On June 28, 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama of Illinois addressed a group of religious people in which he focused on the dysfunctional relationship between religion and politics. Obama began by describing a personal experience when he ran against Alan Keyes for Illinois' Senate seat in 2004. In his anecdote, Obama explains how Keyes describes him as an untrue Christian due to his religious beliefs. He then goes on to analyze how politics has steered off from its original purpose and become intertwined with faith. As a result, Obama believes this conflict has created a strong divide in the country. He argues that it is not about who is Republican or Democrat, or what social class you belong to, it all comes down to who is religious and goes to church and who does not. Furthermore, Senator Obama goes on to say that even though Americans are religious we are missing something that cannot be fulfilled easily, something like a purpose in life. However, instead of this commonality bringing us together, it has set us further apart as a society. While we share this similarity in which we, as individuals and a society, need God and spirituality in our daily lives, we are currently not willing to look past all the other issues our country currently faces. Towards the end of his speech, Obama touches upon the Bible, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. He feeds upon those literary works to end with something that he hopes will happen one day: Americans will look beyond religion and reunite once again through common beliefs.
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