Obama's faith in broader context

E.J. Dionne has an insightful article over at The New Republic. He explores the parameters of Obama's Christian faith, and how it finds expression in his politics. He makes the key point that the senator can hardly repudiate the man who baptized him. Rather, Obama is attempting what many of us have had to do when we have "outgrown" our initial religious experience. Senator Obama is not the first Christian to leave his spiritual nest to spread his wings and learn to fly on his own. In fact, I know many African-Americans who have done just that, while keeping "grandma's church" near to their hearts, as it was the wellspring of their religious experience.