Right-wing radio pastor Todd Friel rebuked former President Barack Obama’s anticipated presidential library opening in Chicago, Illinois, later this month, describing it as an “intentional slight to God.”
Friel's Criticism of the Obama Center
“His new presidential center, I think, can be described as atheistic, anti-Christian, Marxist, and just another effort from Barack Obama to do what he’s been endeavoring to do now since he was nominated president, and that is to fundamentally change America,” Friel said.
The $850 million Obama Presidential Center campus, set to open on June 19, will house a Chicago public library branch, basketball courts, gardens, ball fields, a children’s playground, and an eight-story museum, according to reports by NPR, which previewed the facility.
Foundation's Vision for the Center
“This is a safe space for people to come and, yes, reflect on the historic moments of this presidency and the campaigns, but also to come together as a community to think about what change you can bring to your own neighborhood,” Josh Harris, a spokesperson for the Obama Foundation, said during a recent tour with The Associated Press.
However, Friel told his listeners, “This building is a tangible symbol of Barack Obama’s horrific, his utterly destructive world views,” stating that it is an “intentional slight to God.”
Friel's Architectural Critique
“You don’t walk into a building and decide what it means, the building decides what it wants you to feel about reality. Why? Because buildings preach, and the Obama Center is a really lousy sermon,” Friel raged on his show “Wretched” Tuesday.
He echoed President Donald Trump’s fury towards the facility, who recently trashed the project’s design with AI slop over the weekend.
The pastor said that Obama is not only trying to convey a political message but also a religious message with the facility’s design.
“It’s intended to say this country is bad, it needs to be brought down, it needs to be fundamentally changed, and God doesn’t exist,” the pastor said before going on a lecture about architectural design.
The Words of Hope sculpture, comprised of excerpts from President Barack Obama's 2015 speech marking the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, is displayed on the outside of the museum tower during a media preview of the Obama Presidential Center in the Jackson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, US, on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. The Obamas and their chosen architects, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, designed the space with two dueling purposes: a sculptural totem that lionizes the president and a sprawling program that celebrates community. Photographer: Talia Sprague/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Friel's Interpretation of Architectural Styles
“Traditional architecture, meaning is given. Modernism, meaning is built. Deconstructivism, meaning is unstable,” Friel explained. “Why does Barack Obama want to communicate instability? It is because he doesn’t want the old order. He wants a new design, and, I’m sorry, it’s clearly a Marxist design, and it’s a Marxist playbook.”
The pastor went on to make a dig at the former president, stating that Obama no longer “speaks with his lips,” but rather speaks with architecture, “and what he is saying is as odious as ever.”
