Is USA presidential nominee, Kamala Harris a Christian?

As we know, Kamala Harris has been nominated to replace Joe Biden after he stepped down as President of the United States on Sunday 21st July.

She had been his vice president since January 2021 when Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States.

So what do we know of her faith? Her Jamaican economist father is a Baptist, her Indian mother was Hindu, and her husband is Jewish.

Harris grew up attending 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland. “I was raised to live my faith,” she said at the National Baptist Convention, USA, Annual Meeting in 2022. “Marching for civil rights, my parents pushed me in a stroller. That was faith in action.”

 On Sundays, my mother would dress my sister, Maya, and me in our Sunday best and send us off to the 23rd Avenue Church of God

Harris has said of her upbringing in an interview with Interfaith Youth Core that her faith journey started when she was young. “On Sundays, my mother would dress my sister, Maya, and me in our Sunday best and send us off to the 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California, where Maya and I sang in the children’s choir. That’s where I formed some of my earliest memories of the Bible’s teachings. It’s where I learned that ‘faith’ is a verb and that we must live it, and show it, in action.”

Harris met her husband Doug Emhoff on a blind date in 2013, and the couple married a year later.

 I’ve learned that faith is not only something we express in church and prayerful reflection, but also in the way we live our lives, do our work and pursue our respective calling

According to America Magazine, the couple smashed a glass as part of the traditional Jewish custom at their wedding. Harris told Interfaith Youth Core that she shares ”Jewish traditions and celebrations” with Emhoff at home. “From all of these traditions and teachings, I’ve learned that faith is not only something we express in church and prayerful reflection, but also in the way we live our lives, do our work and pursue our respective callings,” she said.

Harris still identifies as Baptist and prior to her election in 2020, her base church was the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco. The church’s pastor, Rev. Amos Brown, told the Associated Press that Harris is a “spiritual person” and “quintessential scholar.”

However her policies have been seen by many as not following the Bible.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Union were cautious to embrace her. In a recent op-ed published by Baptist Press, ERLC President Brent Leatherwood wrote:

‘Should delegates to the Democratic National Convention confirm her as the nominee, it will be cause for considerable concern among pro-life advocates and those who hold to a biblical definition of marriage. For example, she touted the Reproductive FACT Act, which required pregnancy resource centers to offer information to pregnant mothers about where they could obtain an abortion (which was thankfully ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the NIFLA case) and she refused to defend a state constitutional amendment passed by California voters declaring only marriages between a man and woman as valid.’

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission have stated on their website: ‘Harris’ track record is unmistakably clear. In the various roles she has held, Harris has protected abortion access and the destruction of preborn lives, undermined biblical marriage and sexuality, and weakened religious liberty protections.’

While many would disagree with her, Harris says her faith does not contradict her actions.

“One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body,” she told a crowd in Savannah, Georgia, in February.

In August 2019, Harris used parallels between what she hoped to achieve in politics and her faith. “Jesus tells us how we should define neighbour,” she said during a speech. “Jesus tells us, your neighbour is not just the person who lives next door, who drives the kind of car you drive, the person shares your zip code. Jesus tells us your neighbor is that man by the side of the road who you walk by, who has faced hardship.”

“I can trace my belief in the importance of public service back to learning the parable of the good Samaritan and other biblical teachings about looking out for our neighbors,” she said in a Religion News Service interview in 2020.

“Ever since I was a girl, church has not only been a place where I draw strength, it’s been a place for reflection, a place to study the teachings of the Lord and to feel grounded in a complex world,” she told RNS. “Church still plays that role for me. And I also draw something else from it as well: a sense of community and belonging where we can build lasting relationships and be there for one another in times of need.”

So let’s pray for Kamala Harris, if she does become president, she will need our prayers all the more.