Was it C.S. Lewis who said, “People who do not understand books written for adults shouldn’t talk about them.”?
I’m a big supporter of freedom of religion, speech, assembly, etc. And while “separation of church and state” doesn’t appear in the constitution even once, I understand the principle that Jefferson was actually speaking about in the letters that phrase is lifted from and I support the freedom it affords our society.
What does bother me is amateur politicians exalting themselves to the status of Biblical Scholar and presuming to teach scripture to the world. It’s true, a lot of people aren’t reading their bibles, but neither, obviously, are you, Mr. President. Regurgitating the Sunday School-version of biblical accounts, or skimming through a passage of Old Testament law devoid of context, and making them fit your agenda doesn’t count.
I don’t attempt to scam the American people into Third Reich health care, so I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t attempt to apply scripture to your agenda. Let’s just all stick with what we know.
Everytime I see him speak, I think I am watching one of the Left Behind DVDs.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
I’m not sure exactly what he said here that you are opposed to. Obama’s basic point that faith should not be used as a tool to attack is a very valid one. He is also right that the Sermon on the Mount is a very radical teaching – more radical than most Christians care to realize, much less try to live by. Jesus commands us to love our enemies. We can try to divest this command of its meaning and continue being warmongers, or we can say that the military should be disbanded because all people have to adhere to our faith, or we can figure out that the only people who are called to live like Christians are, well, Christians. We can’t legislate our faith on everyone else. We could try living it ourselves though.
“We can’t legislate our faith on everyone else. We could try living it ourselves though.” Totally agree.
What bothers me is taking the account of Abraham and Issac, stripping it almost completely of it’s intention in scripture, and spewing it back to the world as though someone should have called DCFS. He did the same thing gleaning over the OT Law to pull out a couple of examples that would sound really sensational. It’s not like that’s what he remembers from his OT studies; his speech-writer found a couple that he could use to sound clever, get a laugh and a sarcastic round of applause, and take a shot at the crazies who believe the Bible.
Never in a million years would a politician have lifted a few lines from the Koran – without explanation, without context, without consulting a religious leader to make sure he wasn’t being insensitive or disrespectful – to make a point in a speech. It perpetuates ignorance and it irritates me.
I agree, like I said, in the point he’s making, but he could have done it without butchering scripture.