{"id":49523,"date":"2015-02-09T07:17:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T14:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/09\/twisted-and-misused-in-the-name-of-evil.html"},"modified":"2015-02-09T07:17:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T14:17:32","slug":"twisted-and-misused-in-the-name-of-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/09\/twisted-and-misused-in-the-name-of-evil.html","title":{"rendered":""Twisted and misused in the name of evil""},"content":{"rendered":"

I'm both amused and appalled at the pearl-clutching being done by the "Obama is an Atheist Muslim Satanist" crowd over his comments at the National Prayer Breakfast late last week. Among his comments: <\/p>\n

"Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ."<\/i><\/p>\n

A good sampling of them can be found here (http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/research\/2015\/02\/06\/conservative-media-bash-obama-for-mentioning-cr\/202447<\/a>), but the ones that stood out to me most were from Jim Gilmore, former governor of Virginia and faithful Republican: "The president’s comments this morning at the prayer breakfast are the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime. He has offended every believing Christian in the United States."<\/i><\/p>\n

Speak for yourself, Jim. I'm much less offended by Obama's remarks than by the ahistoricity of the people denying the way Christianity has been used and abused as a justification for things that would have Jesus in tears — and still is, today. That's not an attack on Christ, or on Christianity, but on those Christians who project their own tribalism and prejudices onto the Bible and, hey presto, derive justifications for them.<\/p>\n

(I'm also offended, yet amused, by the folk who are so appalled that Obama would lambaste Christianity at a National Prayer Breakfast, with the subtext that, no matter how much they pretend otherwise, it really is intended as a pro-Christianity rally.)<\/p>\n

Obama's remarks can be found, in full, here: http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2015\/02\/05\/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast<\/a>. It seems to me that anyone who would take those comments, deeply steeped in faith, and make them out as some sort of crypto-Muslim secularlist attack on Christianity is reading from their own script, not in pursuit of the truth.<\/p>\n

(Some more good commentary, on the question of humility and doubt that Obama raised, here: http:\/\/www.washingtonmonthly.com\/political-animal-a\/2015_02\/obamas_fear_of_god_again_anger054048.php<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nThe Foolish, Historically Illiterate, Incredible Response to Obama’s Prayer Breakfast Speech<\/a><\/span>
\nUsing religion to brutalize other people is not a Muslim invention, nor is it foreign to the American experience.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I'm both amused and appalled at the pearl-clutching being done by the "Obama is an Atheist Muslim Satanist" crowd over his comments at the National Prayer Breakfast late last week. Among his comments: "Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and … Continue reading “"Twisted and misused in the name of evil"”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17285,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/05\/05\/an-open-letter-to-rev-franklin-graham.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":0},"title":"An open letter to Rev. Franklin Graham","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-May-10 3:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Rev. Graham, I have a few thoughts I'd like to share with you, based on comments made by you in\u00a0this article in today's USA Today. \u00a0I realize you're highly unlikely to read this, but I feel better addressing it directly to you, rather than talk about you with others.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41908,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/02\/and-heres-another-reason-why-a-national-day-of-prayer-is-a-bad-idea.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":1},"title":"And here's another reason why a National Day of Prayer is a bad idea","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 2-May-14 6:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"You get folks like James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, turning it into official speechifying against the President, railing against him as \"the abortion president\" and the evils of the government funding Planned Parenthood and the ACA and\u00a0mandates to pay for abortion for abortions, and\u00a0reading aloud an open\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":49531,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/02\/10\/kevin-mccullough-is-a-dolt-whose-horse-is-higher-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":2},"title":"Kevin McCullough Is a Dolt (Whose Horse is Higher Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Feb-15 11:10am","format":false,"excerpt":"Kevin McCullough is outraged, outraged, that Pres. Obama would note that Christianity, too, has been used as a justification for the same sorts of violence and atrocities that Islam has. http:\/\/onenewsnow.com\/perspectives\/kevin-mccullough\/2015\/02\/09\/the-view-from-the-high-horseSo lets look at some extracts from his latest guest column at OneNewsNow, \"Your Latest News from a Christian Perspective\":\"While\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/crusades115B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/crusades115B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/crusades115B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41337,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/05\/chuckle-at-the-image-stay-for-the-comments.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":3},"title":"Chuckle at the image, stay for the comments","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Mar-14 5:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"No, really, the comments are a hoot. \u00a0Or deeply scary. Or maybe both, because America!(h\/t +Yonatan Zunger)Reshared post from +Sabrina BentonJust read the comments, oy!\ufeff As a European this is how I imagine Americans have breakfast - Imgur View this post on Google+","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":18241,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/24\/birtherism-begins-to-shift-to-um-baptizederism.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":4},"title":"Birtherism begins to shift to, um, Baptizederism?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 24-Aug-10 3:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, Lordy. \u00a0The folks who demand to See The Birth Certificate seem to have met the Obama Is A Closet Muslim, and their love \u00a0child appears to be folks who demand to See The Baptism Certificate. Because, of course, a Baptism Certificate will clear up whether Obama is a Christian.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Hitler_Baptism_Certificate.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5847,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/10\/the_return_of_f.html","url_meta":{"origin":49523,"position":5},"title":"The Return of Firefox, buttons, MT, rich text editing, and me","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jul-04 5:01pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Huzzah and hey-nonny-nonny! Based on Rich's suggestions, the formatting buttons in the comments are working just jim-spandy fine. Huzzah! 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