Current:Home > ScamsKamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Kamala Harris: A Baptist with a Jewish husband and a faith that traces back to MLK and Gandhi
View Date:2024-12-23 16:55:08
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black clergy who know Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, marvel at the fusion of traditions and teachings that have molded her religious faith and social justice values.
Follow AP’s live coverage of the 2024 presidential race.
A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church.
“She’s had the best of two worlds,” says her longtime pastor, the Rev. Amos Brown, who leads Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.
In interviews, religious leaders and theologians told The Associated Press that Harris’ candidacy has special symbolic significance following President Joe Biden’s departure from election campaign. Not only because she would be the nation’s first female president, but she’s a Black American with South Asian roots and her two cultures are intrinsically linked.
The clergy and scholars noted that the concept of nonviolent resistance, a critical strategy in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, gained influence under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi in India, who was an inspiration for many decades to America’s Black preachers and civil rights leaders.
“It may be through the Negroes that the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be delivered to the world,” Gandhi said in 1935 to a visiting delegation led by prominent Black U.S. theologian Howard Thurman.
Those shared cultural links can be found in Harris’ family history, too. Her maternal grandmother was a community organizer, and her grandfather P.V. Gopalan, was a civil servant who joined the resistance to win India’s independence from Britain.
Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, even met King as a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, where she participated in civil rights demonstrations.
“She was conscious of history, conscious of struggle, conscious of inequities. She was born with a sense of justice imprinted on her soul,” Harris wrote of her mother in her 2008 book “Truths We Hold.”
The Black Church tradition also influenced Harris.
“The vice president has a strong Christian faith that she’s talked about a lot,” said Jamal Simmons, a pastor’s son and Harris’ former communications director. As a Democratic strategist, he has helped candidates make inroads with faith communities.
“She was raised in a Christian church, and attended Christian churches throughout her life, and I think that still influences her, her worldview and her ethical commitments,” he said.
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Read the latest: Follow AP’s live coverage of this year’s election.
- We want to hear from you: How did you first learn that President Biden was dropping out of the race and where did you turn to for your news?
- Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
- Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.
The Rev. Freddie D. Haynes III, a pastor in Dallas, first met Harris at Third Baptist in San Francisco, sparking their more than 30-year friendship.
Haynes – whose family has close ties to Third Baptist – was guest preaching at the time while visiting his mother. Harris, then the Alameda County district attorney, had just joined the congregation.
“She has always understood that Jesus and justice go together. So, it’s not hard to see why she chose a church that has that kind of justice DNA,” said Haynes, whose grandfather shaped Third Baptist’s social justice identity as its pastor. Then his father carried it on during his short time in the pulpit.
Through the years, Haynes and Harris connected over their shared faith. Haynes said she admired his ability to blend Black Christian theology in the pulpit with the cadence and rhythm of hip-hop. It was Harris’s commitment to serving the most vulnerable that impressed him.
“Her spirituality has been informed by a sense of justice for those who are othered, disadvantaged, and treated as second-class citizens,” said Haynes, who leads Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas.
As a student at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Harris was immersed in a cultural environment influenced by deep faith. The fellowship and service she learned at her alma mater is key to understanding the spirituality driving her sense of purpose, said Matthew Watley, pastor of nearby Kingdom Fellowship AME, one of the fastest growing churches in America.
Watley said Howard’s commitment to service through religious passion and academic prowess never leaves its students. Several of Harris’ friends, including a line sister in the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., worship at Kingdom Fellowship, where Harris has attended twice in recent years.
Joshua DuBois, former head of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said because of the influence of Eastern and Western cultural and religious traditions, Harris exudes a kind of ecumenism that makes her candidacy appealing to an array of religious voters.
“I think that presidents are grounded in their faith and inspired by their faith in numerous ways. It’s the wellspring that they draw from,” said DuBois, who worked under former President Barack Obama’s administration. “When you know the world is going mad how do you connect to something larger than yourself?”
“I also think faith can help you with prioritization,” he added. “Often times you can only focus on one thing as president and you face the question: Who needs you the most? I think that is certainly how Jesus walked. That’s how Gandhi walked.”
Black women, including clergy and activists who have not stopped organizing and praying since the COVID-19 pandemic, are quickly embracing Harris.
The Rev. Traci Blackmon, who joined 4,000 Black clergy on a recent pro-Harris call, said the outpouring of support for her is connected to the anticipated ugliness and opposition she is bound to face in her sprint against former President Donald Trump.
“She should be president because she’s equipped, prepared and the best candidate for the job,” said Blackmon, a St. Louis-based United Church of Christ minister, who spoke to the AP as Harris gathered delegate support.
The call was organized by the Black Church PAC, co-founded by the Rev. Michael McBride, a longtime Harris supporter and pastor of The Way Christian Center in Berkeley. McBride told the AP that he was still in the pulpit on Sunday when Biden withdrew his candidacy. After the benediction, McBride said, one of the church mothers stood up, shared that news, and asked, in effect, “What do we do now?”
McBride and many other Black pastors who have been calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war will be looking to Harris for leadership that would bring about peace. Brown, her own pastor, was among the Black clergy who visited the White House in recent months to appeal to the Biden administration.
“To me it’s a matter of peace and justice,” Brown said.
On Sunday, after Harris was endorsed by Biden. she sought out Brown with an evening phone call, about an hour before the AP reached him at his home in San Francisco.
“I’m calling my pastor,” Harris said in her typical greeting, referring to the man that staffers in her office are instructed to get to know during their first week on the job.
She wanted her pastor to pray, and pray Brown did, that Harris “would be the quintessential instrument to bring healing, hope and wholeness” to the United States of America.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
- Carlee Russell’s Boyfriend Pleads With People to Stop Bullying Her Amid Disappearance Investigation
- Parker McCollum Defends Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean Amid Recent Controversies
- You'll Flip Over How Shawn Johnson's Daughter Drew Reacted to Mom's Pregnancy
- 'Heretic' spoilers! Hugh Grant spills on his horror villain's fears and fate
- Austin Peay State Football Player Jeremiah Collins Dead at 18
- Why Taylor Lautner Says Hanging With Wife Tay and Ex Taylor Swift Was the Perfect Situation
- Coast Guard searching for cruise passenger who jumped overboard
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long record of promoting anti-vaccine views
- Why LL COOL J Says Miranda Lambert Should Get Over the Concert Selfie Issue
Ranking
- Judge hears case over Montana rule blocking trans residents from changing sex on birth certificate
- Lisa Rinna Leaves Little to the Imagination in NSFW Message of Self-Love
- Kylie Jenner Sets Record Straight on Plastic Surgery Misconceptions
- Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Welcome to Wrexham Scores Season 2 Premiere Date
- Stock market today: Asian shares mostly decline, shrugging off Wall Street’s overnight rally
- More than 80 million Americans remain under heat alerts
- Get a $20 Deal on $98 Worth of Skincare From Peter Thomas Roth, Sunday Riley, Benefit, Elemis, and More
- Jamie Foxx Shares New Update From Las Vegas 3 Months After Medical Emergency
Recommendation
-
Biden, Harris participate in Veterans Day ceremony | The Excerpt
-
Gisele Bündchen's Look-Alike Daughter Vivian Is All Grown Up as Model Celebrates 43rd Birthday
-
Why Barbie Makeup Artist Ivana Primorac Didn't Want Margot Robbie to Look Plastic
-
Inside Gisele Bündchen's Birthday Girls' Trip With Daughter Vivian and Twin Sister Patricia
-
These Michael Kors’ Designer Handbags Are All Under $150 With an Extra 22% off for Singles’ Day
-
Love Island U.K.'s Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury Engaged After Welcoming Baby
-
Taylor Swift Lets Out the Ultimate LOL While Performing Song About Kanye West Feud
-
Smooth Out Stubborn, Deep-Set Wrinkles and Save 50% On Perricone MD Essential FX Deep Crease Serum