What Keeps Obama Christian?
In all this talk about Obama and bitterness, the words that may have stung Pennsylvanians the most are the ones about how their anger has led them to "cling to" their religion.
Don't laugh.
Religion is a key element in next week's primary, even among Pennsylvania Democrats. And the last thing they want is someone -- anyone -- telling them their faith is somehow a crutch used to quash feelings of inadequacy and frustration.
Nevertheless, despite all the attacks on Obama about his divisive comments, a key question has gone unasked: "What reasons does Obama have to be religious?"
Obama has already credited the Rev. Jeremiah Wright with bringing him to Jesus Christ. But what reason does Obama have to stay there? If it isn't bitterness and frustration, then what?
From Obama's web site:
For the past two decades, Barack Obama has been a faithful member of the congregation at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. ... When asked about his decision to be baptized, Obama said "Kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me," he said of his walk down the aisle of the Trinity United Church of Christ. "I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth."Beyond hearing "God's spirit," Obama doesn't really go into what his motivations were for joining the church, but more importantly he has not addressed why he has stayed with it.
One thing's for sure, though: we certainly know Obama's opinion about why the working-class people of Pennsylvania have stuck with theirs.
Please read the comments below for an explanation of why I wrote this blog post.
Bottom Photo: Stan Honda/Getty Images
Comments
Who cares?!? Honestly, I am so sick and tired of the media and pundits prodding a presidential candidate’s religion.
I seem to remember Article VI, section 3 of the Constitution saying, “…no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Have we forgotten that? Are we really going to judge a president based on what church they belong to as opposed to their policy positions? As far as I’m concerned, Obama can follow whatever religion he wants. For me, the issues come first.
Oh, and another thing. Can we please move past the “gotcha” politics, where we look for one slip-up in a speech as a make-or-break moment in an election? McCain and Hillary have also made some pretty foolish statements in their campaigns in case you’ve forgotten. Obama misspoke, get over it (after George W. Bush, I’m sure that won’t be very hard to do).
The issue isn’t whether he misspoke. You’re absolutely right; McCain has misspoken and so has Clinton. And in each of those cases, the punditry has held them accountable (in some cases even mischaracterizing the nature of their misstatements). So far, a major theme in this campaign has been prejudice. It has also been about who has a greater rapport with the voters. So far, the Obama camp has made it plain that he is the candidate with that rapport. So here comes a moment where he shows unequivocally that he is not that candidate.
The reality is that when something like this happens, it resets the national discussion. I, too, could care less about Obama’s religion. What I do care about is hypocrisy, and his comments in San Francisco last week smack of it. So I think the people to whom he referred — the people who he says cling to religion out of frustration — deserve to know where he stands on the issue and what, pray tell, a good reason is to cling to religion. Or should religion be clung to at all?
This isn’t a “gotcha” situation. If he said it, he must have had some good reason or motivation for saying it. Furthermore, he says he misspoke, but he stands by his comments! What kind of misstatement is that?! You’re wrong when you allege that I’m making this about religion. Religion has nothing to do with it. This is about clearing up unapologetic misstatements and explaining them to those he has offended.
http://rattube.com/blog1/2008/04/17/fox-news-gets-owned-by-pro-wright-priest/