Obama picks a church, and it’s not in DC

The ever on-top-of-things Amy Sullivan over at Time magazine is reporting today that President Obama isn’t going to pick a D.C. church after all, and intends to follow George W. Bush’s lead and attend quiet Sunday services at Camp David. There’s no official word (yet) from the White House on all this, but I trust […]

The ever on-top-of-things Amy Sullivan over at Time magazine is reporting today that President Obama isn’t going to pick a D.C. church after all, and intends to follow George W. Bush’s lead and attend quiet Sunday services at Camp David.

There’s no official word (yet) from the White House on all this, but I trust Amy’s reporting (as good as anyone’s) when she says that Obama has been quietly telling aides that he doesn’t want to get into the DC church circus. From Amy’s story:

“A number of factors drove the decision – financial, political, personal – but chief among them was the desire to worship without being on display. Obama was reportedly taken aback by the circus stirred up by his visit to 19th Street Baptist in January. Lines started forming three hours before the morning service, and many longtime members were literally left out in the cold as the church filled with outsiders eager to see the new President. Even at St. John’s, which is so accustomed to presidential visitors that it is known as the “Church of the Presidents,” worshippers couldn’t help themselves from snapping photos of Obama on their camera phones as they walked down the aisle past him to take communion.


“The challenge of being part of a church community but also praying in peace has long been a problem for Presidents, according to historian Carl Sferrazza Anthony. “McKinley hated having people staring at him while he read Psalms, sang hymns, put money in the collection plate or took communion,” he writes in America’s First Families. “By the 1920s, getting a presidential family in and out of church was a production. Secret Service agents had to cordon off a clear path from the curb to the church entrance before the Coolidges arrived … [and] they were swiftly escorted to their third-row pew.”

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