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Rightwing lies about Senator Obama:
"Religious right" nutcase James Dobson
attacks Obama
"Religious right" attacks Obama's faith
For months now, Religious Right activists have been quietly attacking
Barack Obama’s Christian faith. For years, the Right had routinely
accused anyone who dared to criticize any Republican or right-wing
political candidate for their political views of
engaging in an unconstitutional religious test or exhibiting
religious bigotry.
But the ascent of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, coupled with
his open discussion of his personal faith, has forced the Right to not
only jettison its long-held position that attacking a political
candidate because of his or her faith was off limits, but to go a step
further to include outright attacks on the fundamental tenets of Obama’s
Christianity.
For months, activists like Rob Schenck have been
declaring “Obama's Christianity woefully deficient” and
demanding that Obama explain, in detail, the basic tenets of his
faith so that the Right can judge just “how profound is the religious
commitment that Barack Obama has made.” Others have echoed that point,
saying that Obama is not a “true
Christian,” that “there is a clear requirement for one to qualify
as a Christian and
Obama doesn’t meet that requirement,” and that
Obama’s faith “tramples on the historic teachings of Christianity
and the Bible.”
Until now, those attacks had been more or less relegated to the
right-wing fringe, but it looks like they are about to become mainstream
talking points, as James Dobson attacked Obama’s understanding of
Christianity on today’s broadcast, as the
Associated Press reported:
Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old
Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus'
teachings in the New Testament.
"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional
understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own
confused theology," Dobson said.
"... He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."
…
He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern
by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a
fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
Obama's friends strike back
As soon as the "religious right" unleashed their attack dogs on Senator
Obama, several ministers responded with an excellent website: James
Dobson doesn't speak for me.
http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com./
On this site you will find a line-by-line comparison of what Dobson claims
and what Obama really said. As you would expect, what Dobson claims is far
removed from what Obama said -- not surprising given the fact that Dobson is
just another money-grubbing, slick, sleazy television "evangelist" who's
fleecing the faithful.
Here's an example from the website James
Dobson doesn't speak for me.
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JAMES DOBSON: Claim #1
“What [Obama is] trying to say here is unless
everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe”
(Focus on the Family Broadcast, 6/24).
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BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“Let's come together – Protestant and Catholic,
Muslim and Hindu and Jew, believer and non-believer alike. We're not
going to agree on everything, but we can disagree without being
disagreeable” (A Politics of Conscience). |
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JAMES DOBSON: Claim #2
“I think [Obama is] deliberately distorting the
traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view,
his own confused theology” (Focus on the Family Broadcast).
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BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side,
I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His
will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out
His works” (A Politics of Conscience).
“And in time, I came to see faith as more than just
a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an
active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life” (A Politics
of Conscience).
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JAMES DOBSON: Claim #3
“And if I can’t get everyone to agree with me, it is
undemocratic to try to pass legislation that I find offensive to the
Scripture. That is a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution”
(Focus on the Family Broadcast).
“Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts
in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with
regard to the lives of tiny babies?" (Focus on the Family
Broadcast).
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BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“Democracy demands that the religiously motivated
translate their concerns into universal, rather than
religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be
subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to
abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning
the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or
evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some
principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including
those with no faith at all” (A Call to Renewal).
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JAMES DOBSON: Claim #4
“We do not have to go to the lowest common
denominator of morality, which is what [Obama] is suggesting” (Focus
on the Family Broadcast).
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BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“So doing the Lord's work is a thread that's run
through our politics since the very beginning. And it puts the lie
to the notion that the separation of church and state in America
means faith should have no role in public life. Imagine Lincoln's
Second Inaugural without its reference to "the judgments of the
Lord." Or King's "I Have a Dream" speech without its reference to
"all of God's children." Or President Kennedy's Inaugural without
the words, "here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own." At
each of these junctures, by summoning a higher truth and embracing a
universal faith, our leaders inspired ordinary people to achieve
extraordinary things” (A Politics of Conscience).
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JAMES DOBSON: Claim #5
“I'd just like to ask your viewers if they've heard
a single comment made by the three Presidential candidates on any
occasion that even mentioned the well-being of this most basic,
social institution (family)” (CNN).
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BARACK OBAMA SAYS:
“Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we
are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are
called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that
foundation… But if we are honest with ourselves, we'll admit that
what too many fathers also are is missing – missing from too many
lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their
responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the
foundations of our families are weaker because of it” (Father’s Day
Speech, Apostolic Church).
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Finally, let's point out something that is lost in the noise:
James Dobson IS NOT a minister, a reverend, or a
theologian of any kind -- Dobson is a child psychologist. Of
course, his constant Biblical references leave the impression that Dobson is
some kind of Biblical scholar. He's not -- but he plays one on TV. |