The National Jewish Democratic Council ( NJDC ) was a political lobbying organization that advocated within the Democratic Party for viewpoints aligned with the American Jewish community and in support of the state of Israel, and within the political process generally, between 1990 and about 2016.
123-599: The NJDC's main issues were the U.S.-Israel relationship, separation of church and state (in the US), and reproductive rights . The NJDC engaged in voter education efforts, and worked with secular and Jewish media to promote the Democratic Party and its ideals. The organization also served as a resource to Democratic candidates nationally, educating them on issues of importance to the Jewish community. The NJDC served as
246-605: A Juris Doctor magna cum laude . University of Chicago Law School In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote ,
369-561: A junior , where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and in English literature and lived off-campus on West 109th Street. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA . After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the Business International Corporation , where he was a financial researcher and writer, then as a project coordinator for
492-514: A summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father . Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with
615-542: A voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family : "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac , and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher ." Obama has
738-487: A "confirmed atheist " by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change." In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today : "I am a Christian, and I am
861-561: A 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers in Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank , 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.). This class action lawsuit was filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under
984-746: A Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program , providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations , Environment and Public Works , and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs . He also became Chairman of
1107-655: A Test Act but do not require one. Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party , he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004. Obama
1230-506: A basis for the values that I hold most dear." Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol , marijuana , and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind". Obama was also a member of the "Choom Gang" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana. College and research jobs After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College on
1353-699: A community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens . Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation , a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for
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#17328011788371476-522: A decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama resigned from
1599-459: A devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ . I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life." On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying: I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in
1722-756: A different denomination, religion or sect. Some immigrants came from England after the English Civil War and the rise of Protestant dissenting sects in England. Others fled Protestant-Catholic religious conflicts in France and Germany . Immigrants included nonconformists such as the Puritans , who were Protestant Christians fleeing religious persecution from the Anglican King of England, and later Dissenters , such as Baptists. The groups had
1845-579: A female. Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021. Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox , and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL , but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of
1968-562: A field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine . At the Democratic National Convention in Denver , Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand;
2091-558: A full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid . In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan for three weeks. Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City as
2214-478: A gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the Candlestick, etc., and made His Garden a wilderness as it is this day. And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world, and all that be saved out of
2337-553: A government-sanctioned ( established ) religion would disrupt rather than bind the newly formed union together. George Washington wrote a letter in 1790 to the country's first Jewish congregation, the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island to state: Allowing rights and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it were by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed
2460-801: A group of English citizens in America who were affronted by persecution of Quakers and the religious policies of the Governor of New Netherland , Peter Stuyvesant . Stuyvesant had formally banned all religions other than the Dutch Reformed Church from being practiced in the colony, in accordance with the laws of the Dutch Republic . The signers indicated their "desire therefore in this case not to judge lest we are judged, neither to condemn least we are condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master." Stuyvesant fined
2583-635: A half years, supplemented by English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother. As a result of his four years in Jakarta , he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child. During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works". In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham . He attended Punahou School —a private college preparatory school —with
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#17328011788372706-714: A half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father , Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis , President of
2829-513: A household income of $ 5.5 million—up from about $ 4.2 million in 2007 and $ 1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010 income of $ 1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $ 131,000 to Fisher House Foundation , a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments. Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $ 10 million. Obama
2952-405: A law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform , and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor George Ryan 's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures . He was reelected to
3075-595: A liberal watchdog on the lawful activities of the religious portion of the Right, acting to raise public awareness about efforts to undermine the wall between church and state. In 2007, its Annual Washington Conference attracted every major Democratic candidate for president, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, and several party leaders, including Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer . NJDC worked on
3198-781: A major financial regulation reform bill; and the end of the Iraq War . Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan , the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He ordered Operation Neptune Spear , the raid that killed Osama bin Laden , who was responsible for the September 11 attacks . Obama downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also ordered
3321-661: A particular religion rested in the hands of the selectmen , usually Congregationalists, this system was open to abuse. It was abolished in 1833. The intervening period is sometimes called an "establishment of religion" in Massachusetts. The Duke of York had required that every community in his new lands of New York and New Jersey support some church, but this was more often Dutch Reformed , Quaker , or Presbyterian , than Anglican . Some chose to support more than one church. He also ordained that taxpayers were free, having paid local taxes, to choose their church. The terms for
3444-534: A prominent Baptist minister in New England , wrote against a state-sanctioned religion, saying: "Now who can hear Christ declare, that his kingdom is, not of this world, and yet believe that this blending of church and state together can be pleasing to him?" He also observed that when "church and state are separate, the effects are happy, and they do not at all interfere with each other: but where they have been confounded together, no tongue nor pen can fully describe
3567-500: A right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily. And
3690-857: A short time. This stood in contrast to the federal Constitution, which explicitly prohibits the employment of any religious test for federal office, and which through the Fourteenth Amendment extended this prohibition to the States. For example, the New Jersey Constitution of 1776 provides the liberty of conscience in much the same language as Massachusetts (similarly forbidding the payment of "taxes, tithes or other payments" contrary to conscience). It then provides: That there shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this Province, in preference to another; and that no Protestant inhabitant of this Colony shall be denied
3813-490: A stronger position to act upon this conviction because they were considered to possess "general" powers as opposed to the limited, specifically enumerated powers of Congress. Congregationalists and Anglicans who, before 1776, had received public financial support, called their state benefactors "nursing fathers" (Isaiah 49:23). The Rhode Island Royal Charter obtained in 1663 by Roger Williams and John Clarke contains unique provisions which make it significantly different from
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3936-707: A third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971, before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." He described his struggles as
4059-722: A variety of attitudes on religious toleration ; the Puritans, for instance, initially wanted a totally Puritan society. While some leaders, such as Roger Williams of Rhode Island and Quaker William Penn of Pennsylvania , ensured the protection of religious minorities within their colonies, the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England established churches, initially Puritan. The Dutch colony of New Netherland established its state Dutch Reformed Church and outlawed all other worship, though enforcement
4182-539: A wall of separation. In Reynolds v. United States (1879), the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the [First] Amendment." In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state." In contrast to this emphasis on separation,
4305-449: A young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro at the University of Hawaii ; he was an Indonesian East–West Center graduate student in geography . The couple married on Molokai on March 15, 1965. After two one-year extensions of his J-1 visa , Lolo returned to Indonesia in 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in
4428-477: Is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person ... I have ever known", and "a lonely witness for secular humanism ." He described his father as
4551-732: Is left-handed. In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $ 1.6 million house (equivalent to $ 2.5 million in 2023) in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago . The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko —attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama. In December 2007, Money Magazine estimated Obama's net worth at $ 1.3 million (equivalent to $ 1.9 million in 2023). Their 2009 tax return showed
4674-568: Is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others being Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy . On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission and then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website. As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in
4797-587: Is the date of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom , which prohibited any coercion to support any religious body. The Library of Congress states that: Many states were as explicit about the need for a thriving religion as Congress was in its thanksgiving and fast day proclamations. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 declared, for example, that "the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend on piety, religion, and morality." The states were in
4920-577: The 2011 military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 , contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi . Obama defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election . In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change , signing the Paris Agreement , a major international climate agreement, and an executive order to limit carbon emissions . Obama also presided over
5043-480: The 2016 Clinton presidential campaign under the "Jews for Progress" PAC banner. The group was replaced on a de facto basis in 2017 by the Jewish Democratic Council of America , which began its activities three months ahead of schedule because of President Donald Trump 's perceived equivocal response to the 2017 Charlottesville march and violence. The National Jewish Democratic Council
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5166-470: The Constitution of Massachusetts originally provided that "no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience... provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship" (Article II), but also that: The people of this commonwealth have
5289-567: The Democratic Party presidential primaries , and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina , Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney ,
5412-658: The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act , which was signed into law in September 2007. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to
5535-867: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act . The case was settled out of court. From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago —which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of the Joyce Foundation . He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of
5658-717: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 , which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper , Tom Coburn , and John McCain —introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008. He also cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act . In December 2006, President Bush signed into law
5781-787: The New York Public Interest Research Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985. Community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project , a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland , West Pullman , and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side . He worked there as
5904-574: The South Side of Chicago in 2021. Historians and political scientists rank Obama among the upper tier in historical rankings of American presidents . Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu , Hawaii. He is the only president born outside the contiguous 48 states . He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother, Ann Dunham (1942–1995),
6027-545: The United Kingdom at the commencement of the U.S. revolution , including states now incorporated in the U.S. and current provinces of Canada . ^Note *: In several colonies, the establishment ceased to exist in practice at the Revolution , about 1776. Some states' laws treat 1776 as the presumptive date of permanent legal abolition; other states' constitutions and/or laws either explicitly disestablished
6150-534: The "National Jewish Democratic Council is sending out more than 350,000 mailers to Jewish households in key swing states, re-asserting the Democratic nominees stance on a number of issues". This article includes many fliers put out by the NJDC in order to inform voters about Barack Obama and Joe Biden's positions on Israel. Marc Stanley , chairman of the NJDC, wrote an op-ed in the JTA entitled "Why Jews Voted for Obama". In
6273-520: The 1878 Mormon polygamy case Reynolds v. U.S. , in which Stephen Johnson Field cited Jefferson's "Letter to the Danbury Baptists" to state that "Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order." Madison noted that Martin Luther 's doctrine of the two kingdoms marked
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#17328011788376396-557: The 1961 case Torcaso v. Watkins , when ruling unanimously that such clauses constitute a "religious test" forbidden by the First Amendment prohibiting federal religious tests and the protections in the Fourteenth Amendment , which apply to the states as well as the federal government under the doctrine of incorporation . ^Note F: Religious tolerance for Catholics with an established Church of England
6519-414: The Anglican church, but until 1835 it allowed only Protestants to hold public office. From 1835 to 1876 it allowed only Christians (including Catholics) to hold public office. Article VI, Section 8 of the current state constitution forbids only atheists ("any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God") from holding public office. The United States Supreme Court held such clauses to be unenforceable in
6642-442: The British Government. As a result, the Congregational Church continued to be established, and Yale College , at that time a Congregational institution, received grants from the State until Connecticut adopted a constitution in 1818 partly because of this issue. The absence of establishment of religion did not necessarily imply that all men were free to hold office. Most colonies had a Test Act , and several states retained them for
6765-517: The Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . He also shares distant ancestors in common with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney , among others. Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down. The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended. In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he
6888-500: The Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 ; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored
7011-449: The Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one. In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after
7134-471: The Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq . On October 2, 2002,
7257-516: The Jewish vote. The NJDC approved of the Obama administration's policies such as the 2009 stimulus package, and the president's decision to pull out of Durban II , the UN conference against racism which has been known to be a forum for anti-Israel agitation. The NJDC also declared its trust in Obama's support for Israel, and charged other organizations, like the Republican Jewish Coalition, of distorting information about Barack Obama and his support for Israel. Separation of church and state in
7380-574: The Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the Tebet district of South Jakarta . From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in the Menteng district of Central Jakarta . At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as "Barry" and attended local Indonesian-language schools: Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 (State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and
7503-400: The NJDC (against which the group was ultimately successful) led to the organization's decline between about 2014 and 2016. It effectively disappeared from the political scene prior to the 2016 presidential election , and in legal pleadings, it stated that it continued to exist only to pay its bills, and because of the continuing litigation against Adelson. Some of its leadership campaigned for
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#17328011788377626-414: The Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St. John's Episcopal Church , as well as Evergreen Chapel at Camp David , but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis. In 2016, Obama said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him "of all the different people I've met along the way", adding: "I carry these around all
7749-433: The Pittsburgh Steelers and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he took office as president. In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster . He plays basketball , a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team, and he
7872-415: The Revolution. The phrase "hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world" was first used by Baptist theologian Roger Williams , the founder of the colony of Rhode Island , in his 1644 book The Bloody Tenent of Persecution . Thomas Jefferson later used the phrase as a description of the First Amendment and its restriction on the legislative branch of
7995-498: The Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs . As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obama resigned his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for
8118-507: The Supreme Court in Zorach v. Clauson (1952) upheld accommodationism , holding that the nation's "institutions presuppose a Supreme Being" and governmental recognition of God does not constitute the establishment of a state church the Constitution's authors intended to prohibit. The extent of separation between government and religion in the U.S. continues to be debated. Many early immigrants traveled to North America to avoid religious persecution in their homelands, whether based on
8241-497: The United States " Separation of church and state " is a metaphor paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson and used by others in discussions of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution , which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". The principle is paraphrased from Jefferson's "separation between Church & State". It has been used to express
8364-407: The United States where a group of citizens attests on paper and over their signature the right of the people to follow their own conscience with regard to God - and the inability of government, or the illegality of government, to interfere with that." Given the wide diversity of opinion on Christian theological matters in the newly independent American States, the Constitutional Convention believed
8487-564: The aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979. In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname "Barry" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980. Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro , in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work. His mother spent most of
8610-460: The article, he gave two explanations: "First, Obama’s performance in the debates belied the GOP narrative that he could not be trusted, while McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate undermined his Jewish support. Second, Jewish Democrats - the National Jewish Democratic Council, along with the Obama campaign and other independent efforts - were better organized than ever." In 2008, exit polls showed that Barack Obama received 78% of
8733-436: The beginning of the modern conception of separation of church and state. Jefferson's and Madison's approach was not the only one taken in the 18th century. Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in opposition to a bill, chiefly supported by Patrick Henry , that would permit any Virginian to belong to any denomination but require him to belong to some denomination and pay taxes to support it. Similarly,
8856-548: The board of directors from 1995 to 1999. Obama's law license became inactive in 2007. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic State Senator Alice Palmer from Illinois's 13th District , which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn . Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws. He sponsored
8979-490: The charters granted to the other colonies. It gave the colonists freedom to elect their own governor and write their own laws, within very broad guidelines, and also stipulated that no person residing in Rhode Island could be "molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any differences in opinion in matters of religion". The Flushing Remonstrance shows support for separation of church and state as early as
9102-513: The church from the state." Jefferson's opponents said his position was the destruction and the governmental rejection of Christianity, but this was a caricature. In setting up the University of Virginia , Jefferson encouraged each sect to have its own preacher, though there was a constitutional ban on the State supporting a Professorship of Divinity, arising from his own Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom . Some have argued that this arrangement
9225-619: The church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me . Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992. During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity after some of Wright's statements were criticized . Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009,
9348-489: The day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War , Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally , and spoke out against the war. He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war. Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to participate in
9471-398: The election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates. In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party , started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father . In July 2004, Obama delivered
9594-470: The enjoyment of any civil right merely on account of his religious principles." ^Note C: From 1780 to 1824, Massachusetts required every resident to belong to and attend a parish church , and permitted each church to tax its members, but forbade any law requiring that it be of any particular denomination. But in practice, the denomination of the local church was chosen by majority vote of town residents, which de facto established Congregationalism as
9717-553: The enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect , who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, as hereby established, shall be capable of being elected into any office of profit or trust, or being a member of either branch of the Legislature, and shall fully and freely enjoy every privilege and immunity, enjoyed by others their fellow-subjects. This would permit
9840-491: The exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. There were also opponents to the support of any established church even at the state level. In 1773, Isaac Backus ,
9963-658: The federal government, in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists (a religious minority concerned about the dominant position of the Congregationalist church in Connecticut ): Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of
10086-642: The first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage . Obama left office in 2017 with high approval ratings both within the United States and among foreign advisories. He continues to reside in Washington D.C. and remains politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including Biden's successful presidential bid in 2020 . Outside of politics, Obama has published three books : Dreams from My Father (1995) , The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020). His presidential library began construction in
10209-567: The first time. Despite being offered a full scholarship to Northwestern University School of Law , Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988, living in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts . He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, president of the journal in his second year, and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as
10332-583: The former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president. With 51.1 percent of the popular vote, Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the majority of the popular vote twice. Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in
10455-659: The grounds they violated the first amendment. On the other hand, both Jefferson and Madison attended religious services at the Capitol. Years before the ratification of the Constitution, Madison contended, "Because if Religion be exempt from the authority of the Society at large, still less can it be subject to that of the Legislative Body." After retiring from the presidency, Madison wrote of "total separation of
10578-777: The health care system . Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries . The field narrowed to Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama. On August 23, 2008, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Obama selected Biden from
10701-658: The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term. He negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action , a nuclear agreement with Iran, and normalized relations with Cuba . The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout the remainder of his presidency. Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans , becoming
10824-443: The inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries. Jefferson and James Madison 's conceptions of separation have long been debated. Jefferson refused to issue Proclamations of Thanksgiving sent to him by Congress during his presidency, though he did issue a Thanksgiving and Prayer proclamation as Governor of Virginia. Madison issued four religious proclamations while president, but vetoed two bills on
10947-553: The inestimable privilege of worshipping God in any manner agreeable to his own conscience, nor be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith and judgment; nor shall he ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rate, for the building or repairing any place of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right, or hath voluntarily engaged to do. No one religious society shall ever be established in this state, in preference to another; nor shall any person be denied
11070-628: The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention , seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan , withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004 general election , Obama won with 70 percent of
11193-408: The legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of
11316-473: The mid-17th century, stating their opposition to religious persecution of any sort: "The law of love, peace and liberty in the states extending to Jews, Turks and Egyptians, as they are considered sons of Adam, which is the glory of the outward state of Holland, so love, peace, and liberty, extending to all in Christ Jesus, condemns hatred, war, and bondage." The document was signed on December 27, 1657, by
11439-546: The mischiefs that have ensued." Thomas Jefferson 's influential Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was enacted in 1786, five years before the Bill of Rights . Most Anglican ministers and many Anglicans were Loyalists . The Anglican establishment, where it had existed, largely ceased to function during the American Revolution , though the new States did not formally abolish and replace it until some years after
11562-476: The nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties." Jefferson reflects other thinkers, including Roger Williams , a Baptist Dissenter and founder of Providence, Rhode Island . He wrote: When they [the Church] have opened
11685-461: The national level to help turn out Jewish voters in the 2004 elections , 2008 elections , and 2012 elections . NJDC also worked to send voter guides and direct mail to targeted Jewish households. In 2004, NJDC targeted 250,000 Jewish households in swing states with an intensive direct mail campaign. Accumulating debts, a declining number of donors, outsourcing of functions, and a defamation lawsuit filed by Republican donor Sheldon Adelson against
11808-461: The next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer . Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and
11931-407: The people of this commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subjects an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any on whose instructions they can conscientiously and conveniently attend. (Article III) Since, in practice, this meant that the decision of who was taxable for
12054-660: The petitioners and threw them in prison until they recanted. However, John Bowne allowed the Quakers to meet in his home. Bowne was arrested, jailed, and sent to the Netherlands for trial; the Dutch court exonerated Bowne. New York Historical Society President and Columbia University Professor of History Kenneth T. Jackson describes the Flushing Remonstrance as "the first thing that we have in writing in
12177-616: The presidency. On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois . The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence , and reforming
12300-487: The seventeenth century. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982), was a married Luo Kenyan from Nyang'oma Kogelo . His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa , where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship. The couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii , on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama
12423-408: The speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide. During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976. John McCain
12546-577: The state religion. This was objected to, and was abolished in 1833. For details see Constitution of Massachusetts . ^Note D: Until 1877 the New Hampshire Constitution required members of the state legislature to be of the Protestant religion. Until 1968 the Constitution allowed for state funding of Protestant classrooms but not Catholic classrooms. ^Note E: The North Carolina Constitution of 1776 disestablished
12669-683: The state's established church (e.g. North Carolina ) or forbade establishment of any religion. Some Canadian provinces (e.g. Nova Scotia ) have disestablished the Church of England, but some of the pre-U.S.-revolutionary provinces retain it. ^Note A: See History of the Connecticut Constitution . ^Note B: In 1789, the Georgia Constitution was amended as follows: "Article IV. Section 10. No person within this state shall, upon any pretense, be deprived of
12792-687: The surrender of New Amsterdam had provided that the Dutch would have the liberty of conscience, and the Duke, as an openly divine-right Catholic, was no friend of Anglicanism. The first Anglican minister in New Jersey arrived in 1698, though Anglicanism was more popular in New York. Connecticut had a real establishment of religion. Its citizens did not adopt a constitution at the Revolution but rather amended their Charter to remove all references to
12915-551: The time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times." The items, "a whole bowl full", include rosary beads given to him by Pope Francis , a figurine of the Hindu deity Hanuman , a Coptic cross from Ethiopia, a small Buddha statue given by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa. He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland,
13038-537: The understanding of the intent and function of this amendment, which allows freedom of religion . It is generally traced to a January 1, 1802, letter by Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut , and published in a Massachusetts newspaper. Jefferson wrote: Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that
13161-691: The vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history. He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well. Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus . He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons; and
13284-547: The whole American people which declared that their "legislature" should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. Jefferson's letter
13407-642: The world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the World. In keeping with the lack of an established state religion in the United States, unlike in many European nations at the time, Article Six of the United States Constitution specifies that " no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States", meaning that no official state religion will be established. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly cited Jefferson's metaphor of
13530-566: Was "fully compatible with Jefferson's views on the separation of church and state"; others point to Jefferson's support for a scheme in which students at the university would attend religious worship each morning as evidence that his views were not consistent with strict separation. Still other scholars, such as Mark David Hall , attempt to sidestep the issue by arguing that American jurisprudence focuses too narrowly on this one Jeffersonian letter while failing to account for other relevant history. Jefferson's letter entered American jurisprudence in
13653-708: Was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize , a decision that drew both criticism and praise. His first-term actions addressed the 2007–2008 financial crisis and included the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , a major stimulus package to guide the economy in recovering from the Great Recession ; a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts ; legislation to reform health care ; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ,
13776-589: Was born in Honolulu , Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago . In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School , where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review . He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama
13899-510: Was born in Wichita, Kansas , and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village of Moneygall, Ireland to the U.S. in 1850. In July 2012, Ancestry.com found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from John Punch , an enslaved African man who lived in the Colony of Virginia during
14022-539: Was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001. The Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools . When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the Sidwell Friends School . The Obamas had two Portuguese Water Dogs ; the first, a male named Bo , was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy . In 2013, Bo was joined by Sunny ,
14145-559: Was born. In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle , where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University , where he earned an M.A. in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964. Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964, where he married for
14268-469: Was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate , a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate . In the 2008 presidential election , after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton , he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain . Obama
14391-444: Was employed at Sidley Austin . Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwent in vitro fertilization to conceive their children. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann,
14514-730: Was founded in 1990 as the national voice of Jewish Democrats. Its stated priorities included: In October 2008, the NJDC held a conference in Washington, D. C., at which then vice presidential candidate Joe Biden was the keynote speaker. Other notable speakers included Al Franken and Governor Howard Dean . It was noted that "In 2008, the NJDC trained nearly 100 surrogates to speak around country, according to [executive director Ira] Forman, ran newspaper ad campaigns in pivotal swing states, sent 350,000 targeted pieces of mail to Jewish households, dropped 35,000 pieces of literature in key Jewish neighborhoods, and ran Internet and Google word search campaigns". In an article written on November 9, 2008, it
14637-566: Was in reply to a letter from the Danbury Baptist Association dated October 7, 1801. In an 1808 letter to Virginia Baptists, Jefferson used the same theme: We have solved, by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are
14760-441: Was mentioned that "American Jewish voters have once again overwhelmingly supported the Democratic presidential nominee", and that "with Obama's victory, we selected a candidate who shares the values of the vast majority of American Jews, including the separation of church and state, a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, and reproductive freedom". During the final days of the 2008 presidential campaign, an article came out explaining that
14883-579: Was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African-American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park . He
15006-652: Was sparse in what was essentially a trading, mercantile colony. In some cases, jurisdictions wanted religious conformity for financial reasons: the established Church was responsible for poor relief , putting dissenting churches at a significant disadvantage. The colonies of Plymouth , Massachusetts Bay , Connecticut , New Haven , and New Hampshire were founded by Puritan Calvinist Protestants, and had Congregational established churches. There were also two non-British Protestant-dominated colonies that were later incorporated into British North America: The following table lists all North American colonies administered by
15129-712: Was the policy in the former Spanish Colonies of East and West Florida while under British rule. ^Note G: In the Treaty of Paris (1783) , which ended the American Revolutionary War , the British ceded both East and West Florida back to Spain (see Spanish Florida ). ^Note H: Tithes for the support of the Anglican Church in Virginia were suspended in 1776 and never restored. 1786
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