NIELS C NIELSEN

Author, Lecturer, Consultant

Dr. Niels C. Nielsen is Rayzor Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

emeritus at Rice University. His new book, GOD IN THE OBAMA ERA,
PRESIDENTS’ RELIGION AND ETHICS FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON
TO BARACK OBAMA is available on his website. Nielsen’s field is philosophy
and religious studies, Yale Ph.D. He. taught students of all convictions at a non-
sectarian university in Houston, Texas. Nielsen’s text, Religions of the World is
a widely used textbook in colleges and universities. His study of The Religion of
Jimmy Carter had international sales, with Dutch and German translations. He
has also written on Religion After Communism in Russia.
niels@rice.edu 713-865-0440 website: God in the Obama Era
The Obama presidency raises important questions for all Americans
We’re now past Obama’s first hundred days in office and we see him taking the
country in different, and to many people, unexpected directions. It’s time to
revisit one of the most controversial issues of the recent presidential campaign –
his ideology and background – and how they influence his day-to-day decisions.
Where is Barack Obama taking the country, politically, religiously, economically,
ethically? When will we know whether the first Afro-American president
succeeds or fails? What does he believe; what are his values? In his new book
Nielsen compares Obama with other past presidents such as Washington,
Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Carter, Nixon, Clinton and the Bushs.
What would they say to each other if they could meet as living contemporaries
and dialogue? Nielsen will be available to lecture on Obama and past presidents’
religion and ethics during the fall of 2009.

Comment by Ron Highfield, Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Religion,

Pepperdine University
God in the Obama Era! This erudite, lucid, enlightening book brilliantly
illuminates the central icon of American culture, the American presidency. In
the aftermath of the presidential election of 2008, in which religion played a
greater role than in any election since that of 1960, we are fortunate to receive
this book…. [it] is rich in insight, lively in style and wide-ranging in scope.
With penetrating analyses of twenty presidents from Washington to Obama,
God in the Obama Era is a ―must read‖ for anyone interested in the American
presidency, the place of religion in American history and culture, or religion in
the Obama campaign and presidency.
Comment by Rev. George M. Atkinson, Director emeritus, SMU, Perkins School
of Theology, Houston-Galveston Extension:
Nielsen has written an unusually fine examination of the role of religion in the
life and work of our Presidents. It is comprehensive, balanced, and thereby puts
into shadow any comparable books on the subject. All students of American
history will especially appreciate his careful treatment of this understudied topic,
since it reveals ethical issues and nuances not examined in conventional studies of
American history. Students of religion will appreciate the connections between
the personal piety and the social justice efforts of each president studied. I
heartily recommend this book!
Comment by Lynn Mitchell, Professor of Religion, University of Houston
Professor Nielsen brings a wealth of information and insight that comes from a
lifetime of attention to his subject. This is combined with a convincing
explication of the meaning of the historical materials and a pleasantly readable
narrative style. The result is the filling of an interpretative gap to the benefit of
both the Religious Right and the Secularist Left, and the satisfaction of those of
us looking for a less ideological and thus a more profound and balanced
understanding of a vitally relevant aspect of our national story.
Comment by Bishop Andy Doyle of the Houston Diocese, Episcopal Church

I have very much enjoyed the book. I thought ...[it] captured the
virtue of American presidents and their particular and faithful understanding
of our country’s civil religion. While no one president ... [Nielsen] wrote
about reflects each citizen’s faith or lack thereof, ... [it] represent(s) them
well as faithful men who have believed in a providential God. As for
President Obama, I was intrigued and challenged by ...[the] comment
that ―the responsibility of his presidency reaches out beyond the external
history to the internal history of the soul, spirit, intention, and vision.‖
These words will stay with me for some time as I think about the topic of
virtuous leadership both secular and religious.

POPULAR HISTORICAL QUESTIONS BEARING ON THE UNITED

STATES PRESIDENCY—FROM GOD IN THE OBAMA ERA,
PRESIDENTS’ RELIGION AND ETHICS FROM GEORE WASHINGTON TO
BARACK OBAMA

What would have been the result …

 if King George III of England had been a more benevolent sovereign and
the American colonies had not revolted?
 if George Washington had sought political power rather than returning to
his home at Mount Vernon after victory in the Revolutionary War against
England?
 if Thomas Jefferson had not championed religious tolerance and freedom
of worship?
 if Alexander Hamilton had refused to duel with Aaron Burr?
 if the North and South had reconciled and slavery had been abolished
without civil war?
 if Abraham Lincoln—the most religiously discerning of American
presidents—had not been assassinated and had lived on to direct
Reconstruction?
 if Lincoln’s successor, President Andrew Johnson, had been a wiser and
more competent religionist, less ideological in his oratory?
 if Woodrow Wilson had thought in less absolutist religious terms as he
sought to lead the United States into membership in the League of Nations
and ―make the world safe for democracy‖?
 if Wilson’s plans for lasting international peace had been accepted by the
United States Senate?
 if Franklin Roosevelt had been assassinated (as he nearly was in Miami)
before he took office?
 if Franklin Roosevelt had not initiated the New Deal and championed
religious freedom worldwide?
 if Henry Wallace, rather than Harry Truman, had been Franklin
Roosevelt’s successor?
 if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated? Could he have brought
positive social and religious insights from Catholicism to the national ethos
in the era of the Second Vatican Council?
 if Richard Nixon (truly affirming his Quaker heritage) had not collapsed
morally in Watergate?
 if Ronald Reagan (inspired by his belief that God stands on the side of
freedom) had failed to seize the opportunity to negotiate with Gorbachev
and end the cold war?
 if George H. W. Bush had ordered American troops to go on to Baghdad
during the first invasion of Iraq?
 if Bill Clinton had been more faithful to the teachings of his own Southern
Baptist Church and not committed perjury in Monicagate? Or if he had
resigned in repentance?
 if Hillary Clinton had divorced her husband because of his infidelities? If
she had more successfully organized her political campaign for the
presidency in 2008?
 if George W. Bush had followed the advice of both the pope and the
bishops of his own denomination (Methodist) and had not ordered the
invasion of Iran?
 if Barack Obama had not converted to Christianity?