President-Elect Obama's Church Attendance Grinds to a Halt

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

For all his talking and writing about the important role of religion in his life, Barack Obama has not attended church on Sunday since becoming president-elect, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The story includes helpful historical comparisons with the churchgoing habits of other recent presidents-elect during transition time: 

As a president-elect, Bill Clinton frequently attended church services in Little Rock in 1992. And George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, helped to serve communion during a Christmas Eve service in 2000 at their hometown church in Austin, Texas.

But the White House years can take a toll on church attendance:

Bush, for example, has only infrequently attended services in Washington, although he often worships at the chapel at Camp David.

....Ronald Reagan, according to news accounts, did not attend church in Washington much, citing the complications of making a congregation deal with the security screening of parishioners.

I doubt that Obama will be so lax. First off, there's been little to suggest that Obama is being disingenuous in emphasizing his Christian commitment. Second, I can't believe that a Democrat who did more than any other since Jimmy Carter to reach out to religious voters during the election would open himself to charges of insufficient piety by rarely attending church in D.C.

• Read more about the Obama transition.
• Read more by Dan Gilgoff.