Q: I read an article stating that President Barack Obama is a Christian. Where does he go to church? How often does he go to church?
—Fran Downey, Acworth
A: Obama had attended church services about 19 times from the beginning of his first term through December 2014, Politico reported.
The article stated he has visited “a patchwork of congregations” while in office and Michelle Obama told “Live! with Kelly and Michael” in April 2014 that Sundays often are spent as “family downtime.”
“We try to go to church as much as possible, but when the kids get older, you know, Sunday is some kind of practice, rehearsal, birthday party, you know,” she said on the show. “So getting us all together on a Sunday is becoming more difficult now that the girls are getting older.”
Obama had attended only one Christmas morning service during his presidency before last December, but Joshua DuBois, one of Obama’s spiritual advisers said: “The president’s faith has deepened in the second term; he’s said as much.”
DuBois is a minister who wrote “The President’s Devotional: The Daily Readings that Inspired President Obama.”
Obama has said he worries that his presence at church “detracts from other worshipers’ experience,” Politico wrote.
“It displaces a lot of people who are members of that church or at least interrupts them,” DuBois said.
The Obamas visited the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington on Easter in 2014.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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