DC Churches Woo Obamas

The new first family will be looking for a place of worship in Washington, DC, and area congregations are feverishly offering up their advantages: presidential tradition; diversity; proximity to the White House; community activism; connections to Trinity, the Obamas' former Chicago church; a pastor who hails from Hawaii. A historian of presidential faith tells the Washington Post the level of interest is unprecedented. "This is unique in American political history."

The Obamas won't find a better choice than the Washington National Cathedral, Sally Quinn writes. The cathedral, a place where Americans congregate in times of crisis, is nominally Episcopalian but welcomes all faiths, writes Quinn, and the choice would send a powerful message that America is a truly pluralistic nation, with a president who transcends politics, racial divisions, and even religious divisions.
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