{"id":536,"date":"2008-04-22T12:59:03","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T12:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godometer\/2008\/04\/obamas-quiet-church-visit.html"},"modified":"2008-04-22T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2008-04-22T12:59:03","slug":"obamas-quiet-church-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godometer\/2008\/04\/obamas-quiet-church-visit.html","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s Quiet Church Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"obamachurch.jpg\"South Carolina pastor Ronald Byrd<\/a> should check this out: Campaigning in Pennsylvania this weekend, Barack Obama quietly attended service at St. Mark\u2019s United Church of Christ in small town Lebanon, outside Harrisburg. The Lebanon Daily News<\/a> carried the story:<\/p>\n

Obama wanted his visit to be as private as possible, so the church staff was asked to keep the plans secret. There was no notification given to the media or even local Democratic campaign officials until early yesterday. Obama\u2019s simple desire was to attend a worship service prior to campaign rallies in Reading and Scranton….
\nOnly a handful of church members knew of the visit prior to arriving yesterday.
\n\u201cI was like, \u2018Ahhh!\u2019\u201d Virginia Gruber said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d
\nZachary Diehm, a sophomore at Cedar Crest High School and a church member, had a tough time finding a word to describe Obama\u2019s visit before settling on \u201chonorable.\u201d
\n\u201cWe talk about it a lot in class,\u201d he said of the presidential race. \u201cIt shows a lot of character for him to come to a church and not make a big deal out of it.\u201d
\n….Obama and two friends arrived a few minutes after the service started and sat in a front pew. The Illinois senator listened to soloist Tim Brown sing, \u201cPrecious Lord, Take My Hand,\u201d and the church\u2019s senior choir sing \u201cDo Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled.\u201d
\nThe Democratic candidate sang along with familiar hymns \u201cSavior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,\u201d \u201cTo God Be the Glory\u201d and \u201cCount Your Blessings,\u201d and prayed the Lord\u2019s Prayer with the congregation.
\nAfterward, Obama shook hands, posed for pictures and signed autographs at the front of the sanctuary for everyone who patiently waited, some for almost an hour, to greet him….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A presidential candidate quietly<\/em> attending church? The last time God-o-Meter remembers that happening was when Mitt Romney attended LDS services as a candidate, no doubt to avoid reminding voters of his Mormonism. Obama, by contrast, could stand to benefit from publicizing his church visits, since some voters still falsely believe him to be a Muslim<\/a> and oppose him because of it. It takes a lot of restraint for him to attend church quietly. God-o-Meter’s impressed.<\/p>\n


\n8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Carolina pastor Ronald Byrd should check this out: Campaigning in Pennsylvania this weekend, Barack Obama quietly attended service at St. Mark\u2019s United Church of Christ in small town Lebanon, outside Harrisburg. The Lebanon Daily News carried the story: Obama wanted his visit to be as private as possible, so the church staff was asked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barack-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nObama's Quiet Church Visit - God-O-Meter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godometer\/2008\/04\/obamas-quiet-church-visit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama's Quiet Church Visit - God-O-Meter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Carolina pastor Ronald Byrd should check this out: Campaigning in Pennsylvania this weekend, Barack Obama quietly attended service at St. Mark\u2019s United Church of Christ in small town Lebanon, outside Harrisburg. 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