{"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":5807,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/15\/christian_natio.html","url_meta":{"origin":13198,"position":5},"title":"“Christian nation”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 15-Jul-04 8:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Texas GOP has included a plank in their state party platform that the US is \"a Christian nation.\" That's just swell, guys. While it's true that, numerically, Christians are...","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":"","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}]}}