No Churchgoing Christmas for the First Family

[NewLIfeArea]

The Bush family spent eight straight Christmases at Camp David, in large part because of the retreat's privacy, and were regular attenders of the chapel's candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Other Presidents and their families have opted to stay in Washington for the holiday. The Clintons traditionally went to midnight mass at the Washington National Cathedral and woke up in the White House on Christmas morning before heading south for vacation. President Reagan also remained in Washington over Christmas — reportedly so members of the Secret Service could be near their families — although Reagan didn't venture out to a local church service.

The Obamas have celebrated Christmas in Hawaii, where the President grew up, nearly every year since the girls were born. But while Obama can still visit his favorite shaved ice joint and body-surfing spots, he doesn't have a childhood church home to attend. His mother wasn't a churchgoer, and Obama writes in "Dreams of My Father" that his grandparents took him to church infrequently.

The one church in Hawaii with which Obama does have a family connection is unlikely to be the place where the First Family would worship on Christmas Eve. As a child, Obama occasionally attended Sunday school classes at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, and his family held a memorial service there for his grandmother last Christmas. Conservative critics were quick to point out that the First Unitarian Church has a controversial history — in 1969, the church offered sanctuary to servicemen who refused to go to Vietnam. The refuge was brief, however, as military police invaded church grounds to arrest the soldiers.

During the Obamas' visit to the Children's National Medical Center this week, one young patient asked Sasha Obama whether anything would change for their first celebration of Christmas as the First Family. "I don't think anything will be very different," Sasha said. She may be right. The Obamas spent a quiet Christmas in Hawaii last year, staying in their rented house on Christmas Eve and visiting with soldiers stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Christmas Day. They may miss singing carols and reading the Christmas story in the book of Luke, at least in a formal church setting, but after entertaining 50,000 house guests, all the First Family must really want for Christmas is some peace and quiet.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1949879,00.html#ixzz0adFZxLRw


For Sure RightWingNut attack Obama for not clelebaration Christmas and Church. They screamed "We prove that He is really Muslim" :sarcasm:
:mad: :eyes: :crazy: :wtf: :nopity: :boring: :grr: :nuke: :banghead: :rant: :hide:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[MadMaddie]

1. The outrage is coming! It's probably already started!

[sakabatou]

6. But of course

[Oregone]

2. Christmas and Easter are when all the posers come outta the woodwork and go to church

Even if I was a church-goer, those wouldn't be on my list of days to go join the throngs of opiated masses. Those are days you spend with your families.

[Raine]

10. That's true

when I was kid my family was regular church goers but we didn't go Christmas or Easter. Those days were for the "posers" even the minister of our church knew that was who showed up the most on those days.

[burning rain]

12. Well, even a fair number of regular churchgoers are there for social reasons,...

not theological convictions. And with the political class especially, there's also the perceived need to Christ it up so as to corrall religious voters.

[HopeOverFear]

3. GODLESS HEATHENS!!!!!

:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

4. Surely that is proof that they are muslim

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[Jennicut]

5. My husband is a church organist and has 3(!) services to play tonight.

Actually, he used to play 4 but that got to be too much. I think that is enough to cover for the Prez. LOL.
Really, does attending church prove anything about yourself? We are very religious in our family being that my husband works at a church, the pastor there married us and is a good friend of ours. But some people are atheists, some are agnostic, and some don't need to attend a church service to pray to God or believe in Jesus. We really need to grow up about religion in this country, it should be a personal choice with no judgment regarding how we all feel about it.

[JuniperLea]

7. "personal choice with no judgment"

What a beautiful, Christ-like statement. I'm going to hold that thought... thank you so much:)

[Cha]

9. Thank you, Jennicut..that's a very

Universalist way to look at it..and as it should be, imv.:)

[Cha]

8. I'm so happy for them and that's really interesting

to me that his grandparents were part of the Unitarian Church. I've gone to a couple of services at our local Universalist Unitarian that is right next door to our Community Co-op.

My friends go there and it's very inclusive to all.

Next year I'll be on Kaua'i and looking forward to having the Obamas come over to the Islands..as my son says, who lives there, "this is Obama friendly territory".B-)

Don't forget the hypocrites are turning their backs on Christmas now bc of the passage in the Senate of the Health Bill.

[KittyWampus]

11. I hope they are all in their jammies having a nice time.

[scheming daemons]

13. How come every thread from this poster tonight has a freeper-esque theme?

Kinda suspicious....

[Hippo_Tron]

14. That settles it, he's a MUSLIN!!!!

[mantis49]

15. Idiots.

It's "Dreams from my Father", not "of". Puts a whole new spin on the title, doesn't it? I finally let my TIME subscription lapse because of BS like this.

[marshall]

16. Kawaiahao Church would be a great place to attend a meeting this time of year

Lots of history.