{"id":13198,"date":"2008-06-25T13:49:20","date_gmt":"2008-06-25T20:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/06\/25\/he%e2%80%99s-not-close-to-our-understanding-of-what-the-christian-faith-is-by-any-means.html"},"modified":"2008-06-25T13:49:20","modified_gmt":"2008-06-25T20:49:20","slug":"he%e2%80%99s_not_close_to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/25\/he%e2%80%99s_not_close_to.html","title":{"rendered":"“He\u2019s not close to our understanding of what the Christian faith is, by any means.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think Senator Obama should take that<\/a> as a tremendous complement.<\/p>\n

Focus on the Family continues its critique of whether Barack Obama is Christianish enough, based on a speech in 2006<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the attacks — paralleled by James Dobson the other day, has to do with the old question of whether we are a “Christian nation.”<\/p>\n

\n

Barack Obama [on on video]: Moreover, given the increasing diversity of America’s population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.<\/p>\n

Trobee: Is that true?<\/p>\n

Minnery: No, it\u2019s not true. It\u2019s not even close. Senator, we are not an atheist nation. Senator, we are not a Hindu nation. We are not a Buddhist nation. 76% of the people, according to last year\u2019s Pew Center on Religion survey, people identify themselves as Christian. Now, all of them are not practicing, yet 40% still go to church once a week and, by and large, it\u2019s Christian denominations they\u2019re going to. We are, alone among the world, a nation still with a strong Judeo-Christian heritage and he is trying to erase that. And he does so at his own peril.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Um … listen (and read) Obama’s words. He didn’t say we are not <\/em>a Christian nation. He said that we are not just <\/em>a Christian nation — by which he means that we are not a nation solely of Christians, but one that encompasses — as a quarter of the population, at least — other religious and philosophical beliefs. <\/p>\n

And, as Obama went on to point out, that 76% figure from the Pew research study<\/a> is itself misleading: 26% are evangelical Protestants; 18% are mainline Protestants; 24% are Catholic; 7% are “Historically Black” traditions. And within each of those are dozens of denominations, and churches within those denominations, and individuals within those churches. Lumping them together as a single “heritage” is dicey (esp. given the internal conflicts they’ve had); speaking for them as a single voice is historically and theologically idiotic.<\/p>\n

At the same time — and perhaps in recognition of that — that same Pew survey found that 70% of Americans “believed that many religions can lead to eternal life and that there is more than one true interpretation of the teachings of their own religion.” That includes 60% of Southern Baptists.<\/p>\n

In other words, the American people as a whole seem to agree that more than just one group deserves to be heard in this country, and that nobody has a monopoly on truth and salvation. <\/p>\n

Sen. Obama is not trying to erase any “strong Judeo-Christian heritage” of the United States. He’s noting, correctly, that we have many other <\/em>heritages we can draw on also<\/em>, and many voices we can and should listen to today. And that to deny that, to ignore the increasing <\/em>diversity of beliefs in this country, and to play sectarian games of trying to make this solely an “us vs. them” Christian nation is not only false, it’s dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think Senator Obama should take that as a tremendous complement. Focus on the Family continues its critique of whether Barack Obama is Christianish enough, based on a speech in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16292,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/11\/26\/and-pat-boone-should-be-taken-seriously-as-a-political-commentator-because.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":0},"title":"And Pat Boone should be taken seriously as a political commentator because …?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-Nov-09 12:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"I realize it's sort of like shooting fish in a barrel, but since WorldNetDaily has decided to headline Pat Boone's latest screed, it's probably worth addressing a few of the most obviously egregious points. (This essay was actually written back in June. Why WND is finally running it at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30701,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/19\/the-denver-post-endorses-obama.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":1},"title":"The Denver Post endorses Obama","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-Oct-12 9:53am","format":false,"excerpt":"This is actually pretty interesting, since the Denver Post is considered a center-right paper. \u00a0On the other hand, it makes sense, since a lot of people consider Obama a center-right (or at least) center candidate, and much of the DP's criticism of Romney is for not running as a centrist.I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24368,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/09\/is-barack-obama-a-christian.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":2},"title":"Is Barack Obama a Christian?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Dec-11 3:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There are, of course, a plethora of people willing to assert, without hesitation, a resounding, \"No.\" \u00a0These folks, unfortunately, tend to be of the \"He does things I don't like, so he must not be a good Christian like me, so let me figure out some reasons to think that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/psalm-109-8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24650,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/18\/can-you-be-a-faithful-muslim-and-a-loyal-american.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":3},"title":"Can you be a faithful Muslim and a loyal American?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 18-Dec-11 6:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, can you be a faithful Christian and a loyal American? How about a faithful Jew, or Buddhist, or Hindu, or Wiccan, or ...?For anyone with a particular religious faith -- or any sort of personal moral code -- there may come a time when that interferes with one's relationship\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31133,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/05\/its-the-end-of-western-civilization-as-we-know-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":4},"title":"It's the end of Western Civilization as we know it!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Nov-12 8:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Short form of Paul Ryan's statements on \"a conference call with evangelical Christians\":\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous path. It\u2019s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.\"Ryan's folks later\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31163,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/06\/america-delenda-est.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":5},"title":"America delenda est!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 6-Nov-12 8:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"While \"If we don't change our course, God will smite this great nation\" rhetoric from the zany Right, Glenn Beck (yes, he's still alive) bumps up the rhetoric.\"When you watch Barack Obama, you can just see he is angry. When you watch Mitt Romney, you can see he is not.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}