On the February 19 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson claimed that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) faith has become “suddenly conspicuous” -- suggesting that Obama has only recently begun addressing his religious background as part of “a very calculated plan on the part of the Democratic Party to win” religious voters in the 2008 presidential race. Later in the program, Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, stated that he has known Obama for 10 years, saying that Obama is “not new to” speaking publicly about his faith and has “been doing it for a long time.” Carlson did not challenge Wallis' statement.

As Media Matters for America noted, on the February 7 edition of Tucker, Carlson criticized Obama for belonging to a church Carlson claimed “sounds separatist to me” and “contradicts the basic tenets of Christianity,” a subject Carlson said he was “actually qualified to discuss.”

Obama has been speaking and writing about his faith for years. On Page 294 of his memoir Dreams From My Father (Crown, July 1995), Obama wrote:

And in that single note -- hope! -- I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories -- of survival, and freedom, and hope -- became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shamed about, memories more accessible than those of ancient Egypt, memories that all people might study and cherish -- and with which we could start to rebuild. And if part of me continued to feel that this Sunday communion sometimes simplified our condition, that it could sometimes disguise or suppress the very real conflicts among us and would fulfill its promise only through action, I also felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams.

The Associated Press reported on December 19, 2004, after Obama had won election to the U.S. Senate: “On the campaign trail, it wasn't unusual for Obama to mention his own faith or his work with churches as a community organizer. But he maintained the race was not about religion, saying: 'I'm not running to be minister of Illinois. I'm running to be its U.S. senator.' ” Later, in his June 28, 2006, keynote address at Call to Renewal's Building a Covenant for a New America conference, Obama said that his “minister of Illinois” comment “did not adequately address the role my faith has in guiding my own values and my own beliefs.”

From the February 19 edition of MSNBC's Tucker:

CARLSON: Welcome to the show, and Happy Presidents Day. Speaking of presidents, over the next hour, we'll bring you the latest on the candidates, including [Sen.] John McCain's [R-AZ] new fervor on abortion, Barack Obama's suddenly conspicuous faith, the possibility of a [former House Speaker Newt] Gingrich [R-GA] presidency, and [Sen.] Hillary Clinton's [D-NY] latest position on the war.

[...]

CARLSON: Here's a word association game: Which party comes to mind, Republican or Democrat, when you think about the intersection of religion and politics? Well, the Democrats are keenly aware of your likely answer. Hillary Clinton has hired an adviser whose sole job is outreach to religious voters. Barack Obama, meanwhile, speaks often and at length about the importance of his faith. Can Democrats reclaim religion as a winning political issue?

Joining us now for answers, a charter member of the religious left, the founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, the author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It. We are honored to have Jim Wallis. Thanks a lot, Jim.

WALLIS: Hi, Tucker.

CARLSON: I want to put up a quote on the screen -- this is from Barack Obama -- that really struck me. This is from last June, during a political speech he gave, and he said, quote, “Kneeling beneath the cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to his will, and dedicated myself to discovering his truth.” Now, coming in the context of a political speech, the implication is that God is on Barack Obama's side. That's the implication you often hear -- sometimes hear among religious conservatives, and they are attacked for it. Does this make you uncomfortable?

WALLIS: Well, it was a speech at our conference, so I introduced him for that speech.

CARLSON: Yeah.

WALLIS: It was to church leaders and faith-based activists, and it was, I think, Tucker, it was the most intelligent speech on faith and politics since the Houston speech -- since Kennedy, a long time ago, gave a speech on the same topic. I think it was how faith can be engaged with respecting pluralism, democracy, and diversity. It was a great speech.

CARLSON: But it's also part of a -- as you're well aware, you wrote a book on it -- part of a political strategy devised by very smart people who looked at the numbers and noticed that religious voters tended to vote Republican and if you want a national party, you've got to win some of them over -- and this is a very calculated plan on the part of the Democratic Party to win those voters.

WALLIS: Well, I've known Barack for 10 years.

CARLSON: Yes.

WALLIS: So, back when he was a lowly state senator, he and I talked about faith and politics.

CARLSON: Right.

WALLIS: He was progressive in his faith and politics, like I was, and we thought that to have faith at issues forth and talk about economic justice and poverty was more logical than the religious right. So, he's not new to this. He's been doing it for a long time. He's very active in his South Side black church. So this is, for him, very common. He's talked more comfortably about faith and policy than any Democrat has in a long time.