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Re: Obama tries to get Xians to vote against their beliefs?
by socsci387

Did you actually read/listen to the speech? It's available, in its entirety on the 'Net. What Obama actually said was that Christians should bring their faith to the government, but they should understand that other people will bring their faith to the government as well. It's why he said:

"And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let's read our bibles. Folks haven't been reading their bibles."

Everyone's faith is different, both inside Christianity and outside. The text of the speech itself says very explicity that Christians should not only not shut up about their faith, but they should bring it with them to government. So should everyone else. They should not check their faith at the door. They should not check religious language at the door. He directly states that our government's language would be poorer if Lincoln had not used religious words, among other examples.

What he does say is that Christians have to understand that one faith, one denomination, and one interpretation of the Bible is not democratic. It's against the principles of the constitution and it's wrong. (I am using the word "you" in a generic fashion, and not to mean you in particular.) Bring your faith with you, but in order to have an open and productive dialogue, you have to understand that not everyone has your faith. That means that if you are against abortion, you should have arguments for why it's morally wrong than simply "God said so." Likewise, if you are for abortion, you should have arguments for why it's morally right to legalize it that people of faith can agree with. "A woman's right to choose" just doesn't cut it.

Obama's speech was about using faith to bring folks together to hash out their differences and come to some kind of agreement that people can live with, which is a pretty Christian thing to do. Love thy neighbor as you love thyself. Clean the plank out of thine own eye before worrying about the dust mote in thy neighbor's. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles.

I am no longer a Christian and I do not believe that Jesus was anything more than a man. However, had Jesus been what the Bible purports him to have been, then I believe Jesus would agree with Obama on this one. Christian faith should be about bringing people together, not setting people against each other. That doesn't mean mindlessly agreeing with things you know are wrong, but that does mean being a good neighbor and doing our best to get along. As democratic Americans, we're all neighbors.

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If you don't trust the source, then google obama call to renewal keynote address.

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