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KLMNO ON FAITH washingtonpost.com/onfaith


Throughout the week, go to On Faith for updates, discussions, commentary and news about faith and religion. On Faith, led by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham, is one of the online world’s most popular news and religion features, offering informative, interesting and insightful commentary every day on religion’s impact on Washington, national and international events. On Faith’s panel and contributors include distinguished theologians, scholars and thinkers on the subject of faith for believers and nonbelievers, as well as an award-winning blog, Under God.


Guest Voices Marriage expert Marion Usher on how Chelsea and Marc — and you — can decide which religion to raise interfaith children. Go to newsweek.washingtonpost.com/ onfaith/guestvoices.


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about taxes, tyranny and a Catholic “tea party.” Go to newsweek.washingtonpost.com/ onfaith/catholicamerica.


6 Religion events


 Saturday, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Reid Temple AME Church will hold an orientation for new members. 11400 Glenn Dale Blvd., Glenn Dale. 301-352-0320.  Saturday, 7:30 p.m.: A debutante ball hosted by Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church of Northeast Washington will be held at Martin’s Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Dr., Greenbelt. Tickets may be purchased by e-mailing wovscholarship@yahoo.com. 202-529-4547.  Sunday, 8 p.m.: Singer-songwriter Kat Parsons will perform at St. George’s Chapel, 7010 Glenn Dale Rd., Glenn Dale. A light supper will be available at 7 p.m. for $10 per person. Reservations are recommended and can be made at chariscenterarts.com or via e-mail at charisthespians@gmail.com. $20. 410-693-0940.  Sunday, 10:30 a.m.: The Liturgy for the Ending of a Pastoral Relationship will recognize the Rev. Angela Shepherd and her 11 years of service to Saint Philip’s Episcopal Church in Annapolis before the 10:30 a.m. worship service. Shepherd is leaving to serve the Maryland Diocese as the canon for mission and outreach at the Diocesan Center in Baltimore. 730 Bestgate Rd., Annapolis. 410-266-9755.  Sunday, 11 a.m.: Organist Jay Parrotta will play two more Sundays, including Aug. 8, before leaving the position at Calvary Baptist Church, 755 Eighth Street NW. 202-347-8355. Wednesday, 7 to 9 p.m.: Spiritual leader Mahala Connally will lead “The Way of the Visionary,” a workshop at Unity by the Bay Church, 836 Ritchie Hwy, Suite 18, Severna Park. 410-544-7990.


Send items to Religion Events, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071; fax to 202-334-5417; or e-mail rpevents@ washpost.com.


MARVIN JOSEPH/THEROOT.COM/THE WASHINGTON POST


The Faith Divide A conservative evangelical


pastor explains why he supports the mosque near Ground Zero: “I don’t believe in ‘us’ against ‘them.’ ” Go to newsweek.washingtonpost.com/ onfaith/eboo_patel.


Catholic America Anthony Stevens-Arroyo talks Joshua DuBois is the White House gatekeeper for religious leaders, and he also sends devotional notes to the president. Counselor in chief


Obama’s religion outreach coordinator manages matters of faith both public and private by Christi Parsons


T


he young minister’s alarm goes off at 6 a.m., time for his own devotion- al and the one he will send to the president of the United States. This particular morning, Joshua


DuBois meditates on the disciple Peter’s first letter to the early church. The text he prays over and e-mails to Barack Obama half an hour later is about something else. It’s a private start to the day for the presi- dent and the pastor, a spiritual BlackBerry session they guard carefully. Hours later, they meet in a public setting, when the president arrives to give a speech at a community center.


DuBois is wearing an ear bud and carrying a clipboard, standard equipment for a mid- level White House staffer. Obama climbs from his car and greets DuBois and another aide with a casual, “Hey, guys.” A sheen of perspira- tion glistens at DuBois’s hairline as the group heads toward the stage area. Colleagues say DuBois is entitled to a spot on the platform, as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighbor- hood Partnerships. But DuBois has arranged for others from the White House to sit there.


Waiting in the wings “Preaching, I don’t think it comes naturally


to me,” DuBois says, a smile materializing in the circle of his goatee. “But working with people, the one on one, that’s the best part of being a minister.” As it happens, his particular gift is in need


at the White House. Obama hasn’t had a pas- tor for two years, since he had to answer for controversial speech by his last one, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Now, instead of aligning himself with a church or spiritual leader, Obama seeks the guidance of many people. Some are scholars; some pray in tongues. Some share his progres- sive views; others say they didn’t vote for him. They have one thing in common: DuBois. In his official job, the 27-year-old Princeton-


educated minister is the front door of the White House for religious and community leaders. In his spare time, he arranges group phone


prayer for the president and sets up one-on- one sessions. He solicits written devotionals from others and mixes them in with those he prepares. And he zealously guards the words that pass between him and the president. “With Joshua, it’s never about Joshua,” says Michael Strautmanis, a White House aide and


DuBois’s mentor. “It’s always about the other person — regardless of who that might be.” As the community center event begins, the min- ister takes his place in the wings to watch.


A fast bond with Obama


DuBois showed up at Obama’s offices five years ago, in some ways a younger version of the then-senator from Illinois — a black man with Ivy League credentials and a brilliant fa- ther who bounced in and out of his life. DuBois had a master’s degree in public pol-


icy and experience on Capitol Hill, not an un- common pedigree for young Democrats knocking on Obama’s door. Something set DuBois apart, though. He was a Pentecostal minister, ordained by the church he attended as an undergraduate at Boston University. He had grown up in Tennessee and Ohio with a stepfather who is a minister in the Afri- can Methodist Episcopal Church. In college, a friend introduced him to Pentecostalism, a strain of Christianity with a lively worship style that includes prayer in unknown lan- guages. Pentecostals tend toward conserva- tive views. They aren’t usually Democrats. DuBois was drawn to Obama because of his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Con- vention. Obama spoke of worshiping “an awe- some God.” The staff put DuBois to work re- searching bills. One day in 2006, at work on a speech, Oba- ma turned to his deputy chief of staff for help brainstorming biblical passages. Strautmanis thought of the young preacher down the hall. “I took him in, and they started talking,”


Strautmanis recalls, “and pretty soon I real- ized my time would be well spent on some- thing else.” DuBois soon took charge of reli- gious outreach for Obama, the only Senate Democrat to name such a point person. Shortly after his presidential campaign be- gan, Obama prayed with ministers at a break- fast DuBois put together in South Carolina. On the next visit there, Obama met with the ministers and asked to pray privately. As the campaign continued, DuBois as- sembled friendly pastors to pray with Obama in any quiet space he could find — hallways, backstage, locker rooms.


Private messages of faith


In his formal position, DuBois coordinates the work of faith-based centers in 12 federal agencies, and he directs groups tackling is- sues such as teen pregnancy, adoption and poverty. In the process, he consults clergy leaders from all religious traditions. DuBois usually prays with the president by speakerphone from his office at Jackson


Place, a White House annex. Frequent guests are Bishop Charles Blake of the Church of God in Christ, a conservative-leaning church, and the Rev. Sharon Watkins, head of the more progressive Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “I get them on the phone,” DuBois says of the other ministers, “but their connec- tion is with the president. They’re friends of his now. They know his heart.” Then there are the devotionals, the private


messages of faith sent each morning about 6:30 to Obama’s BlackBerry. DuBois chooses passages from religious


texts such as the Bible, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and meditations by estab- lished writers. Lately, he has consulted the classic collection of meditations “My Utmost for His Highest,” by turn-of-the-century evan- gelist Oswald Chambers. DuBois seems to anticipate moments of need, says Ashley Tate-Gilmore, who was Oba- ma’s Senate assistant and now works in the White House travel office. Obama would say, “Let’s get Joshua in


here,” she says, and DuBois was often there before she looked up from the phone.


Striving after struggling


Onstage at the community center, Obama is speaking about responsible fatherhood, a con- cept of special importance to him. His father left when he was a toddler. “We know that when fathers abandon their responsibilities, there’s harm done to those kids,” Obama tells the audience. “It’s some- thing that leaves a hole in a child’s life that no government can fill.” Heads nod. One of them is DuBois’s. After his parents’ marriage ended, DuBois and his mother struggled at times. Shortly after learning that his father had died, in 2006, DuBois was called to the sena- tor’s office. Obama put an arm around him and offered words of comfort. DuBois says he was drawn to Obama partly because of that personal affinity, but also by his view that such problems as parental ab- sence, poverty and abortion are tied to values and culture. He liked Obama’s belief that ef- fective solutions involve religious leaders. Faith-based organizations “are on the front lines of some of the most difficult challenges we’re facing as a nation,” DuBois says. “This is driven by need.” When Obama finishes his speech, DuBois walks with him toward the back driveway and watches the motorcade pull away, lights flashing.


DuBois heads back inside to close out the


event. The congregation is leaving the audito- rium, and he wants to be there. — Tribune Washington Bureau


Under God ELIZABETH TENETY, EDITOR Your Place to Save - Monday through Sunday in Metro


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Blogging on religion, government and politics


How influential is the progressive left? It’s been 19 months since the


Democrats took the White House and the jury’s still out on whether organized faith voters are having much influence. Ten senators showed up for a roundtable about faith issues Wednesday morning at the Capitol. Most stayed only briefly, and host Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader, never showed.


Sen. Amy Klobuchar


(D-Minn.) addressed, perhaps unintentionally, a question many Democrats ask privately: How influential, really, are faith groups on the left? How vast are their e-mail networks? How


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organized are their members? How deep are their pockets? How aggressive are they wiling to get? Klobuchar was relaying


conversations she had with some faith activists pushing her on immigration reform and how she explained to them the challenges posed by a lack of GOP support. The activists, she said, didn’t seem especially interested in the politics, being primarily focused on what they saw as the moral imperative of reform. “The question for me is: Where does the faith community’s role begin and end?” she said.


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“Preaching, I don’t think it comes naturally to me. But working with people, the one on one, that’s the


best part of being a minister.” — Joshua DuBois, director of the White House


Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships


Below is an excerpt from “On Faith,” a daily online religion section sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. Each week, Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn engage figures from the world of faith in a conversation about an aspect of religion.


Chelsea Clinton, raised Methodist, and Marc Mezvinsky, Jewish, are to wed this weekend. Statistics show 37 percent of Americans have a spouse of a different faith. Statistics also show that couples in interfaith marriages are three times as likely to be divorced or separated as those in same-religion marriages. Is interfaith marriage good for American society?


Find sacred ground in marriage: The more productive topic is how to avoid such divorces. To do that, a young couple must find common ground in spiritual matters.


Deepak Chopra, author


Interfaith marriage strengthens tolerance: For society, the most important thing is to support an interfaith couple — just as we would any other couple — as they make the promise to love and cherish one another. An interfaith marriage can only thrive in a society that values tolerance. And by the same token, the bonds of interfaith marriage strengthen the tolerant fabric of American life.


Janet Edwards,


co-moderator, More Light Presbyterians


It’s marriage — no adjectives needed: Good marriages are based on responsibility, equality and love. . . . It’s not interfaith marriage, same-sex marriage or interracial marriage. It’s just marriage.


Debra W. Haffner, executive director, Religious Institute


Successful couples share the same religious and moral vision: Religious intermarriage, or one might say moral intermarriage (marriage to someone who fundamentally does not share one’s moral values), can be deeply problematic.


David Gushee,


professor of Christian ethics, Mercer University


A blessing and a threat: Religious traditions are complex, ramified cultures. They are not checklists. To adopt a tradition is to orient one’s soul toward the universe. That is far easier to accomplish if both parents


represent the same tradition. David Wolpe,


rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles


Religious difference must be addressed and negotiated: Religion provides a rich dimension of commonality for couples and thus accords a legitimate priority when seeking a spouse. Shared dimensions lay the foundation for harmony in a marriage. Differences bring novelty and often expand the horizons of each partner, but they also present obstacles.


Chester Gillis,


Amaturo chair in Catholic studies, Georgetown University


READER COMMENTS


CIANWN: Ultimately, what makes or breaks a marriage is the ability of the adults involved to overcome their differences, treat each other with respect, and act maturely.


SAJANAS: Interfaith marriage is good for America. The more people mingle, the more they realize we’re all human beings who want mostly the same things. There are good people in all religions . . . and it’s a shame to limit your dating pool to just those who follow some creed that you inherited from your parents.


To read the complete essays and more “On Faith” commentary, go to washingtonpost.com/onfaith.


A complete list of PostPoints Spots can be found at washingtonpost.com/postpoints.


Should religions intermarry?


washingtonpost.com/ onfaith


Excerpts from the On Faith panel at


SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010


washingtonpost.com/postpoints


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