I heard a rather striking talk from Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, who was addressing a gathering of foreign journalists under the auspices of the Oxford Center for Religion and Public Life.
Santorum, known for overtly connecting his fath to his politics, said the Democrats' current efforts to be more faith-friendly are "a charade... I dont think it's sincere at all." Obama's efforts to talk about the importance of faith in his life is "phoney--absolutely disingenuous. I think he's a complete phoney."
Obama, Santorum argued, chose Trinity Church in Chcago because it was politically advantageous -- "faith was an avenue for power."
(At the end of the attack, he added that of course it would be inappropriate for him to judge the authenticity of Obama's faith, as only God could do that.)
It's interesting: when Republicans talk about their faith, they're accused of being theocrats who want to shove religion down other people's throats. When Democrats do it, they're accused of being phoney.
After he'd accused Obama and other Democrats of religoius fraudulance for a few minutes, journalist Terry Mattingly of GetReligion.org asked whether it's possible that rather than being fake, perhaps,Obama was sincerely reflecting a form of liberal Christianity in the tradition of Reinhold Neibuhr. Santorum surprised me by answering that yes, "I could buy that."
However, he questioned whether liberal christianity was really, well, Christian. "You're a liberal something, but your not a Christian." He continued, "When you take a salvation story and turn it into a liberation story you've abandoned Christiandom and I don't think you have a right to claim it."
In other words, Obama's faith is fraudulant in part because liberal Christinaity is.
I've come across this sentiment before. To a degree rarely discussed, many conservative Christians truly doubt both the theological truth and the spiritual authenticity of liberal Christians.

Add to Newsvine
Add to StumbleUpon
Santorum (see moron) just today said that the Quran was written in Islamic.
So does that mean the bible was written in Christian?
How did anyone vote for this retard?
Now if you think hes surprised at his own mistake, wait till he sees zeitgeist and finds out that his christian religion was plagiarized from the Egyptians.
Mark, and all other liberals who are doing this same thing as you try to pass your comments off as somehow intelligent (in a condescending way because you're so much smarter than any non-liberal). Why is it that misquotes and misstatements are a sure sign of stupidity when it's from conservatives but you look the other way when Obama, (Mr. I can't speak three words without a teleprompter because I'll just keep stumbling about like a fool saying uh, uh, uh, uh,etc, or that he's likely to say things backwards), or Joe (goofy) Biden (who's shoe is ONLY OUT OF HIS MOUTH WHEN HIS MOUTH IS SHUT) who has to have the media edit his speeches and comments to even attempt to make him look like he's professional, forget about making him appear intelligent.
Concerning the lies of your college professor and other liberals about "Christianity being plagiarized from the Egyptians", I have a few questions for you. Why do you take your college (anti-Christian, and anti-American) professor at his word and accept liberal teachers and author's comments and writings as if they are the "Gospel truth", but won't verify them, yet you preach them as "proving" Christianity false? Why is it that you're so quick to dig into the , so-called, ancient "real history" of Christianity, but won't even look into the recent history of Obama and see the overwhelming amount of lies, tricks, misleading and false content that is a concern to America's survival? Why don't you actually study and see for yourself what God has in his Word instead of repeating the attacks of liberals. Have you read the Bible or the New Testament for yourself? If not, then you can't comment on who is or isn't really a Christian (liberal, conservative or otherwise).
Richard: Your whole first paragraph is ad hom. You are attacking the man rather than the man's argument. Try to keep on point.
Concerning your second paragraph, yes, I have read the Bible. Numerous times. Nothing can so efficiently destroy the belief in Christianity quite as well as reading the Bible in proper context. By proper context, I mean with a firm grasp on the knowledge and history of the periods encompassed within the Bible, knowledge of Hebrew (both the language, traditions and culture), Greek and Latin. After you take the time to learn that, spend another year or so researching the history of the Catholic Church. "But I am not Catholic!" Doesn't matter, whatever Christian sect you identify with, it evolved out of Catholicism. After you have done all that, Research some more. Research Krishna and find out just how similar his story is to that of Jesus and yet he was hundreds of years before him. Research Horus, the Egyptian equivalent of Jesus that pre-dates him by over 2,000 years. Research Buddha, 500 years before Jesus, whose mythology is the same.
That is the problem with all you theists. I don't care WHAT religion you are; Christian, Muslim, Jewish... You are all so divisive. Your religion serves only to separate man from one another rather than unify. Most of you NEVER research your so called beliefs. You simply carry on with what you have been indoctrinated with without EVER asking the question, "Why do I believe what I believe?"
David:
You say that Jesus was imitating other so called religious figures who preceded him. Which of those others walked on water, raised people (including himself) from the dead, or stopped the wind & waves with his command? I suggest you read Lee Stroebel's books on Jesus, and Josh McDowell's More Than a Carpenter, before you start bashing Jesus as a charlatan.
rICHARD i AGREE WITH YOU. EVERYTHING PRESIDENT BUSH SAID MEANT HE WAS STUPID BUT EVERYONE OVERLOOKS ALL THE GAFFS THAT OBAMA DOES.DAVID YOU TALK LIKE EVERY PERSON OTHER THAN YOU IS UNINFORMED. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORD FAITH MEANS.THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE PEOPLE YOU LABEL "THEISTS". THAT IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. BELIEVING AND FEELING THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN YOUR HEART. MAYBE YOU SHOULD SEEK THAT.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.