Church Shopping For The Obamas

November 14, 2008 by John H. Taylor | Filed Under Barack Obama, Episcopal Church 

Sanctuary of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Foggy Bottom, Washington

TIME has advice for the President-elect about what church he and his family might attend in Washington. One idea:

If you’re interested in branching out to an Episcopal church, Diana Butler Bass, author of five books on American Protestantism and an adjunct professor at Virginia Theological Seminary, invites you to try hers. “Epiphany is a downtown Episcopal church with a congregation that is fifty-fifty white and black,” she says, “and it has a full spectrum of social class diversity as well as a long history in Washington.” Indeed, several members of Lincoln’s Cabinet belonged to Epiphany, and it was also very active in supporting the civil rights movement in the 1960s. “It would be an interesting choice that appears to resonate with the new First Family’s politics and theology,” says Bass. “Plus, my 11-year-old daughter wants Malia in her Sunday school class.”

Another Episcopal choice, classic if obvious, is St. John’s right across the street from the White House, the so-called church of the Presidents. My vote would be St. Mary’s in Foggy Bottom, a venerable church founded right after the Civil War that courageously resists being swallowed up by George Washington University. Its newly restored nave is breathtaking.

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