Obama Is Not a Christian, Says S.C. Christian University Chancellor
Bob Jones III, chancellor of a Christian university in South Carolina who endorsed Mormon candidate Mitt Romney in 2007, said there is no evidence or reason to think that President Barack Obama is a Christian.
“I’ve no reason to think he’s a Christian... Anyone can say he’s a Christian,” Jones from Bob Jones University, named after his family, said in an interview published in National Journal Saturday.
“Some people will say whatever they think the politically helpful thing would be. I say, ‘Where is the evidence that he is a Christian?’” Jones, referred to as a “fundamentalist” Christian in the Journal, added.
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“I have a great distrust for him. I think he’s moving this country in a socialist direction as fast as he can... His whole background to me is colored with suspicion.”
Jones was asked if Obama is a Muslim who was not born in the U.S., as some allege. He paused and said, “How do I put this ... I have my personal thoughts about that, but I’m not sure I want to make this public,” he said.
Last year when Obama’s faith was questioned, the then White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a briefing, “The president is a committed, mainstream Christian.”
In 2008, Obama appeared together with rival candidate John McCain at Saddleback Church and assured the congregation that he is a Christian. “What does it mean to you to trust in Christ and what does it mean on a daily basis? I mean, what does that really look like?” Pastor Rick Warren asked Obama. “As a starting point, it means I believe in that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that I am redeemed through him,” Obama replied.
Regarding former Massachusetts Gov. Romney’s faith, Jones said, “I was listening to people around the state in the Christian circles that I move in, and I heard a lot of people whispering their appreciation for him with his business background and all, but ‘He’s a Mormon,’” Jones said, recalling Romney’s run in 2007. “I understand that, but we are electing a president not a preacher. At that time McCain was rising, and Rudy Giuliani; and both of those guys gave me shivers.”
Jones once denounced Ronald Reagan as “a traitor to God’s people” for the sin of choosing as his vice president George H.W. Bush, whom Jones called “a devil,” according to The Washington Post.
Jones also said he believed the allegations of sexual harassment against presidential candidate Herman Cain by former subordinates at the National Restaurant Association were false. “Frankly there’s a whole lot about Cain that I like,” he said. “I like anybody who stands a really good case of being the next man in the White House, who is not the man in the White House. I have no reason to believe these accusations are true. I’ve heard enough from the other side to believe their spurious. Who knows? I want to believe they are spurious.”
