The most interesting aspect of what is being called "Obama-mania" is how quickly it has penetrated the Evangelical community. During a recent home Bible study group which my wife and I hosted at our house, one of our friends said, "What did you think of that Obama at Rick Warren's church? Looks like we finally may have a Democrat we can get behind." Yet, when I asked this same woman how much she knew about Obama, she indicated she really knew nothing about him.

 My impression is that there are millions of Americans like our friend; they find Obama appealing, but don't know any more about him than his good looks, easy-going manner and gorgeous family. If first impressions can be lasting ones, Obama is in good shape among a healthy percentage of traditional Christians. [     ]

It was under Wright's tutelage that Obama made his public profession of Christian faith. This, in response to a sermon preached by Wright and entitled (like Obama's recent book), The Audacity of Hope. For Wright and his church, the gospel is fused with the black experience in America. The church's mission statement reads, "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the Black religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are an African people, and remain `true to our native land,' the mother continent, the cradle of civilization."[xv]

 I don't pretend to understand the agony blacks have suffered in this country, enduring the hideous barbarism of slavery, the cruelty of Jim Crow segregation and the pain of prejudice. Yet, Trinity's reaction to these realities seems an anomaly, even by the several black leaders I consulted in writing this article. [   ]

 In other words, Obama came to Christ on his own terms, rather than surrendering unconditionally to Jesus' Lordship. This is important for all Christians to know, and particularly for Evangelical Christians whom Obama is actively courting for political purposes. [    ]

This commitment to the plenary authority and centrality of the Bible does not describe Barack Obama's Christianity. In fact, Obama picks and chooses what parts of the Bible he will accept or reject. For example, on the subject of same-sex relationships, Obama writes, [     ]

Obama doesn't seem to have this assurance of his salvation and, sadly, he risks passing that doubt along to his own four year old daughter: [   ]

Obama's progressivism, however, leads him to conclusions that are morally untenable, if not reprehensible, to Evangelicals and other traditionalist Christians.

He approves of same-sex romantic and sexual relationships, as do his church, his pastor and his denomination. He supports abortion for any reason, by any method, at any stage of pregnancy including during the birth process. [   ]

Obama is a member in a church that places devotion to race and nationality on par with devotion to Christ. His cultural exclusivity stands in direct opposition to the Evangelical concept of the transcendent universality of the Gospel. [    ]

Furthermore, Obama is affiliated with a denomination that has decisively rejected the cardinal truths of the Christian faith. This will be an enormous impediment toward his goal of unity. [   ]

Barack Obama is not an Evangelical Christian. Each of us must decide how much weight to give this fact as he continues to make the rounds in our churches, but we must keep it at the forefront of our minds. Only then can we properly and prayerfully decide whether or not to take the Senator up on his invitation to talk. Should he run for president, Obama's religious identity and the policies that result from it will be critical in assessing whether or not he has earned the Evangelical vote.