not settled on a new church in the Washington area.
The Obamas attended Easter services at a church near the White House but have not settled on a new church in the Washington area.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Will he or won't he? President Barack Obama still hasn't decided if he'll join a church in the Washington area, his spokesman said Monday.

Obama is concerned that his presence would disrupt regular Sunday services for other parishioners, spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily news briefing.

"I think he believes that might take away from the experience that others might get," Gibbs said.

Obama, who is Christian, has attended services at Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, Maryland, and enjoys the pastor there, Gibbs said. But he said Obama would not formally join the Camp David church.

Filed under: Obama family • President Obama


LacrosseMom   June 29th, 2009 5:42 pm ET

@ Zora La Rousse......... Great post! That's right, SO what if a president would be Muslim?!

The Three Great Abrahamic Religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity.

We are all God's children. Peace.

Obama Victim   June 29th, 2009 5:42 pm ET

what ady of the week do Muslims attend services?? Obozo may have scheduling issues...........on the othet hand...if there is a camera there..........

makesUwonder   June 29th, 2009 5:41 pm ET

Jimmy the Greek June 29th, 2009 5:18 pm ET

Gibbs stated,

""I think he believes that might take away from the experience that others might get."

I would agree… yelling ALLAH AKBAR during a Christian service might not go over very well. Obama should just stop "faking" it and quit going to church all together.
-----------------------------–
GREAT COMMENT and I'm still rolling on the floor laughing.The "yelling ALLAH AKBAR" was the best. THANKS for the much needed laugh!

Zora La Rousse, Lugano CH   June 29th, 2009 5:41 pm ET

Jimmy the Greek June 29th, 2009 5:18 pm ET
I would agree… yelling ALLAH AKBAR during a Christian service might not go over very well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is clear that the Muslim call to prayer frightens you very very much. What does it frighten you? Educate yourself, and you won't have to live your life in such fear.

LacrosseMom   June 29th, 2009 5:40 pm ET

Amazing some of the comments by the far-right. Pathetic.

How many of you belong to a church? And attend regularly? How many read the Bible?

Jesus said, "do not judge" until He was blue in the face, and here are the holier-than-thou GOPers, doing what they do.

Kana   June 29th, 2009 5:40 pm ET

The only ones that care are those that want to critisize his choice. Or those that have no life other than the BS in the tabloids.

It has nothing to do with overseeing our nation.

The rest of you elected officials, get back to work!!

deb   June 29th, 2009 5:38 pm ET

All you GOP nutcases just can't leave it alone, can you? You'll find anything printed about President Obama and twist it all around to suit your hateful, pathetic comments. Unbelieable!

bozo obama   June 29th, 2009 5:37 pm ET

it looks like he will have to settle for a muslim church with a guest deacon Rev. Wrong.

Keep Your Religion Out of My Government   June 29th, 2009 5:36 pm ET

slp June 29th, 2009 4:58 pm ET

I have heard it all now. Can this president think anymore highly of himself? I guess he has been told so much that he is on equal footing with God that he now believes it. He believes that it might take away from the experience others will get. Whatever! All of you who voted for this man, this is your president. I didn't vote for him.

are you so mentally challenged that you are not able to see that having the President , secret service, etc would be disruptive to the other members of the congregation? What an idiot. "I" have heard it all now.

frank   June 29th, 2009 5:35 pm ET

these guys don't go to church....they are fake, a joke, a shame!!!!!!!!!!!
they pray at the bedside for all of us..........yeah right!
they have time to pick a date location but not a church?
FAKE,FAKE,FAKE

Homer Jay   June 29th, 2009 5:34 pm ET

So, attending the church of one of 435 House members is the same as the President of the US? Seriously, run that through your brain again, and if you still don't see a difference, seek help.

The better question: why does it matter what faith, or none at all, he is? He's President of all Americans, not Pope. Get a grip.

David   June 29th, 2009 5:32 pm ET

Atleast we dont have to hear anymore Rightwingers claim " Obama hasn't been to church since coming to office." I get sick of hearing about it.

ib   June 29th, 2009 5:30 pm ET

Why should the hyprocrite even go to church. Every thing he says and does is against what the church teaches.

Dieter Zerressen, Denver, CO   June 29th, 2009 5:25 pm ET

I just wish one President or politician had the guts to say religion is all hocus pocus.

Daniel -- Mesquite, Texas   June 29th, 2009 5:24 pm ET

Barack Obama might want to get to know the Rev. first :)

eric   June 29th, 2009 5:23 pm ET

Remind me again which church Bush joined? Oh, that's right, he never did join one. Remind me also how many times he was asked about it.

malclave   June 29th, 2009 5:19 pm ET

I imagine it's hard finding a preacher who can measure up to Jeremiah Wright's hatred.

Sasha and Malia deserve to have the most corrupting, immoral upbringing possible, don't they?

Jimmy the Greek   June 29th, 2009 5:18 pm ET

Gibbs stated,

""I think he believes that might take away from the experience that others might get."

I would agree... yelling ALLAH AKBAR during a Christian service might not go over very well. Obama should just stop "faking" it and quit going to church all together.

Randolph Carter   June 29th, 2009 5:14 pm ET

You guys do realize that the notion that a big, invisible man in the sky created everything 6,000 years ago is totally absurd, right? Nyarlathotep, on the other hand, is real. I met him once. Once was enough. Have a nice day!

Educate yourselves before you open your mouth and just let the words fall out   June 29th, 2009 5:11 pm ET

Who cares???!!!!!! Keep your religion out of my government and that goes for where, or IF, the POTUS chooses to attend. I'm SO sick of religous zealots mucking up my country!

D. Tree   June 29th, 2009 5:08 pm ET

After the way his religious affiliation was aggressively questioned during the elections, he probably has to watch thousands of hours of past sermons first!

rachel   June 29th, 2009 5:00 pm ET

He is not going to find one. He is just going to be a vistor to other people's churches so he doesn't have to answer for anything.

Pee Wee   June 29th, 2009 5:00 pm ET

If the press could exercise some restraint and allow him to do so without the political paparazzi in tow I don't think it would affect the parishioners at all. I went to the same church in Florida as Rep. Dave Weldon, his membership there didn't affect my decision to join or go. True believers will be in services to worship God. I spoke to Dave on occasion on political matters, only because my profession is in the nuclear treaty monitoring community. But, more often than not we spoke of our common interest, guitars!

Have a great day!

Zora La Rousse, Lugano CH   June 29th, 2009 5:00 pm ET

Many people continue to imply that President Obama is a Muslim; for argument's sake, what if he was?

I would still place my vote and my confidence in him over Sarah Palin and her hateful 'Christian' rhetoric.

Why are so many ‘Christian’ Americans afraid of Muslims? I have many Muslim and Muslim-American friends and colleagues-and not a single of them is a ‘terrorist’; Quite the opposite, actually, they are all worlds apart in their advanced education, success, intelligence and global perspective in comparison to many ‘Christian’ Americans who voted for McCain/Palin.

The anti-Islamic bigotry in the U.S. is ridiculous, sad, and pathetic. It’s easy to hate someone who is more intelligent than you, more successful than you and more accomplished than you if they practice a different faith. A coward can always feel brave if they are part of a mob; better yet if their cowardice is justified by their Christian faith.

slp   June 29th, 2009 4:58 pm ET

I have heard it all now. Can this president think anymore highly of himself? I guess he has been told so much that he is on equal footing with God that he now believes it. He believes that it might take away from the experience others will get. Whatever! All of you who voted for this man, this is your president. I didn't vote for him.

Zora La Rousse, Lugano CH   June 29th, 2009 4:58 pm ET

Many people continue to imply that President Obama is a Muslim; for argument's sake, what if he was?

I would still place my vote and my confidence in him over Sarah Palin and her hateful 'Christian' rhetoric.

Why are so many ‘Christian’ Americans afraid of Muslims? I have many Muslim and Muslim-American friends and colleagues-and not a single of them is a ‘terrorist’; Quite the opposite, actually, they are all worlds apart in their advanced education, success, intelligence and global perspective than many ‘Christian’ Americans who voted for McCain/Palin.

The anti-Islamic bigotry in the U.S. is ridiculous, sad, and pathetic. It’s easy to hate someone who is more intelligent than you, more successful than you and more accomplished than you if they practice a different faith. A coward can always feel brave if they are part of a mob; better yet if their cowardice is justified by their Christian faith.

Dutch/Bad Newz, VA   June 29th, 2009 4:54 pm ET

@ TCM

I knew you would take my comment literally. We all know the President is a Christian. Even you know this. As much as you and phoenix86 blasts Rev. Wright, I thought you guys would have knew that by now.

John M in NoHo CA   June 29th, 2009 4:48 pm ET

Why is it so important he have a church? Enough with religion and politicians. He should have the right to not even go to church if he doesn't feel like it.

Shari, NY   June 29th, 2009 4:48 pm ET

Render your heart and not your garments! If he chooses to say his prayers in private – no problem here, but I think people are looking to see where the First Family goes on Sunday mornings. Yes, even those who are fighting to keep the "Lord's Prayer" out of the classroom.

gus   June 29th, 2009 4:46 pm ET

Shopping around for a church that doesn't speak badly about the government should be pretty easy. However, shopping around for a church that doesn't bash gay people or other religions might be a challenge. Why didn't he shop around during the 20 years with Rev. Wright? Apparently nothing the good Rev. said offended him or his wife until clear thinking average Americans got wind of it, then suddenly he throws the Rev. under the bus to expedite his ascendancy to the thrown which gives him the ability to throw tax payer dollars to religious institutions in the form of George W. Bush's adopted faith-based initiatives. Knowing full well that many of these churches are worse than Rev. Wrights church. That's why he has to shop around. Discrimination in hiring does not affect churches who apply for faith-based initiatives. This has got to be unconstitutional.

tate   June 29th, 2009 4:44 pm ET

That church most not hate whites,jews and america enough for these two fools. Is it african liberation church like the one he went to for 25years?

tom   June 29th, 2009 4:36 pm ET

i hope he stays out of church we need to get religion out of polotics and stop spreading this crazy cult

Abby   June 29th, 2009 4:32 pm ET

Here come the useless Reverend Wright references that didn’t work the last time. Where our President worships is his business.

Mississippi Mike   June 29th, 2009 4:32 pm ET

He can't attend churches that attack Whites, Jews and America in general so why even go?

The Real "No Incumbents 2010"   June 29th, 2009 4:30 pm ET

The media should stop intruding on the practice of a public official's religious beliefs, which is a private matter. Gibbs should be honest and say this is a personal matter and that he will not be providing information about it. The media should be ashamed for asking about religious practices.

Capt. Snarky   June 29th, 2009 4:29 pm ET

He just needs to admit that he's either an athiest, or a muslim.....

TCM   June 29th, 2009 4:27 pm ET

@Dutch/Bad Newz, VA -

Dutch, that's during the week, 5x daily during prayer call....Sunday's are for the showboating for the Christians he duped into voting for "Hope and Change."

R. Wood   June 29th, 2009 4:26 pm ET

Where, when, and if the Obama's attend church is a private matter. Isn't there some real news to cover today-besides MJ's death, Sanford's affair, or Palin's latest controversy?

TCM   June 29th, 2009 4:26 pm ET

Who really cares? The guy's loyalty to God is highly questionable so, this "choosing a church," fiasco is showboating....

Randolph Carter   June 29th, 2009 4:25 pm ET

Cue the Reverend Wright references......
Have a nice day!

Rev. Wright   June 29th, 2009 4:24 pm ET

I have a suggestion...

Zero.   June 29th, 2009 4:22 pm ET

When is too-much praise for Obama enough? CNN.

Cheryl   June 29th, 2009 4:21 pm ET

How often is he attending church? Only when he is at Camp David. Just an excuse in my opinion.

Shelby   June 29th, 2009 4:21 pm ET

Where he worships is HIS business!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go find some real news!

Marc in Virginia   June 29th, 2009 4:21 pm ET

"I think he believes that might take away from the experience that others might get," Gibbs said.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Ha ha... I will try to use that line next time my wife drags me to church.

WIlly Brown   June 29th, 2009 4:20 pm ET

I hope he finds a place soon. I am losing sleep over this, thanks CNN for reporting this hot news coming from the smartest spokesman in the world Robert Gibb. Man this is change I can believe in!

Wolves 4 Palin Charlotte, NC   June 29th, 2009 4:19 pm ET

Gibbs, tell the reporters it is none of their dang business.

Dutch/Bad Newz, VA   June 29th, 2009 4:15 pm ET

This is not news. Now if he was attending a mosque, that's another story.

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