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Before election day '08, Obama claimed to be a Christian but all we have seen since that erroneous initial proclamation has been one evidence after the other to the contrary. Much as he may resent the fact, we were founded a Christian nation and the vast majority of We the People intend to keep it that way. When he claimed the call to Muslim prayer was the prettiest sound on earth we had a clue about his true ideology. When he repeatedly rejected observances of the (Christian) National Day of Prayer and then celebrated Ramadan in the White House
America was founded on English principles and ethics, which were influenced by Christianity, but also by the Enlightenment, the Magna Carta, and English common laws. One thing is certain, most of the first people who came here, be they Puritans, Quakers, or Scots-Irish Presbyterians, were fleeing religious persecution. You are proposing precisely what they fled, to turn the majority religion into the only acceptable one.
"The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as "inforced uniformity of religion," meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it persisted on the European continent. Religious persecution, as observers in every century have commented, is often bloody and implacable and is remembered and resented for generations."
This was wrong 400 years ago, and it is wrong now. It is the mentality of Al Queda and the Taliban.
Obama is a Christian, but that is immaterial. He should show tolerance and respect for all religious traditions in out country, and get on with his job, which has nothing to do with religion.
Gosh, threads like this make me wish that ALL religions were to suddenly disappear overnight. I get the feeling more and more people are using their "superior" religion in an attempt to show just how much more important and better they are than anybody else.
You know, for the vast majority of my life (and that's quite a few decades) I have cared absolutely nothing about religion. Religious people have left me alone and I have left them alone. They lived happily, I lived happily. These days, I am starting ever so slowly to feel rather antagonistic about it because religion is no longer used as a guideline to treating your fellow humans in a respectful manner. No, these days, religion is increasingly used to ostracize others and to put them down.
...There is nothing wrong with this portion of the speech, he's referencing well known fundamental realities required toward human flourish...Not an Obama supporter but lets get real with the complaints:...in addition Christians do not condemn good people who live by peace, virtue and charity in a non violent way, abiding by the faith they were brought into the world with..Or cast a downward expression of ill-will toward their neighbour by a hurtful slandering of what may be a percieved inspirational good in role model or prophet ....try going with what was said and the facts..including found paraphrase..."It is time to heed the words of Gandhi"
Paraphrase: A paraphrase is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words
Obama..."The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support."
Obama and whoever is involved in writing his stuff obviously have zero philosophical or theological training and probably try their best to sound wise. In opinion I can't see a huge problem or issue, not very well put together, no doubt about that.
Last edited by stargazzer; 09-27-2012 at 11:04 AM..
Governor John Winthrop, “a shining city upon a hill” (a reference to Matthew 5:14). Puritans separated church and state, but they clearly thought the two institutions should work in tandem to support, protect, and promote true Christianity.
The Charter of Liberties and Frame of Government of the Province of Pennsylvania (1681) begins by making it clear that God has ordained government, and it even quotes Romans 13
Almost any measure, colonists of European descent who settled in the New World were serious Christians whose constitutions, laws, and practices reflected the influence of Christianity.
Quote:
The Declaration of Independence, the most famous document produced by the Continental Congress during the War for Independence, proclaims: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As well, this text references “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” and closes by “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world” and noting the signers’ “reliance on the protection of divine Providence.” The Founders’ use of Christian rhetoric and arguments becomes even more evident if one looks at other statements of colonial rights and concerns such as the Suffolk Resolves, the Declaration of Rights, and the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms—to say nothing of the dozen explicitly Christian calls for prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving issued by the Continental and Confederation Congresses
National Prayer Day. Which was ended by a Muslim Obama
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