Here is a good website to show your friends and family who may be voting for McCain because he is pro-life.
http://www.prolifeproobama.com/
Not surprisingly, the only negative comments I received to the last post surrounded Sen. Obama's pro-choice position. Thus, I thought it would be good to spend a few minutes detailing how and why I see a vote for Barack Obama as the most pro-life decision I can make.
Before I do that, let me make one thing quite clear: I am proudly pro-life. To be pro-life has, in this political environment, sadly become limited to the question of how one views abortion. But even with that narrow and insufficient understanding of life, I do not equivocate when asked for my pro-life stand: I am strongly opposed to abortion, and praying for the day when it ends.
At Barack Obama | Change We Can Believe In they are looking for some "American values" voters. My God, is it just me, or does this seem too close to what the republicans were doing for the last 30 years? I can understand the desire to appeal to people of faith, but can't we find something a bit more original to say?
Posted at 09:36 AM | Permalink
From LJWorld.com / Obama fails Christianity test:
Obama can call himself anything he likes, but there is a clear requirement for one to qualify as a Christian and Obama doesn’t meet that requirement. One cannot deny central tenets of the Christian faith, including the deity and uniqueness of Christ as the sole mediator between God and Man and be a Christian. Such people do have a label applied to them in Scripture. They are called “false prophets.”
Why are conservative Christians so ready to question Obama's claim that he is a Christian? I think it is not so much a concern about Christian orthodoxy, but a more worldly concern that Obama is disrupting and redirecting the political power that conservative Christians have been used to for the last 30 years.
Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink
From Daily Kos: "Matthew 25 Network" Christians for Obama:
I realize that many folks here are uncomfortable about religion and candidates dealing with those who profess faith, but IMHO for too long the faith community has been viewed as a bastion of the right wing, which is a false perception, since much of the Civil Rights Movement was spearheaded by Christian pastors and Jewish rabbis.
It appears that Obama is very serious about reaching out to faith communities. What's uncomfortable is the possibility that Obama's effort could be as badly managed as Bush's Christian outreach in 2000 and 2004. Is is indeed true that Christian communities have as much reason or more to support Obama this year over McCain, but who and how will make this case? How can one make this case while still being sensitive to our secular traditions of church and state separation?
Posted at 09:48 AM | Permalink
From Obama Campaign will Launch 'Joshua Generation Project' - The Brody File: David Brody Blog - CBN News:
"The Joshua Generation project will be the Obama campaign's outreach to young people of faith. There's unprecedented energy and excitement for Obama among young evangelicals and Catholics. The Joshua Generation project will tap into that excitement and provide young people of faith opportunities to stand up for their values and move the campaign forward." The official rollout won't be for another two weeks or so, but The Brody File has been told the activities will include house parties, blogging, concerts and more. [ ]
Yes, the Obama campaign understands that the issue of abortion is a problem for some voters of faith. They respect that and understand if some just simply can't come on board because of that. However, they look at this project as a way of broadening the values discussion. Poverty, Darfur, Climate Change and yes, even the war are issues younger Evangelicals may be able to see eye to eye on with the Obama campaign.
Whatever you think of the "Joshua Generation Project," you have to give the campaign their due because they are making concerted efforts to NOT ignore faith voters. In my reporting, I can tell you this is not a contrived effort.
The folks behind this believe in not only the mission of winning over faith voters to Obama but the larger mission of not ignoring faith voters when it comes to politics.
The assumption is that the younger evangelicals will be easier to win over to the Obama camp. This could be true, but I think other age groups should be in play too. But the larger, more unsettling question is how and to what extent should Obama make his case to conservative Christian voters. At what point will concerns about church and state separation enter in and be discussed?
Posted at 07:26 PM | Permalink
From Frank Schaeffer: Why This Fifty-Five Year Old White Lifelong Republican Wants Obama To Win - Politics on The Huffington Post:
Obama touches me. He has a prophetic authenticity that reminds me of W.E.B. Du Bois' prayers that Du Bois sometimes wrote for his students. Obama also brings a touch of Billy Graham with him to the podium. His is a deeply spiritual call. And his critics that have dismissed Obama's ability to inspire as "mere words" are dead wrong.
Fascinating to see the son of Francis Schaeffer so enthusiastic about Obama. It will be interesting to see how persuasive he will be in convincing his quite large evangelical tribe to vote for Obama.
Posted at 09:13 AM | Permalink
From Evangelicals Are Still Wary Despite McCain’s Outreach - NYTimes.com:
Nevertheless, the Obama campaign plans to add a full-time evangelical-focused staff member to its existing religious outreach team and is rolling out an effort over the summer to organize over a thousand house parties built around an hour-and-a-half-long curriculum on faith and politics. With the broadening of the evangelical agenda to include issues like poverty, global warming and AIDS, Mr. Obama’s advisers hope to peel off more moderate evangelical voters. David Brody, a political correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network, said he believed Mr. Obama’s comments had hurt his chances among evangelicals, but he added, “I think Obama has a great opportunity still, with the Jeremiah Wright controversy behind him, to re-introduce himself with the American people, especially with his spiritual walk.”
A curriculum on faith and politics? Is this a good development, or is it just depressing to see Obama copy the Republican success in manipulating evangelical voters? It is hard to see the positive exactly because the republican efforts have been so dubious. Maybe Obama can elevate the dialogue where it will at least sound more authentic and not so crassly manipulative.
Posted at 08:47 AM | Permalink
From Baptist Press - History with a heavy heart - News with a Christian Perspective:
And now here was Barack Obama -- one step away from the presidency of the United States. So, why do I also have a heavy heart? Because I know that I cannot in good conscience vote for Obama for president. When I look beyond the historic nature of candidacy, beyond what his success reveals about how far race relations have advanced in this country, beyond the emotions stirred by his oratory -- Barack Obama, unfortunately, stands for everything to which I am opposed.
He stands for the taking of innocent human life in the womb almost without restriction. He stands for redefining marriage as no longer between one man and one woman. He stands for a no-choice educational system that traps kids in failing schools. Most importantly, despite his post-racial rhetoric, he stands for a theology that emphasizes racial identity over Gospel witness. As an African-American, I am proud of Barack Obama's success. As an African-American evangelical, that pride is tempered by a heavy heart.
This is sad to see. Racial identity over Gospel witness? What narrow sense of "Gospel witness" is the author talking about? Does the author not concern himself with the more central Gospel imperative for us to care for the least, last and lost amongst us? Why is it that the war in Iraq does not seem to bother our author's conscience?
Posted at 01:01 PM | Permalink
A quote from Archbishop Tutu at Nelson Ministry Services Product Detail : The Faith of Barack Obama:
"You must read this perceptive and well written book. Then you will know why Barack Obama has such a passion for justice and equity, such a gift for filling people of different generations with a newfound hope that things can and will change for the better. His inspiration comes from his faith; he is an ardent believer. Yes, he is a Christian and proud of it."
It is interesting that not even a conservative Christian press like Thomas Nelson can resist trying to make a little money off of Obama. What is surprising though is that this book may even be a somewhat positive portrayal of Obama's faith.
Posted at 04:31 PM | Permalink
From the Baptist Press:
A poll by LifeWay Research showed that 80 percent of Southern Baptist pastors support McCain and 1 percent back Obama. Fifteen percent were undecided.
I'm hoping that by November, 30 percent of Southern Baptist pastors will support Obama. Maybe even up to 50 percent of Southern Baptists in the pews could support Obama. How can we help persuade Southern Baptists to vote for Obama?
A church in South Carolina recently had a sign up that said: Obama, Osama: Are they brothers? The pastor apparently thought it was a good idea:
Pastor Byrd said the sign was not meant to be racial or political but rather to make people think. "His name is so close to Osama I feeling might be Islamic therefore he doesn't recognize Christ," Pastor Byrd said.
Yes, this makes me think that some people in this country are not shy about publically announcing their political and religious ignorance. Why are people so incapable of reading even the most basic biography of Sen. Barack Obama? Why are people so quick to make judgements based on their superficial knowledge of Obama? Let's hope there can be something positive to come from this. Perhaps more people will learn more about Obama in a less prejudiced way.
Posted at 08:39 AM | Permalink
At ObamaNation.com there apparently is a group of Christians who are interested in social justice. But they are not Obamians. They define a nation under Obama as "country that supports wicked, immoral actions."
The political divisions among Christians in the US are dramatic and seemingly incomprehensible. How could Christians interested in social justice fail to see the Christian social justice message at the heart of Obama's politics? Are some Christians so blinded by the abortion issue that they simply refuse to see anything Christian about Obama's politics?
Posted at 09:43 AM | Permalink
From Barack Obama's evangelicals close the God gap in Presidential race -Times Online:
Obama's call for change and renewal, itself a standard evangelical theme, has resonated. “I visit a lot of evangelical colleges and what I see is Obama stickers and Obama T-shirts all over the campuses,” says Campolo. “His is a voice that can inspire.”
About one-fourth of American voters are evangelicals. Out of these, I believe it is realistic to predict that about one half of them could be potential Obama voters. It will depend on how effective Obama and his supporters are able to sell his message as something appealing for the evangelically minded. The anti-Obama forces will try very hard to paint Obama as someone who is not a serious Christian. It will be up to Obama to insist that he is indeed going about doing Jesus' work, but without turning off the non-Christians.
Posted at 10:57 AM | Permalink
Josh Marshall writes about the latest Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy:
But in the debate about Wright, which Sen. Clinton has just reignited, it seems to be spoken of now as an unquestioned assumption that Wright traffics in racist rhetoric or hate speech. But is that really true? I've seen some stuff that strikes me as whacky. I've heard soundbites that critics would not have much trouble spinning as anti-American. But are there really quotes that justify the charge of racism?
It seems to me that Senator Clinton is deliberately stirring up trouble so she can more easily win the votes of anxious whites who are uncomfortable with what they hear from Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
This looks like a shamefully self-interested shortsighted tactic. What about the future health of the Democratic Party? What about the historic loyalty that African-Americans have to the Democratic Party? What about even her own strategy of winning the general election if she by some miracle gets nominated?
Is she just playing for the semi-racist-not-so-educated white vote in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina? Why else would she talk about Rev. Wright the way she is doing? Why isn't she helping defend Senator Obama from all the Rev. Wright-related racist and ignorant attacks? What are African-Americans going to think about Senator Clinton now?
Posted at 04:54 PM | Permalink
Last week the Baptist Press of the Southern Baptist Convention published an article about Obama's speech on race relations. Most of the article was a straightforward account of the speech, but at the end of the article, there was this:
Ken Blackwell, a senior fellow for family empowerment with Family Research Council Action, said Obama's speech did not address the underlying nature of his beliefs, which are characterized by "a 21st century form of big government socialism.""Those are the beliefs of liberation theology," Blackwell, an African American himself, said in a statement. "Those are the offensive root beliefs underlying many of Rev. Wright's sermons. And though Barack Obama does not embrace Mr. Wright's offensive language, he does embrace this government-solves-everything-through-socialism worldview."His speech was magnificent in its elegance and rhetoric, but today Mr. Obama reminded me yet again of his worldview that embraces, among other things, partial-birth abortion, military weakness and economic socialism," Blackwell said.
Is this the best the Southern Baptist Convention can do? As far as I know, Blackwell is not even a Southern Baptist. But was it really that difficult to find someone who had at least a few positive words to say about Obama's speech? Southern Baptists often lament that they are viewed critically and unfairly by many outside their denomination, but with an article like this, maybe they deserve sometimes the bad press that they receive.
This is somewhat personal to me because I have a Southern Baptist background and I am well aware of the racist history of the Southern Baptist Convention. The whole reason to create the convention in the first place in 1845 was to allow slave owners to become missionaries. So you would think that the current Southern Baptist leadership would be more sensitive to issues of race and more appreciative of a speech that is being universally praised as a creative and daring breakthrough in race relations.
Posted at 06:21 PM | Permalink
Dr. Dobson's Focus on the Family begins an e-mail sent out today with:
What does it take to be the most liberal member of the United States Senate – farther left than Ted Kennedy, John Kerry or even Hillary Clinton? For the answer, take a look at a man who could be the next president of the United States: Barack Obama.
Sen. Obama was recently named the most liberal U.S. Senator, based on the annual voting analysis by the non-partisan and highly respected National Journal. If he emerges as the Democratic nominee, one of the critical jobs of Focus Action will be to uncover the real Barack Obama—not the feel-good orator who speaks of “change” and “hope,” but the man who would be the most left-wing president in our nation’s history.
The e-mail ends with this:
Throughout our history, great Americans have stood up to grave challenges of all sorts. As this latest wave of secular liberalism threatens us, I look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with you in prayer and action – in defense of the family.
Thanks to Focus on the Family, we are finally able to see that the real Barack Obama is not a Christian interested in Jesus' message of social justice, but a godless far leftist liberal secular humanist who wants to destroy the family.
It seems to me that Obamianity is closer to Christianity than Dobsonianity.
Posted at 04:22 PM | Permalink
According to Ben Smith's Blog at Politico.com, there is a popular email out there making the rounds with this content in it:
Obama 'Frightens Me'. The Bible has warned us that 'A man will come from the East that will be charismatic in nature and have proposed solutions for all our problems and his rhetoric will attract many supporters!' When will our pathetic Nation quit turning their back on God and understand that this man is 'A Muslim'....First, Last and always....and we are AT WAR with the Muslim Nation, whether our bleeding-heart, secular, Liberal friends believe it or not. This man fits every description from the Bible of the 'Anti-Christ'!
Could it really be that Obamians are followers of the Anti-Christ? This seems to be a popular idea. How many people really believe this?
How many more people really believe that Obama is a politician who is truly committed to taking seriously what it at the heart of Jesus' message?
Would it not be better and more accurate to say that Obama is simply a politician with some values that happen to partly overlap with the values practiced by both liberal and conservative followers of Jesus?
Posted at 11:51 AM | Permalink
From Obama and the Bigots - New York Times:
To his credit, Mr. Obama has spoken respectfully of Islam (he told me last year, on the record, that the Muslim call to prayer is “one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset”). If he were to go further — “and so what if I were Muslim?” — many Americans would see that as confirmation that he is a Sunni terrorist agent of Al Qaeda who is part of a 9/11 backup plan: If you can’t reach the White House with a hijacked plane, then storm the Oval Office through the ballot box.
Let's hope Obama can find the courage to actually say "and so what if I were Muslim." The hope and promise of Obama's candidacy is partly about imagining a world where religions can co-exist peacefully. Obamians and Obamuslims holding hands for a better world.
Posted at 10:42 PM | Permalink
From A New Hope : Rolling Stone:
We need to recover the spiritual and moral direction that should describe our country and ourselves. We see this in Obama, and we see the promise he represents to bring factions together, to achieve again the unity that drives great change and faces difficult, and inconvenient, truths and peril. We need to send a message to ourselves and to the world that we truly do stand for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And in electing an African-American, we also profoundly renounce an ugliness and violence in our national character that have been further stoked by our president in these last eight years. Like Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama challenges America to rise up, to do what so many of us long to do: to summon "the better angels of our nature."
Rolling Stone magazine seems to have caught the Obamian fever. Good to see them use words like "spiritual", "moral", "promise", "character". Rolling Stone is looking for some "values voters". Let's hope they choose Obama.
Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink
