Beware Those Who Seek the God Vote

[1gobluedem]

Great commentary in today's Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/OPINION02/809120335/1070/OPINION

[classof56]

1. Great article. Thanks for posting.

I just got another one of those "Obama IS a Muslim" e-mails from a Catholic relative. So far I've ignored it, but feel compelled to respond at some point. I clearly remember when John Kennedy was running for president there was major panic among the Baptists/"mainstream Christians" I hung out with at the time. A Catholic in the White House? This could not be!! After he was elected, the pastor of the Baptist church I attended preached a sermon in which he predicted that soon presidential term limits would be overturned, Catholics would take over the government, and we "Christians" would have to either learn to genuflect or go underground. I kid you not--this was the reaction to a Catholic president and I am sorry to say at the time I went along with it. Well, I was pretty young and spent most of my time in church, a reason but not an excuse. Needless to say there was a collective sigh of relief among "believers" when Kennedy was assassinated and good ol' Southern Baptist Lyndon Johnson was prez. The country was saved from the Catholic menace. Hall-lay-lu-yah! To this day I am ashamed that I played in that arena, and today I've pretty much walked away from the whole fundie thing. (Better late than never I guess.)

I have printed Julie Royce's article and I will refer to it as I respond to my Catholic relative. It is critical to our nation's future that our president, as she said, remains religiously neutral. Thank you again for sharing this.

Tired Old Cynic

[1gobluedem]

2. Thanks, I was impressed too

And I've bookmarked it as a response for the panicked messages I get from "Christians" as well.

[Dumak]

3. I don't understand where your Catholic relative is coming from

It's been very widely reported that Obama worked closely with the Catholic church when he was young.

http://www.catholicdemocrats.org/news/2008/09/palin_attacks_catholic_communi.php

[dtotire]

4. First Job Was with Catholic Charities

This is from his resume:

June 1985-May 1988 Director of Developing Communities Project, Chicago. This was a church-based based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland on Chicago's far South Side. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000.He also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute

After that he entered law school.