Obamas join service quietly
WASHINGTON - President Obama and the first family walked from the White House across Lafayette Square to attend Easter worship at St. John's Church, their most frequent religious venue while in Washington.
WASHINGTON - President Obama and the first family walked from the White House across Lafayette Square to attend Easter worship at St. John's Church, their most frequent religious venue while in Washington.
The Obamas worshipped at St. John's on Easter of 2009, and they have visited the Episcopal congregation, which is led by the Rev. Luis Leon, numerous times, including last year.
With Obama there, Leon took a shot at political conservatives, arguing that some conservative positions are holding people back.
Quoting from John 20:1-18, Leon said that in the same way that Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to hold on to him, it is time for conservatives to stop holding on to what he considers outdated stances in matters of race, gender equality, homosexuality, and immigrants.
"It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back . . . for blacks to be back in the back of the bus . . . for women to be back in the kitchen . . . for immigrants to be back on their side of the border," he said.
Leon said that people instead should use "Easter vision" to allow them to see the world in a different, more "wonderful" way.
Obama has visited the church, which is steps from the White House, several times during his presidency. As at most of his previous visits to churches in the District of Columbia, Obama did not make a speech. He sat on the end of a pew near the middle of the sanctuary, smiling and greeting members of the congregation with "Happy Easter."
The Obamas have not become members of a local congregation, but they have started to develop a spiritual tradition, mostly visiting churches near the White House.
