Obama on Faith
Supposedly some in the lefty blogosphere are saying nasty things about Barack Obama’s recent speech calling for a re-assessment of the role of religious faith in public life.
I have no sympathy for such lefty bloggers. That speech kicked serious ass, and the junior senator from Illinois can be my president any time he wants to, as far as I’m concerned.
June 28th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
i saw that! have it bookmarked to read….
i agree completely on obama. i’m hoping that from everything i’ve seen that he will not disappoint if and when his time in the spotlight comes.
June 29th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
He can be my president any time he wants, too! A great, great man.
June 29th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
It’s unforgivable that anyone could assail a speech like that. I am a nonbeliever and I’m about as skeptical of arguments in favor of faith in the public sphere as anyone, but he really makes a compelling and reasoned argument. It makes me ill comparing this to the words and issues being exploited by our national “uniter”.
July 5th, 2006 at 10:11 am
I don’t know how “great” a man he is, but he talks pretty, and he certainly knows how the game is played, which more than can be said for many other Democratic Party notables. It will be fun(ny) watching everybody back-peddle regarding “Evangelicals” and “faith” as Obama rises to the top, provided his rhetoric remains consistant.
“And evangelical Christians aren’t all bad..”- Anthony de Jesus, stepping waay outside the box at Daily Kos. Thanks Tony!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/28/213710/631 – Anthony de Jesus at Daily Kos, does an admirable job of keeping Obama’s comments within the safety zone for the culturally timid, while still seeing enough of the writing on the wall to give a safe shout out to SOME evangelicals (he likes his black.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062800281.html – a Washington Post Article on Obama and faith.
July 5th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Well he’s much, much greater of a man than the idiots that are running this country right now. I guess that ain’t saying much though.
Come on November!!
July 5th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Interesting. On the website “Lies.com,” everyone is lining up to give support to a man who fervently believes that God actually exists — a lie that has probably brought about the most pain, anguish and death of any lie ever told. I would place him in higher regard if he said he believes in Santa Claus.
July 5th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
GTH,
The guy’s gotta play the game to stay in the game. How many athiestic or agnostics do you know of in high-level elected positions? I totally agree with you in an idealistic sense. However, in a pragmatic sense there are two other ways of looking at this:
1. Just because you cannot prove the existance of God (or any metaphysical power) does not mean that it’s a lie. Logically, since you cannot disprove it, and lack of proof does not qualify as disproof; your calling the belief a lie is also a lie (at least by context of the word lie as you use it).
2. As I alluded to earlier, America isn’t ready for an acknowledged athiest or agnostic in an elected leadership position. Politicians will only step out so far from the norm in their stated ideology (why do you think that the war on drugs still goes on?). From a bi-partisan perspective, Obama is on the right track here. The Republicans have done a great job of making the Democrats look like a bunch of godless communists because the Democrats aren’t towing the same type of Jesus-line. What Obama is saying is that it’s OK to be religious as it’s the foundation of our legal and ethical system, but that religion doesn’t necessarily have to conform to Jerry Falwell’s ideals. He’s saying that one can be a Christian and vote for a Democrat in good conscience.
He said it well in his speech when he laid out the numbers of registered voters who believe in god, or are Christians.
Anyway, this is coming off as awful pro-Democrat, and I never cared much for their party line or leadership (not to say that I prefer the Republicans either). In an idealistic sense, I agree with you the the whole God thing is a bunch of bullshit created by men who wanted absolute control. However, you have to understand that while we may share this belief, it is only a belief (further, we’re a minority). To carry the attitude that believers in one diety or another are living a lie (or are in any other way inferior) is similar to the believers notion that those who do not accept their idelogy are not worthy people (in whatever way). I think that the trick here is that there are millions of different beliefs out there, and none of them are right, because nobody really knows the answers to the questions posed by religion.
Ack, now I’m sounding like a politically correct Demo-Republicrat shithead. I’m going to run away now.