I am tired of people insinuating (This means you, Franklin Graham), or even stating flat out, that President Obama is not a real Christian. It is true that he was not raised a Christian. (Incidentally, he was not raised Muslim, either). However, he has described his conversion experience and some of his faith walk in his autobiographies; he has professed his faith in Jesus publicly, including in an appearance at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church when he was running for office; he attends church and in fact was a regular member of a church in Chicago for over a decade. (Granted, that church had a wacky pastor. But frankly, I wouldn’t want some of the things I’ve heard said from the pulpits of churches where I’ve been a member to be broadcast on Youtube. All pastors have their ill-judged moments and particular prejudices; that doesn’t mean they aren’t Christian or their congregations aren’t Christian).

This is the point in the argument where people who don’t want to accept our President as a brother bring up that scripture verse, “By their fruits ye shall know them,” and raise their eyebrows suggestively, as if to say it is perfectly obvious that Obama is a man of the world or the devil, and not God. What they usually mean by “fruits,” I think, is his political philosophy and decisions. He is a left-leaning pragmatist, while I would characterize many of the Christians who protest his bona fides as idealist conservatives. They disagree with the President on what is an appropriate role for government and what moral battles are good for the government to engage in (health care, gay rights, and abortion, to name a few).

I get that, but I would argue that a difference of opinion on what the government is good for, and should do, is not the same thing as a lack of legitimate faith. Since when do potentially wrong opinions disqualify anyone from receiving and living the power of the gospel?

It is hard for some to imagine how a man could believe the same Jesus they do, and read the same bible, and pray to the same God, and still come to such different conclusions about important issues than they themselves have come to. But that is not only possible, it happens all the time. If you actually know any other Christians well, you know that none of us walk in lockstep on the issues of the day. Not only that, but over the course of our lives, we may ourselves change our minds on some of the big ideas that we used to be so sure about. Our old selves would be astonished at the positions our more mature selves have come to.

So. If you look at our President and what the Bible actually names as “fruit” – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control– I think we would be hard-pressed to call Obama Not of the Tree. Assuming, of course, that we do not take decisions of his with which we disagree, or which we do not understand, and start assigning hidden motives and conspiracies to them, in which case it would be pretty easy to imagine all sorts of dark secrets in his heart.

That thinking process goes a little something like this: “The only possible way he could have done/decided/said that is if he __________ (insert your favorite horrible character flaw here).” Well, guess what? That horrible character flaw is almost certainly not “the only way” someone could reach a point of view different than yours. It is a sin to judge the hearts of others, even Presidents. We don’t know anyone’s hearts except our own, and sometimes even then we are mistaken. So just stop it already.

And to the 18% of Americans who think President Obama is a Muslim: learn to do a little fact-checking, please. Just because someone you like forwards you an email, doesn’t mean the email is true. Sheesh. Probably preaching to the choir here, but had to get it off my chest.