Desperately seeking halo: Obama panders to evangelicals in South Carolina

Via CNN:

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) β€” After speaking to an evangelical church on Sunday in this traditionally conservative South Carolina city, Sen. Barack Obama said that Republicans no longer have a firm grip on religion in political discourse.

“I think its important particularly for those of us in the Democratic party to not cede values and faith to any one party,” Obama told reporters outside the Redemption World Outreach Center where he attended services.

“I think that what you’re seeing is a breaking down of the sharp divisions that existed maybe during the nineties, when at least in politics the perception was that the Democrats were fearful of talking about faith, and on the other hand you had the Republicans who had a particular brand of faith that often times seemed intolerant or pushed people away,” he said.

*SIGH* It’s always so frustrating to hear or read about Democrats who have tried or who are trying hard to win over the votes of Christian voters, simply because most of the time, these Democrats don’t have a clue what they’re talking about – because the only time they see fit to talk up the benefits of going to church is when they want your vote. Obama is wading into very unfamiliar territory here, as Christianity by its very nature is not supposed to be a “tolerant” faith. To Christians, you either accept the Lord into your heart as your savior, and ask for forgiveness of your sins, and pledge to live a Christian life, or you don’t.

I’ve talked about this before, in my post about the controversy over the church in Texas that backed off holding a memorial for a deceased gay veteran after they found out the family wanted to turn his memorial into a celebration of the gay lifestyle:

As hard as it might be for the far left, the media and – as Edwards described it – biblically illiterate (mostly liberal) Christians to understand, traditional Christian bible-believing churches do not subscribe to the secular habit of political correctness. They’re not supposed to. This church was willing to give a memorial for Cecil Sinclair, but was not willing to glorify his sin – the gay lifestyle. And for those (like Andrew Sullivan) who think churches only target gay sinners, I have news for you: they don’t. My dad, who knows the bible probably better than about 75% of preachers in this country, will never be allowed to be a deacon in church because he had a divorce, and it’s been the practice of churches he’s been to over the years (as we moved from place to place) to, based on scripture, not allow him to be a deacon. I also know of a married man at a church I once attended who was relieved of his duties with the church choir because it had been discovered that he was having an affair. He was told he had to step down from his leadership position over it.

It is when churches start allowing political correctness to seep into the pews and onto the pulpit that the word of God becomes deluded and, eventually, distorted into something it is clearly not. As an example the Evangelical Church is being torn apart by political correctness.

Church memorials are not supposed to honor sinful lifestyles, no matter the sin. High Point Church did the right thing here – it showed the compassion and selflessness that is such a huge part of being a Christian. But it wasn’t Γ’β‚¬Λœbigoted’ or Γ’β‚¬Λœhateful’ – their decision was based on Bible teachings, and in a pc age where they had to have known that their decison was going to raise a lot of eyebrows in liberal Christian churches and media outlets looking for an angle, I’d say it was a brave decison to make.

It’s so easy these days to “go along with the crowd” and do “what feels good” – but Christianity isn’t about “going along with the crowd” and doing “what feels good.” It’s about going along and doing what’s right by God, and that’s the most important thing that should be taken from all this.

This is something that liberals like Obama don’t understand, because they either subscribe to the “feel good” brand of Christianity or most closely “identify” with it when trying to talk up their religious credentials. The “feel good” type of Christianity I am talking about is the type of Christianity that doesn’t emphasize the necessity of asking forgiveness for one’s sins, nor does it stress the requirement of asking the Lord into your heart. This type of Christianity is practiced primarily by liberal Christians, who believe the tolerance that defines their political views should also shape their religious views. Their inability to distinguish between the two leads to, among other things, the misunderstanding and misleading statements made by both the mediots as well as Democrat politicians who want you to believe that faith plays a role in their political beliefs.

Here’s more Obama nonsense, from the CNN piece:

During the nearly two hour service that featured a rock band and hip-hop dancers, Obama shared the floor with the church’s pastor, Ron Carpenter. The senator from Illinois asked the multiracial crowd of nearly 4,000 people to keep him and his family in their prayers, and said he hoped to be “an instrument of God.”

“Sometimes this is a difficult road being in politics,” Obama said. “Sometimes you can become fearful, sometimes you can become vain, sometimes you can seek power just for power’s sake instead of because you want to do service to God. I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God.”

He finished his brief remarks by saying, “We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”

Sorry, but no. The spiritual kingdom of heaven already exists, to all bible-believing Christians. But the actual kingdom on Earth itself will not be created by us. It will be created by Jesus, when He returns.

Obama appears to have taken the “Obama/Messiah” thing a little too literally, methinks.

Update 1: In related news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on Fox News Sunday, talking about how much she “prays” for the President:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that she prays for President Bush to change his policies “all the time” and specifically has prayed for him to sign SCHIP legislation that would expand health insurance for uninsured children.

“First of all, I pray for President Bush all the time, and I pray especially hard that he would sign the children’s health bill because it’s so important for America’s children” she said on Fox News Sunday. “I pray that he makes the right decisions for the American people.”

But she added she doesn’t pray specifically “for a political outcome.”

“We just pray that God’s will be done. We pray for the children, we pray for poor people, we pray for people who need help” she said. “And we always, always, always pray for our men and women in uniform who make our freedom to pray possible.”

Riiiiight.

BTW, should we expect the ACLU to issue statements condemning both Obama’s and Pelosi’s use of God and prayer in politics? Nah …

Update 2: Heh (via ST reader Kevin). o:-)

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