Andrew Sullivan excerpts this reader comment over at the Daily Dish:
I firmly believe that Obama is a typical Ivy League atheist who plays at Christianity in a cynical way to get elected to public office.
God-o-Meter is frankly shocked that there are people–Democrats even–who believe this.
If Obama’s an atheist, his plan to “play at Christianity” has been breathtakingly comprehensive and labor intensive.
Obama went through the trouble of getting baptized in his mid-20s. In the ensuing years his preacher married him, baptized his children, and blessed his house. Obama wrote extensively about his experience coming to Christianity in two books, one of which took its name from a sermon by his preacher.
On the campaign trail, Obama is known to quietly attend church some Sunday mornings.
Obama openly discusses his faith to an extent that should make George W. Bush blush. Consider Obama’s keynote address at a 2006 Call to Renewal conference, his address on AIDS at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church the same year, or his meeting with a big group of Hispanic evangelicals in Texas during the current campaign.
One of Obama’s first campaign hires was his director of religious outreach, a former associate pastor in the Assemblies of God church who previously worked in Obama’s Senate office. He applied for a job there after being moved by Obama’s “We worship an awesome God in the blue states,” line in his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech.
Obama has printed up literature detailing his faith life for distribution in this campaign.
When videos of Jeremiah Wright caused the biggest political crisis of his campaign to date, Obama refused to wholly denounce him, saying “[H]e has been like family to me…. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
Could all this be an elaborate scheme to “play at Christianity” to get votes? Sure. But it’d be one hell of a ploy, and one that’s caused Obama as much grief as political benefit.
7
posted April 24, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Mind numbingly, I recently heard a voter being interviewed in one of the upcoming primary states, I think Indiana. The prospect of Obama for president “frightens” this woman because he used to be a Muslim and she suspects that really he still is…
If a significant fraction of the voting public is this grossly misinformed, I’m afraid we’re looking at another eight years of Republican rule.
Paul – Original Faith
posted April 24, 2008 at 1:25 pm
It comes from the whole ‘True Scotsman’ thing.
Obama is a Democrat. No Democrat could possibly be a ‘real Christian’. Therefore, no matter what he does, says, believes, writes, etc, by BEING a Democrat, he is, therefore, ‘not a Christian’.
For those who engage in that sort of thinking, nothing will likely change their minds.
The other group is the one who knows that an atheist couldn’t be elected dog catcher, much less president. Therefore, the charge (the most difficult to disprove, since it goes to what’s in a person’s head) of being a closet atheist is aimed at derailing the campaign.
And the fact is, if they managed to do so, they’d be right. An admitted pedophile is more likely to get elected to office in this country than.. heck with being an atheist, someone who wasn’t sufficiently vocally religious.
posted April 24, 2008 at 1:25 pm
If Obama’s Christianity was a charade, wouldn’t he have chosen a more mainstream pastor than Jeremiah Wright??
posted April 24, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Exactly. If he wanted to do that route, he’d be some sort of mainline, edging toward Evangelical faith.
But we’re talking about a group that thinks they can identify a person’s religion by their NAME.
Sheesh.
posted April 24, 2008 at 7:41 pm
But this all still goes to show that our so called “meltingpot” of a country is still stuck in the 1700/1800′s silently dictating to one another about what we should believe in, and those who don’t are TRADERS!!! UN-AMERICAN!!! I’m sorry, I believe the schools are still teaching our children that America is the ‘home of the free (free from religious persecution).’ I think not.
posted April 25, 2008 at 10:47 am
Karen writes:
“Obama is a Democrat. No Democrat could possibly be a ‘real Christian’. Therefore, no matter what he does, says, believes, writes, etc, by BEING a Democrat, he is, therefore, ‘not a Christian’. For those who engage in that sort of thinking, nothing will likely change their minds.”
But here’s the thing: that comment seems to have come from a Democrat, since the last line of it is “Go Hillary!” There seem to be a fair number of Democrats dubious of Obama’s claim that he’s a “Committed Christian.”
posted April 26, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Stealth atheism – that’s a new one. heh. They don’t call it the silly season for nothing. Just for point of interest: Obama’s father was an atheist.
“In sum, my mother viewed religion through the eyes of the anthropologist that she would become; it was a phenomenon to be treated with a suitable respect, but with a suitable detachment as well. Moreover, as a child I rarely came in contact with those who might offer a substantially different view of faith. My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.” Full article here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546579-4,00.html
posted June 17, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Obama needs to drop his religion at the door. As a Bright, I can’t vote for a man that actually appears to believe in gods, Santa, or fairies. Such belief is a sign of mental instability and immaturity.