John tanner lds biography of barack obama
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Advisers: President Obama nurtures his faith away from the spotlight
This office tends to make a person pray more, and as President Lincoln once said, 'I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go.' – President Barack Obama
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is not an overtly religious man. He and his family rarely attend church, and he almost never elaborates in public about his own relationship to his Christian faith.
But away from the public eye, advisers say, the president has carefully nurtured a sense of spirituality that has served as a grounding mechanism during turbulent times, when the obstacles to governing a deeply divided nation seem nearly insurmountable.
Every year on Aug. 4, the president's birthday, Obama convenes a group of pastors by phone to receive their prayers for him for the year to come. During the most challenging of times, prayer circles are organized with prominent religious f
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Witnesses to history and a sense of hope
From the imposing ceremony of President Barack Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to the religious solemnity of the Jan. 21 National Prayer Service, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve came away from their two-day visit to frigid Washington, D.C., warmed by witnessing not only a historic national event but also examples of graciousness, hope and unity.
President Uchtdorf — who was accompanied by his wife, Harriet — and Elder Ballard were assigned by President Thomas S. Monson to represent the Church at the inaugural events.
President Monson said, "It is always an honor for the Church to be represented at the inauguration of a new president. We send our best wishes to President Obama and pray for the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven to be upon him and his administration."
Helping to arrange for and
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Early life and career of Barack Obama
Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii[1] to Barack Obama, Sr. (1936–1982) (born in Oriang' Kogelo of Rachuonyo North District,[2]Kenya) and Stanley Ann Dunham, known as Ann (1942–1995) (born in Wichita, Kansas, United States).[3]
Obama spent most of his childhood years in Honolulu, where his mother attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Obama had a close relationship with his maternal grandparents. In 1965, his mother remarried to Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia. Two years later, Dunham took Obama with her to Indonesia to reunite him with his stepfather. In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to attend Punahou School, from which he graduated in 1979.
As a ung adult, Obama moved to the contiguous United States, where he was educated at Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard lag School. In Chicago, Obama worked at various times as a