"For Christ’s Sake"

[applegrove]

For Christ’s Sake

By William Saletan at Slate

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/02/republican_reaction_to_obama_s_prayer_breakfast_many_conservatives_don_t.single.html

"SNIP.................



few days ago, at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama asked people of all faiths to reflect on the perils of religious arrogance. He began with terrorists who “professed to stand up for Islam.” But he cautioned his fellow Christians:

Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. … So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.


Obama continued:


I believe that the starting point of faith is some doubt—not being so full of yourself and so confident that you are right and that God speaks only to us, and doesn’t speak to others, that God only cares about us and doesn’t care about others, that somehow we alone are in possession of the truth.

This message of humility has infuriated the GOP. Several past and current Republican presidential candidates—Rick Santorum, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Jim Gilmore—have attacked the speech. So have dozens of conservative commentators. They reject the suggestion that Christianity has anything to apologize for. Many go further. They claim that Islam sanctions violence, that Islam is our enemy, or that Christianity is the only true faith. In issuing these declarations, Obama’s critics validate the propaganda of ISIS and al-Qaida. They’re not just pandering to the Christian right. They’re aiding the Islamic right.



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[LiberalAndProud]

1. At least some of those named are Holy Warriors. They mean to fan the flames.

I don't think we appreciate the delicate balance the President has taken, considering the zealots on both sides of this "Gog and Magog" quagmire.

[TlalocW]

2. So many "good" "Christians"

Wanting to start a religious war that they and their kids won't have to fight in.

TlalocW

[onecaliberal]

3. Cracks me up to see so many so called Christians

Who apparently haven't read the bible, and choose to deny Americas past.

[freshwest]

4. Thanks for my two favorite paragraphs of his words. I posted the video but didn't have a transcript.

He speaks for me there. And once again, lest we forget:

[Midnight Writer]

5. It is strategically stupid to blame Islam for Mid-East violence

1) Any useful allies that we hope to join us in the region are "Islamic States"

2) There are nearly two billion Islamic adherents in the world today. A very small percentage are violent extremists. It is foolish to insult these folks by attacking their religion, and only aids those who are recruiting terrorists. Look at the response to Obama's "insult" to Christians for an idea of how that criticism goes down in unstable Islamic regions.

3) There are well over a million Islamic folks living peaceably in the USA today. If these folks were indeed jihadists willing to die to kill infidels, we would be seeing violent attacks here on a daily basis. That is not happening.

4) Look at the attacks in France. There are 4 million Muslims in France, but only four committed the horrendous attacks. There was no follow-through, no aftershocks, no copycats. That is a one in a million ratio of violent to non-violent Muslims.

5) As Winston Churchill said, there is no such thing as religious war. If you look beneath the surface, all wars are for power, territory, or resources. It is not coincidence that war-torn Iraq sits atop the largest known oil field in the world.

[Skittles]

6. I can't get past the National Prayer Breakfast part

blech

[F4lconF16]

7. +100 nt

[ChosenUnWisely]

8. It is a disgusting and divisive event that no elected offical should

Last edited Tue Feb 10, 2015, 07:40 AM - Edit history (1)

be allowed to officially attend.

They want to attend take the day off.