Speaking Presentations

• 	Niels C. Nielsen, Jr.'s field of study and research is philosophy and religious studies. His text, Religions of the World is a widely used class book. 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.

  President Obama's religious companions. The forty-fourth president prays often with five clergy. Who his companions are tells much about his motivations and beliefs. Together, they are a key to understanding his views as well as the contemporary religious scene.
• Obama's attitude about other religions. This president probably knows as much or more about world faiths than any other chief executive. Bill Clinton was the other well informed figure. Obama's outreach not only provides understanding of world affairs but perspective on the American ethos as well.
• Why has it been rumored that he is a Muslim? As a boy he lived for a few years in Obama and attended a Muslim as well as a Roman Catholic school. He shows empathy for both religious views. He also understands better than most presidents the traditions of Islam.
• The first family and their ethics and morals: The Obama's give attention to their children, placing a high priority on life together. The first lady is much admired and represents an increased feminine influence in the presidency.
• Is the constitutional separation of church and state in peril under Obama? He strongly supports Charitable Choice, a program also endorsed by the Clintons, Gore and George W. Bush; is this a compromise? His insight as a lawyer enables him to advocate and administer it critically and positively.
• How would past presidents grade his performance so far? This is one of the major themes of GOD IN THE OBAMA ERA. Clearly different predecessors would view him variously in their respective cultural settings. History is an important tool in understanding where he stands and where he is trying to take the country.
• Four roots of Obama's religion: tribal life, monotheism, the Enlightenment, post-modernism. It is important to include all four of these references in evaluating Obama's world view. His African heritage remains vital. He understands monotheism better from his experience of world religions. His indebtedness to the Enlightenment as well as post-Enlightenment models is clear.
• Can atomic war be avoided? Piracy? Religious war? Obama's great quest is for peace. Better than many of his predecessors he understands the imperative for world cooperation in an atomic age. His ethical and religious idealism motives him deeply.
• Reinhold Niebuhr as read by Barack Obama. This last generation theologian has engaged Obama intellectually in a major way. Niebuhr's critical realism has given him tools to understand the reality of power as well as the dangers of utopianism.