Michael Wear is a wise head on young shoulders. At just 28, he has already served on both of Barack Obama's successful presidential election campaigns, in 2008 and 2012, and as 'head of faith outreach' for the President.
Now a public speaker on faith and a campaigner on social justice, Wear, along with writer and professor Alan Noble, has set up a new group for centrist Christians, Public Faith, and has a new book coming out: Reclaiming Hope:Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About The Future of Faith in America.
"I am quite excited for Reclaiming Hope to be released in the UK in February [it is released in the US in January]," Wear, who follows the fortunes of the UK church, tells Christian Today. "And while I am not ready to talk about too many of its conclusions, I can tell you that it is a work of conviction, and that I hope it will provide readers with insight into the Obama Administration and some of the cultural and religious changes we've seen over the last eight years. Most importantly, I wrote the book to provide resources to Christians as we look ahead, and seek to be faithful in our time."
The former Obama staffer's own faith background is intriguing: he is a Catholic-turned-evangelical. Born into a "culturally Catholic" Italian family and upbringing in Buffalo, New York state, Wear was intensely political, and actively "antagonistic" towards faith. But then one day, as a freshman in high school, someone handed him Paul's Letters to the Romans, and "it turned my world upside down," Wear has said. Some 72 hours later he became a Christian, which "changed everything".
After graduating, Wear became one of the youngest White House staffers in modern American history, serving in the White House faith-based initiative during Obama's first term, where he led evangelical outreach and helped manage the White House's engagement on religious and values issues, including adoption and anti-human trafficking efforts.
Now, he talks with authority beyond his years about both politics and religion and, though he has called the liberalisation of Hillary Clinton's position on abortion "morally reprehensible", Wear also praises Clinton and denies that she has kept relatively quiet about her Methodist-based faith on the campaign.
"I actually contest that," he says. "What has been lacking is direct outreach to the faith community broadly, not invocations of her faith. During the primary, particularly before South Carolina, she put her faith front and centre. Throughout the general election, she has been citing John Wesley, and talking about the influence her youth pastor had in her early moral formation. She picked a running mate [Tim Kaine] who served as a missionary, and is a regular church-goer. She might be the most religiously literate nominee the Democratic Party will have for a long time."
Though Wear refuses at this stage to say how he will vote on 8 November, he is scathing about Clinton's Republican rival, and the "racism, xenophobia and misogyny" of his campaign. "Donald Trump is the most secular, least prepared, least qualified and most dangerous nominee either party has nominated in the modern era," he says. "He abuses those who stand in his way, and he shames those who stand with him. He has stoked America's most tender divides for his own personal benefit. Whether the racism, xenophobia and misogyny of his campaign is one of intention or ignorance does not matter, as it would not matter if he was making decisions for our country. He does not contain an ounce of the grace or thoughtfulness of the man he wants to succeed, the understanding of the job and the aspirations to service of the woman he is running against, or the character and commitment to conservatism of the Republican Party's previous nominees. He lacks substance, and we sorely need leaders of substance in the United States today."
In contrast, he still has great admiration for his former boss, whom Wear is confident will continue to play a prominent public role.
"I will miss so much about President Obama, but I have no doubt he will continue to lead and be visible as a private citizen," says Wear. "I am actually quite excited to see what he does next."
Asked about the doubts held by large sections of the public over both candidates to succeed Obama, Wear appears to acknowledge the point. "The person who succeeds him will hopefully understand the American people's doubts, and view those doubts not as an excuse to hunker down and become overly protective and insulated, but to reach out."
During Obama's presidency, a debate has rumbled between the White House and some religious, particularly Catholic institutions about religious freedom, and exemption on areas such as contraception cover for employees. Does Wear believe that religious institutions are under attack from Washington? "I do not like to use language like 'attack', because I do not believe many of our conflicts around religion are the result of direct affronts. Rather, in this time when religious assumptions are no longer taken for granted, we are seeing more tension points arise in public affairs, especially around issues of freedom, and whether a freedom to submit to certain constraints of morality is consonant with a free society. There is absolutely no doubt that as society secularises, politicians begin to see opportunities to use that development to their advantage by stoking conflict around these issues."
Why did Wear feel the need to set up Public Faith, a platform for leading Christians which is billed as "A Christian voice for the common good"?
"There were really two main factors. First, we felt like many of our peers had their own individual voices and platforms, but in politics and in public, individual platforms only go so far—especially when so many claim to be speaking for Christians as a whole. We wanted to provide a vehicle for shared expression among like-minded Christians. Second, there is a growing cynicism and temptation of political withdrawal among many Americans, including Christians. This is driven in part by the increased polarisation of our politics, as well as the frivolity and carnival atmosphere of our presidential election. Yet, we do not believe disengagement is the answer. We think there is a better way."
If Wear is damning of that "increased polarisation" in politics and the "frivolity" of presidential elections, he strikes, in contrast, an optimistic note about the future of the Christian faith in the UK as well as the US, two countries which some commentators have dismissed as "post-Christian" nations.
"I am confident about the survival of the Christian faith in the US and the UK, because I am confident in the church's leadership: Jesus Christ," he says. "The future of the church is completely secure with him, as are our individual futures."
Wear believes that the UK has benefited from an established church, in contrast to the separation of church and state in the US, and even that the US church has much to learn from the UK and elsewhere. "Culturally, I tend to believe that the establishment of the church in the UK has provided something of a foothold, a guarantor of inclusion, for Christianity as the UK has secularised," he says.
"As I study and talk with church leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, I'm becoming more open to the idea that while strict separation is a great strength in a time when religious narratives are dominant, such separation has different effects in a time of secularisation. Still, I do think this is a great time of opportunity for the church on both sides of the Atlantic. If I may add one comment on this point, it is that I have suggested to American church leaders that we have much to learn from our brothers and sisters in the UK, who have already faced many of the questions we have just begun to be asked in the States. My prayer is that the American church will humble itself enough to seek help, to seek guidance, and therefore potentially avoid some of the potholes and landlines down the road ahead."
