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Faith & Spirit Quote by Barack Obama

"You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt"

About this Quote

A politician admitting doubt is a minor heresy in a culture that rewards certainty like a performance sport. Obama’s line works because it smuggles humility into a space where humility is usually punished. “My faith” signals something private and potentially polarizing, then the phrase “one that admits” shifts faith from a rigid creed to a framework sturdy enough to hold uncertainty. He’s not confessing weakness; he’s redefining strength as the ability to live without absolute closure.

The intent is double-edged. Substantively, it stakes a claim on a kind of liberal religiosity: reflective, self-questioning, compatible with pluralism and science. Politically, it disarms two audiences at once. To secular listeners wary of doctrinal certainty, it offers reassurance that belief won’t become policy as dogma. To religious voters, it projects authenticity without the swagger of televangelical conviction. Doubt becomes a credential, not a liability: a sign he’s thinking, not posturing.

The subtext is also about leadership style. Obama often framed governing as deliberation rather than righteous crusade. By folding doubt into faith, he mirrors the posture he wants credited in office: careful, morally serious, skeptical of easy answers. In a post-9/11 and culture-war era when public faith was frequently weaponized, this sentence tries to de-fang religion as a tribal marker and recast it as an inner discipline.

It’s a calibrated candor, but still candor. The line suggests a president who wants to be seen not as God’s instrument, but as a fallible person trying to do the math of conscience in public.

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TopicFaith
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Obama, Barack. (2026, January 15). You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-know-my-faith-is-one-that-admits-some-doubt-18400/

Chicago Style
Obama, Barack. "You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-know-my-faith-is-one-that-admits-some-doubt-18400/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"You know, my faith is one that admits some doubt." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-know-my-faith-is-one-that-admits-some-doubt-18400/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Barack Obama

Barack Obama (born August 4, 1961) is a President from USA.

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