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Obama, Thanksgiving, and Church

By Howard M. Friedman

ABC News reports that President-elect Barack Obama, along with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, spent an hour on the day before Thanksgiving handing out bags of food to the needy at Chicago's St. Columbanus Catholic Church. This is Obama's third year of volunteering before Thanksgiving at a local food bank.

Meanwhile earlier this week, Politico reported that on the three Sundays since the election, Obama has not attended church services. Instead he has used his Sundays to work out at a Chicago gym. An Obama aide say that the Obamas have been concerned about the disruption that their visit would cause, as well as possibly unwanted attention for a church not used to Presidential visits. The aide said that the Obamas "look forward to finding a church community in Washington, D.C." The Obamas, of course, resigned from the large Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in May in a dispute over views of its controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright. (See prior posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 27, 2008 (boomark / email).