Obama Shows Christrian Deference and Respect (Not)

Once again my impeccable
timing is on display.
This article appeared June 24th,
but I've got a cache of blogs on the
burner waiting to be dispatched.

It's been said that when people realize how far left Mr Obama truly is, he'll quickly lose his appeal for possessing a Bobby Kennedy-type eloquence. I've wondered if that would pan out but Mr Obama just proved it with his junk references to the Christian Right. All (em) is mine...

The speech by Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate and member of the 1.2-million member denomination, dealt with the link between faith and politics

(as opposed to what right leaning Christians do - which is to demolish the much vaunted "wall of separation" between church and state!)

The phrase, "link between faith and politics" is repeated three times in the article.

"Our conscience can't rest so long as 37 million Americans are poor and forgotten by their leaders in Washington," Obama said. "We need to heed the biblical call to care for `the least of these' and lift the poor out of despair. That's why it's not just a policy issue when we fight to expand the Earned-Income Tax Credit and the minimum wage. If you're working 40 hours a week, you shouldn't be living in poverty."

In the United States it is possible to have the grandest income and still not be able to buy a decent meal. It comes down to how well you budget. I know a few hispanic immigrants who work 80 hrs a week, make less than the national median, and are still grateful for the oppurtunity to send money home.
It's can be very uncomfortable to watch those with higher incomes seemingly enjoy the rich life. Which is why class envy works so well for Democratic politicians in the first place. But the world knows poverty. The U.S. and most of the west does not.
In the west, Robin Hood IS the Sheriff of Nottingham. Stealing from the rich to give to the poor is not only a safe and legal practice, it's considered a societal step UP from getting a decent education and providing for your own family.

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked," the Democratic presidential candidate said in remarks prepared for delivery before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.

"Hijacked?"

I think it's helpful that Obama brings this up. His speech to the United Church of Christ convention in Hartford, Conn, is probably the strongest evidence that the Christian Church in America is at a frightfully weak point in its history. Democrats have proven time and again that the American people are dangerously ignorant of their own Constitution. It looks now that they will do the same for America's ignorance of the Bible.
Which is good. Perhaps Christians will then get serious about what their faith is supposed to be about - the offer of eternal life to a dead generation. I firmly believe that Christians belong in the public arena. But when a denomination that ordained its first openly gay minister 30 years ago and has been pro-abortion as long as the word's existed complains of "moral outrage" and "division" caused by the right, can we help but wonder if the word "Christian" has outlived its usefulness?

"Part of it's because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us," the Illinois senator said.
"At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design," according to an advance copy of his speech.
"There was even a time when the Christian Coalition determined that its number one legislative priority was tax cuts for the rich," Obama said. "I don't know what Bible they're reading, but it doesn't jibe with my version."

My my, where to start? The wealthy are paying higher taxes than ever, and the cuts were across the board, which our democrat candidate fails to mention. And by the way, if we complain about the rich getting more access to the gov't, then perhaps we shouldn't expect them to pay for so much of it.