One cannot have faith unless one has a creed. Obama’s maternal grandparents were members of the post Christian Unitarian church. Unitarians maintain that creeds are for cretins but in practice most Unitarians do have a creed: they almost all beleive in left wing political causes. Unitarians also say spirituality is a journey not a destination, but a better analogy as to how they act may be huge a buffet line at a Vegas casino where they gorge on bits and pieces of religions from all over the world.

I see a lot of this influence in Obama. He often talks about religion in terms of culture and politics rather than faith and dogma. He gorged on Wright’s United Chruch of Christ congregation because it gave him contacts in the polical community. When Wright became a liability, he moved on.