Barack Obama is sweeping and authentic-sounding in his speech where he says
“Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square.”"Moreover, if we progressives shed some of these biases, we might recognize the overlapping values that both religious and secular people share when it comes to the moral and material direction of our country.”
Hemant asks, “What’s wrong with that?”
Here’s what’s wrong. Obama spends plenty of time in the speech dressing down “some secularists” within the democratic party.
“More fundamentally, the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. Some of the problem here is rhetorical — if we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice. ”
My problem with that is twofold. One, I think he’s missing the key difference between Democrats and the Democratic party leadership. Democrats ARE theists. The vast majority of them believe in God. The majority of them are Christians. He has bought into the Republican projection of what the Democratic party is, and then selling it back to us. While he’s at it, perhaps he should lecture us on how we should be more patriotic, and also tell us that we need to be more moral. Oh yeah, and we need to hate America less. This is utter poppycock.
The second thing is, if Barack Obama wants to talk more about God, he should do it. He shouldn’t spend his speech telling other people to talk about God more. Lead by example, not by admonishment. For instance, he said:
“More fundamentally, the discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms. “
Excuse me, but where does that leave candidates who DON’T believe in God? What the hell are they supposed to do to “effectively address the issues in moral terms?” Is there any possibility to the idea that some democratic candidates exist who do not believe in God, and remain silent on the issue because of the bigotry of the electorate? Do such candidates exist in Obama’s mind?
If Obama wants to talk about faith and morality and how they interconnect for him, he’s welcome to. Unlike the unnamed “some progressives” I do not ask believers to check their faith at the door before entering the public square. On the contrary, I fight for his freedom to speak his mind and exercise his faith. I don’t know who these unnamed “secularists” are who are gagging him, but I’m sure Bill O’Reilly will list them for us, as they’re probably those people waging the non-existant war on Christmas.
“I am not suggesting that every progressive suddenly latch on to religious terminology. Nothing is more transparent than inauthentic expressions of faith — the politician who shows up at a black church around election time and claps — off rhythm — to the gospel choir.”
I’m sure this line got a laugh. But what IS he saying to candidates without faith? What do they do? Why, they do what they always do, either clap akwardly OR they remain silent on issues of faith and hope it doesn’t come up in the campaign. The elephant in the room is the bigotry of the electorate against atheism. To not address it is to build a false worldview to argue from.
” But what I am suggesting is this — secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square.”
I’m sorry, but straw man. I never ask that. What I do ask is that believers not use the power of the government to prosthletize, either with forcing my daughter to swear oaths to God in schools, or by removing science from classrooms. Big, huge difference. What I DO ask is that judges decide what is and isn’t an infringement of my rights, not a senator saying I shouldn’t fight for them, because it might lose politicians some votes.
He can speak about his faith all he wants. It’s a free country. It might even, you know, win him votes. But he’s wrong to admonish others in his party to talk about faith more, unless he’s speaking purely in the cynical sense of “this will win you votes.” Because someone telling others to talk more about faith is to assume they HAVE faith. The faithless will be noted by their silence on the issue, and that’s a terrible place to be.
In Obama’s worldview, silence on the issues of faith is the same as demeaning faith. I see nothing of the sort. Silence is the only pragmatic and yet honest reaction that an atheist candidate for national office can have.
In other words, Obama’s a typical politician. Pandering for votes. Telling other people how they should live, and how they should be authentic, like he is.
And all the while, he completely ignores the real issues.
Comment by: Siamang
1Barack Obama is sweeping and authentic-sounding in his speech where he says
Hemant asks, “What’s wrong with that?”
Here’s what’s wrong. Obama spends plenty of time in the speech dressing down “some secularists” within the democratic party.
My problem with that is twofold. One, I think he’s missing the key difference between Democrats and the Democratic party leadership. Democrats ARE theists. The vast majority of them believe in God. The majority of them are Christians. He has bought into the Republican projection of what the Democratic party is, and then selling it back to us. While he’s at it, perhaps he should lecture us on how we should be more patriotic, and also tell us that we need to be more moral. Oh yeah, and we need to hate America less. This is utter poppycock.
The second thing is, if Barack Obama wants to talk more about God, he should do it. He shouldn’t spend his speech telling other people to talk about God more. Lead by example, not by admonishment. For instance, he said:
Excuse me, but where does that leave candidates who DON’T believe in God? What the hell are they supposed to do to “effectively address the issues in moral terms?” Is there any possibility to the idea that some democratic candidates exist who do not believe in God, and remain silent on the issue because of the bigotry of the electorate? Do such candidates exist in Obama’s mind?
If Obama wants to talk about faith and morality and how they interconnect for him, he’s welcome to. Unlike the unnamed “some progressives” I do not ask believers to check their faith at the door before entering the public square. On the contrary, I fight for his freedom to speak his mind and exercise his faith. I don’t know who these unnamed “secularists” are who are gagging him, but I’m sure Bill O’Reilly will list them for us, as they’re probably those people waging the non-existant war on Christmas.
I’m sure this line got a laugh. But what IS he saying to candidates without faith? What do they do? Why, they do what they always do, either clap akwardly OR they remain silent on issues of faith and hope it doesn’t come up in the campaign. The elephant in the room is the bigotry of the electorate against atheism. To not address it is to build a false worldview to argue from.
I’m sorry, but straw man. I never ask that. What I do ask is that believers not use the power of the government to prosthletize, either with forcing my daughter to swear oaths to God in schools, or by removing science from classrooms. Big, huge difference. What I DO ask is that judges decide what is and isn’t an infringement of my rights, not a senator saying I shouldn’t fight for them, because it might lose politicians some votes.
He can speak about his faith all he wants. It’s a free country. It might even, you know, win him votes. But he’s wrong to admonish others in his party to talk about faith more, unless he’s speaking purely in the cynical sense of “this will win you votes.” Because someone telling others to talk more about faith is to assume they HAVE faith. The faithless will be noted by their silence on the issue, and that’s a terrible place to be.
In Obama’s worldview, silence on the issues of faith is the same as demeaning faith. I see nothing of the sort. Silence is the only pragmatic and yet honest reaction that an atheist candidate for national office can have.
In other words, Obama’s a typical politician. Pandering for votes. Telling other people how they should live, and how they should be authentic, like he is.
And all the while, he completely ignores the real issues.
(crossposted to hemant’s blog)