We are a country founded on religious tolerance.
As a Hindu person in America I find it wonderful that our country can finally release it’s grip on the controls enough to give my family some breathing room. I live as a minority in a small community in Kentucky and find myself right in the midst of the most intolerance I have ever experienced in my life time.
I want so much to be loved, and for the love I have for my neighbors to be accepted. Mr. Obama, had given me the first shining glimmer of hope that this would one day be possible.
In that one statement he has given my life, and the religion of my family an accepting nod.
I do not believe we are at war with any religion, but I believe we are fighting extremists.
They come from every corner of the world, from vastly different religions. Anywhere, a group of people attempts to suffocate the ideas and beliefs of another group of people, which differ from their own, you will find the people at the heart of our problems.

To answer your questions: No and no. This President is following the lead of our fourth President, who also proclaimed that we were not a Christian theocracy. I imagine that many immigrants would have turned their boats around had they been informed otherwise. Christianity is a fractured faith with many themes borrowed from other religions, so it is hardly a reliable basis for a government.

Simplification? You bet it was. The public, overall, and the vast
majority of critical dagger-carrying pundits don’t do very well with nuance and detail. Obama felt it was supremely important to
draw that proverbial line in the hypothetical sand and take a stand
against what GWBII said and stood for which was a pronouncement that America was or should be a Christian theocracy. I think Obama’s use of the word “values” — simply “values” — was loud and clear. He didn’t need to use the the word “Christian.” If there ever were purely Christian or Judeo qualities to the values Americans hold dear, I am pleased to personally find that, in the 21st century, the values expressed and protected in America have surpassed a religious identification. Finally.

We are not necessarily a Christian nation, but we are a Judeo-Christian nation. Are we at war with Islam? Yes. Because the fundamental ideals of extremist Islam, conflict with the Judeo-Christian fundamentals. Some are human rights issues, but morality is based in religion, especially in America. There is no escaping it. As a woman born Jewish and agnostic in belief, I see that while the morality in the country is defined by Christianity, Jews have strong clout in the politics of America as well. Zionism is at the heart of this battle, as Israel is a holy land for both Jews and Christians. The one thing they agree on is that Islam should not take over this land. And enough people in the country support that, so the president must listen. While everyone is free to practice whatever religion they want, we are still a Christian / Judeo-Christian country, and a very conservative one at that. And this is a war because it is powerful, and fast growing. With a powerful extremist sect that promotes terrorism, the future of the world can be taken over. I cannot argue whether some “god” wants it to be one way or another, but the Judeo-Christian way of life is threatened and vice versa. So this is a war between the two.

I am so glad that adenademonte wrote what he or she did. Although it sounds elitist to claim we are a “Christian” country, the core tenets of democracy and justice come directly from the Hebrew Bible. Since the Bible is studied and used by both Jews and Christians, one can ascertain that our country’s democratic system is, in fact, based on Judeo-Christian principles. This is NOT to say that other religions are unwelcome or unaccepted in America. This is just stating a fact. Obama may be perfectly correct in stating that we are not a Christian country, and many Christians will take issue with that statement. However, the fact that the preambles of the U.S. Constitution and every individual State Constitution mention the word “God” in them logically concludes that our nation and every state was formed with the idea of a theological concept in mind. Whether you agree with it or not, you cannot change history.
Are we at war with Islam? I would say we are most definitely at war with radical Islam. There IS a difference. I am acquainted with quite a few American Muslims and I am quite confident that they consider themselves patriot, law abiding citizens. No one would be more shocked than I if any of them turned out to be terrorists. We cannot, however, discount the fact that there are radical Islamists here and abroad, whose sole mission in life is to take over the world and convert every person on it to Islam. They are indoctrinated from birth to either kill or convert the “infidels.” Whether or not anyone wants to believe it, you and I are the “infidels.” They would just as soon shake your hand and cut off your head. Are all Muslims Islamists? Absolutely not. But there are enough of them, plenty of them in our own country, to be concerned about this evil and hateful ideology. This problem is huge in Europe, and will become a problem here if Americans don’t understand the threat.
Each of the two the statements made by Obama is only half true. His attempt to turn these issues into black and white falls short of reality. There are gray areas, which he never seems to deal with.

Is the United States of America a “Christian Country”? In the sense that there is an “Official” faith that is Christianity, no. In the sense that the majority of our citizens self-identify as Christians, yes. Page 841 of my 2007 Almanac lists 52% as Protestants, 24% as Roman Catholics and 1% as Jews in the US of A.
Are we at war with Islam? my succinct answer is yes. According to the above source, page 712 there were just under 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. The political correct media would have us believe that the so-called radicals account for fewer than ten percent of the total. If my imperfect knowledge of 20th Century European history is correct, the German Nazi party accounted for a similar percentage of the overall population before it rose to power. Just as the “good” Germans did nothing to hinder the Nazis, so do the “good” Muslims do nothing to hinder the “radicals”. History will once again repeat itself. Like it or not, the Europeans and Americans, i.e. the western nations, are at war with Islam. They simply choose to deny it.

No, we are not a Christian country. Yes, we are at war with Islam.

We were in a war with Islam during the previous administration, even taking the war to those who never attacked us (Iraq). Our concern for others in the world should be predicated on human rights and dignity at best, or at least on our material interests as a country. If religion is a concern then, what we are engaging in is gasp… (to use Bush’s words)… a Crusade.
Something interesting to think about for those purporting that the US is a “Christian Nation.”
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_with_Tripoli_(1796)

I’d like to think that President Obama is correct that the USA honors the Bill of Rights and isn’t at war with Islam. But we haven’t ever had a Jewish president, nor a Unitarian since William Howard Taft–right after Theodore Roosevelt. There are schools in Texas that make Christian belief a job requirement. Some questioned whether then-candidate Obama should be president because his dad was a Muslim turned atheist, and Obama himself was suspected of not really being a president. Views on science show how a backwards version of Christianity have polluted our country. Plenty of folks can’t see the compatibility between belief in God and evolution. Earthquakes are seen as the beginning of the end instead of a planet with continental plates. Have an unseasonably warm or cool day and somebody is going to be licking their chops ready for God to go on a righteous killing spree. If Unitarians were as weak in the late 1700′s as we are now, there wouldn’t ba a Bill of Rights.

Stephanie K,there is no mention of God in Constitution. Maybe, you were thinking of the Declaration where it is mentioned Nature’s God and Creator.”Nature’s God” is from Enlightenment,which Unitarian/Universalist ideas came from. So is the word Creator.
In the Treaty of Tripoli,our first treaty with a Moslem nation, John Adams and George Washington wrote that,”in no way we are a Christian nation…” They went on and said that Moslems, Jews, atheists,and Hidos and others are welcomed in the US and they are free to practice their religion. Only consciousness is their guide.That we are not or ever will be at war at Islam,but at those who practice terrorism in the name of God. A Terry Nichols is a terrorist as much as Osama.
To back up, when Pope wanted to form another Crusade aginst Moslems,Martin Luther said that in no way should we be at war against someone on religious reasons. Just as Christianity and Judaism are not monolithic,so it is much more with Islam.That is what we must keep in mind in dealing with Moslems,they are not monolithic.

Quote:”I imagine that many immigrants would have turned their boats around had they been informed otherwise.”
Are you sure about this, Zevulun?
Methinks migrants leave their country of origin for a BETTER life than they have in the first place.
To me, saying America is basically a Christian country gives people a safe haven. I don’t see people flocking to Saudi Arabia or South Africa or China.
No, they flea to Australia ( another Christian based country ) and England and even Italy as well as America.
Don’t underestimate the Christian safe havens.
Israel is hardly a picnic place.
BHO is trying to placate his audience only.
He talks a lot. Let’s see if he can follow through.

We ARE at war with Islam for the simple reason that Islam is at war with the rest of the world. Islam is at the heart of terrorism today. It is at the heart of movements designed to topple secular governments, e.g., Pakistan, and replace them with hardline theocracies. It is at the heart of a desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
Islam and its intolerance, bigotry and hatred must be opposed wherever and whenever its adherents seek to impose their will on others. Our failure to do so will mean the end of civilization.

For Barack Hussain Obama, to make a statement that America is NOT a Christian nation and in the same breath say that we are NOT at war with Islam is to lie twice in the same breath. If America is NOT a Christain nation, then what is it? It is NOT a Jewish state,as our enemies claim. It is NOT Muslim, Hindu, Buddist or Atheist. The world is at war with Islam because as a previous poster stated… Islam is at war with the world. Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles NOT any other religion. For Obama to make such a statement is just one more of his efforts to dismiss the values of this country and to placate our enemies.

I see a lot of problems in this blog right from the beginning. Just because countries with Muslim populations tout the fact that their governments are subordinate to their Islamic religion and identity doesn’t mean that we or Israel should do the same. Any country that bases itself on a particular religion binds the conscience of its citizens and is a perverse form of discrimination, the US or Israel included.
It is also not a good idea to say or imply that everyone of a certain religion is out to get us. We are the imperialists out getting them. More than 60 years of captivity and privation are bound to blow a few fuses and produce a bountiful harvest of extremists. Should we expect the average citizen of their countries to get out a pompom and cheer for us either? I suspect that the goal of the systematic humiliation we are dishing out is really to keep up the extremism and maintain endless war.
What good is endless war? Shouldn’t we beat our swords into ploughshares. The Psalmist was consumed with rage against what he saw as an implacable enemy. We should try to be different.

One might argue, since Christianity is a religion of deeds, not rhetoric, that we have not, nor have ever been a ‘Christian Nation.’
Were we just when the indians were systematically exterminated? Or the blacks enslaved? Please.
And we’d best hope we aren’t at war with Islam, for, in order to defear a belief, you have to have one–one ohter , that is, than making money.

“An Exciting and Contemporary Interpretation of Symbolism in
Christianity.The Secret Behind the Cross and the Crucifix by Nwaocha
Ogechukwu is a fascinating and historical narration about the use of
symbolism in organized religion.
What do you think of when you look at the cross and the crucifix? Do they
hold sacred and religious value for you?
After reading Ogechukwu’s book, your perception may change about how the
church’s use of these symbols has been used for centuries to conceal facts
about their true origins. Ogechukwu reveals those findings in this stunning
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This easy to read, enlightening and academically sound book regarding the
symbolism and meaning of the cross in relation to religion leads to a
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and religion’s role in the symbolism at
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The USA was a continent that all humans could go to to practice any sort of belief system they chose. Most of the early leaders with believers in a divine creator and little else. They let people fill in the blanks at their discretion. Most had fled persacution because they did not share the majority belief of their countries. Many of this same majority followed and tried to impose orthadox christianity on these early settlers. It has always been a struggle for these early settlers.

Obama really disappoints by saying that America is not a Christian nation. The vast majority of Americans are Christians, so America ís a Christian nation. It was also firmly founded on Judeo-Christian values.
Stating that America is and will never be at war with Islam is naive. The theology of Islam is world conquest and world domination and not peace, so we have to always resist that with all of our might!

Clearly Pres. Obama, whom I voted for, missed this one on several fronts.
The founding Fathers of America were Christian and a large majority of the citizens of this country are Christian. There are disagreements within the different Christian denominations about “what is a Christian”, however, whether they like it or not they are all Christians. There are also disagreements about “who is a Jew” although, again like it or not, they are all Jews. Yes, there are many churches who actively seek new members for their team from other faiths, perhaps most. .
Part of my definition of America is a country wherin the leaders, institutions and citizens respect each other by practising the Golden Rule. I have heard Christians of many different churches knock down the other Christian Churches. And, of course, I have heard many, many Jews more than willing to knock down other Jews and other groups within Judaism (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox). It seems we are all too religious, not religious enough, only gives money to his faith, doesn’t give enough money to his faith, only cares about his “own kind”, doesn’t care about his “own kind”, ad inifinitum ad nauseum.
So, yes, Rabbi, we are a Christian nation and I think that can be good. I am a Jew and I am proud to be an American. I am not clear on what you mean by culture warriors, however I will guess and we’ll see where it goes.
When I see the news of any fair city in America, I see violence, death, public schools that don’t teach, kids who use and sell drugs, gangs “owning” parts of every city, elected and appointed officials indicted (and some convicted), cynical use of the news as way to raise fear and anxiety in all of us. The message is clear – America is falling apart. What all Americans used to think of as universally held values of self respect, respect for others and their property, the santicty of human life, honesty, integrity are being observed in there non-practise. In the larger cities, I see entire city blocks of apartments, businesses and industries abandoned. In the mid-size cities I see empty store after empty store, businesses bankrupt, houses in foreclosure on every residential block and industrial parks empty. In the small cities, I see many in their death throes. They have been in trouble for decades and this financial crisis is almost the last nail in their coffin. And, I haven’t even mentioned the illegal drug trade. It has already sucked the life out of many inner cities, the former residents and the current police abandoning the areas to drug dealers, gangs and of course, addicts.
I think America can and will come back from these challenges. While I pray for the Pres., VP, Cabinet, Congress and the Supreme Court – even though they might think differently, they are not enough. As citizens we have to work to clean up our own nests – our credit and debts, our marriages, our kids, our neighborhood, our schools, our houses of worship, our community. When we each do that, America works.
We all all overworked, stressed and worried about our future and the future for our kids and grandkids. If we start with ourselves America wins.

By heritage and design we were, have been and supposed to be a Christian nations. Enemies of Christianity came and were methodically conditioned into hatemongers much later than this nation had been established and functioned. Christianity is not about Crusades the author is trying to imply. And real Christians live up by the Command: DO NOT KILL, evenly applied to pre-borned children as well as to Muslims. The war with the Arab nations has nothing to do with religions. It is a part of the premeditated Zionist plan for Greater Israel revealed by the U.S. Undersec’y of State John Bolton when he said in meetings with Israeli officials: “Syria and Iran are next.” So far, Israel regularly refuses to declare its borders in favor of future expansion.
So, the correct title for the above article should read: We are not a Christian Country, if we are at War with Islam.”