Here is a video that has resurfaced which supposedly has Obama showing his true anti-Christian and sinister colors. Ive seen a number of people sharing this video with statements such as Wow...just wow and Shaking my head and that sort of thing. Ive not seen much interaction with the content of the video, just these equivalents of tearing of robes. So I figured I would give it a listen and offer up some commentary on the substance of what Obama is actually saying and reasons why this is much ado about nothing. The first major offense in the video is that Obama blatantly says that due to increasing diversity, America is no longer a just Christian nation, but also a Muslim nation a Hindu nation and a nation of non-believers. Boom. Evidence right there that Obama is thumbing his nose at God!! Or is it? What exactly is factually incorrect about this statement? The reality is that America does contain Christians, Muslims, Hindus, non-believers, and all sorts of other things. What exactly should he have said? Like it or not people, this is a Christian nation, and all the rest of you are just ignorant guests who need to get with the program? When the country was founded, it was founded primarily by those of a Christian background and those influenced strongly by secular Enlightenment principles but whom were very familiar with Christian beliefs and language. They didnt want a State Religion and for good reason. Back then the issue was primarily allowing no one denomination to have state favor over the other. We werent as diverse and pluralistic back then. Now we are. All we have done is take the EXACT SAME legal and philosophical principles and apply them to these other faith groups who happen to live here now. What is the alternative? Make them all convert or deport them? What Obama doesnt do in this video (but has elsewhere) is go as far as President George W. Bush did, to say Christians and Muslims worship the same God and that Muslims can go to heaven too: youtube/watch?v=t_8GoF9SLas When Bush regularly said things like this, there was no great outcry from Evangelicals. They instead continued seeing him as one of their own and a great Christian in good standing, even though his theology would get him disciplined at virtually any Evangelical church. Other than a relative few fundamentalists, nobody was having any serious discussion or debate about whether or not Bush was really a Christian. But I understand what both he and Obama are trying to do here politically, which is be respectful towards a diverse population. And as secular Presidents they are Presidents of all the people, not just some. They werent elected to be National Pastors. Next, I guess people are taking offense at Obamas statement of Whose Christianity should we teach in the schools? This is a realistic statement, if we were to declare ourselves a theocracy. Should we embrace a Charismatic Christianity? Calvinistic? Liberal Christianity? The fact is theres all sorts of variants. This is one of the reasons not allowing public school teachers to lead prayers in class makes perfect sense, contrary to all the hand-wringing from many Christians that they cant. If we have public teacher led school prayer, then theres no stopping a teacher leading the kids to pray to the Blessed Virgin. Which is fine if youre a Catholic, not so much if youre a Protestant. And thats exactly the point Obama is making. If we were a Christian nation, whose rules, beliefs, and customs do we follow? Even if we were a theocratic entity, which constitutionally we are not, enacting this would get very messy. Then he begins to list some inconvenient Bible verses, primarily from the Old Testament. I read one person who was offended because Obama was making up things from the Bible. Actually, all those verses are in there. Yes, I know how to deal with those passages theologically: We are in the New Covenant, and many of those practices from the Old Testament have been replaced by Christ, etc, etc, etc. But dont tell that to somebody who comes from the Reconstructionist movement of Reformed Protestantism. Many of them want to enact nearly ALL of the Old Testament law into modern American law, including various passages about stoning people to death. Im not kidding. And many of them write for mainstream Christian publications and are very influential in writing home-based curriculums for students. Should we adopt their version of the faith and implement that into law? Obama then says the Sermon on the Mount would frustrate the plans of the Defense Department. Here is neither bashing the Bible nor the military. Hes making a point, which is what this whole speech mostly revolves around, that you cant use the Bible as a strict blueprint to formulate public policy in a highly secular country. The two realms frequently clash. Perhaps not always, but very often. And in a court of law, Because the Bible says so is not a constitutional argument. And when holding positions of public policy, one needs more than a Biblical statement to back up their public policy aims. Politics is not the same thing as theology. And every nation that has attempted to make it so, has been heavy-handed and authoritarian. The same kind of thing which drove early Americans towards religious freedom, so they could practice the way they saw fit, without having the government favor one side or the other. Basically, modern day theocrats are shooting themselves in the foot by pushing for state-sponsored religion. It opens the door to abuse of the faith and enables politicians to politicize and and cynically manipulate things to their own ends. And even that only works if its YOUR particular variant of Christianity being promoted. If its not, youre very much out of luck. Which is why its simply better to have the realms of politics and faith separate. It doesnt mean one cannot inform the other, but citing Bible verses is not constitutional or practical as a matter of formulation of public policy. I realize that in Evangelical culture, theres a number of unwritten things we are just supposed to believe. Resenting Obama is one of them. Instead of rolling your eyes and scrolling past this post, unfollowing me, defriending me, sending me a concerned email, or deciding to pray for me, perhaps think on the substance of this post and realize much of the hype and hysteria out there is just that--hype and hysteria. My own view of Obama is that he is neither the man of hope and change many believed he was in 2008, nor is he a tyrannical monster that many conservatives are utterly convinced he is. He will not go down as a great President, but wont be remembered as a horrible one either--and yes, theres been plenty way worse. As it stands right now, the Far Left is disenchanted with him (Michael Moore is now saying hes accomplished nothing) and the Far Right thinks he can do nothing correct. As is usually the case, both sides vastly overstate their cases. If you think the President has bad policies, thats obviously your right, and you may have a number of good points. But whatever points you have are diluted if you engage in the kind of character assassination that seems to be accepted from believers against the President in particular and non-Republicans in general. And theres nothing Christian about that.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:22:48 +0000
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