Conservatives Stoop To New Lows With Obamageddon

The celebrity ads where bad enough, now Republicans want to claim Barack Obama is the Antichrist. In an email from the conservative Townhall.com they reinforce the hidden message in McCain’s “Messiah” ad:

Big media is swooning over him like love-sick teenagers. People are acting as if he’s the greatest celebrity on Earth or even some sort of cult leader — the “Obamamessiah.”

The Carpetbagger Report and other progressive blogs talked about this connection a week ago:

The McCain campaign may be playing on evangelical fears of, believe it or not, the Antichrist. The argument made the rounds a few days ago, and was elevated to a national issue by Time’s Amy Sullivan yesterday, who noted that the ad’s suggestion of Obama as the Antichrist might actually make the Willie Horton ads “seem benign” by comparison.

Now I don’t know which is worse, the juvenile insults or that conservatives would actively bend our scriptures to deceive the public about a very important subject. Revelation, the book of the Bible that talks about Armageddon warns against adding and taking from this message. If they really believe that Obama is the Antichrist they need to come out and say it, otherwise evangelicals need to stop playing games with religion.

But why would conservatives even go down this path? It’s because McCain is not a presidential candidate that advertises his religion on the billboards. So to compensate they must throw lies out, accusing him of being a Muslim, the Antichrist, et cetera, to make McCain seem more Christan.

This shows that the conservative evangelicals establishment puts their politics (low taxes, “fortress America,” discrimination…) over their faith.

Progressive verses Liberalism: Faith, Why Obama is Right

The uproar over Sen. Obama’s plan to keep President Bush’s White House Office of Community and Faith Based Initiatives from the left of the Democratic Party shows the growing split in the nation’s largest political party. This is a split between the vocal and to their credit active liberal wing that icons like Howard Dean, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Russ Feingold, and more. It is clear that they are at odds with their inter-party rivals who are quickly gaining attention as progressives with leaders like Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and more.

This week while progressives, who use to call themselves moderates, praised the new position of the Junior Senator from Illinois to make outreach and involvement with communities of faith a cornerstone of his campaign and if elected administration, liberals led by the Executive Director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State took it to the trash. However Obama’s plan and the reaction by the very group that propelled him to the forefront of the parties nomination for President who why so many people refuse to own the liberal label. They are wrong!

I must be up front and remind some that I was a very vocal and supportive advocate for Senator Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House. We refuse to be called moderates because we believe that our values and our politics are what built the party to the strength we have today. A party that is center left as opposed to one that is far left. The reaction to Sen. Obama saying that he intends to reform and revitalize an office that believes that organizations of faith don’t deserve equal funding opportunities to serve their communities instead of special treatment.

The sad opposition from the liberals on the far left can be summed up in the fact that this is a failed Bush Administration policy as Rev. Berry Lynn said. What their opposition refuses to hear is the reform and change that during the primary they belted was a call to unite behind and what the Senator is proposing. A gut opposition rooted in being the opposition for the sake of opposition instead of listening and hearing the change and positive services these programs can provide is why liberals lose out to progressives on a number of issues that include: education reform, the economy, FISA, healthcare, and the list goes on. It is hard for many of the most passionate liberals to get past the ideology and compare it with the very real lives of the American.

An example of this disconnect with their reality verses real reality is their unwillingness to view Sen. Obama’s plan for faith outreach compared with our knowledge of the Bush Administration. As I see it the new President’s Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will from the plan the campaign released, “work to engage faith-based organizations and help them abide by the principals that federal funds cannot be used to proselytize, that they should not discriminate in providing their services, and they should be held to the same standards as other federal grant recipients.”

Liberals like Rev. Berry Lynn and others who are up in arms about Sen. Obama’s plan have offered no real alternative for the communities that the plan was created to reach out to. Communities like mine. Communities that have been underserved by the government in the past and some that have an unwelcoming attitude towards government authority. It is communities like these that are held up by these very churches who provide in some instances education, health advice, legal counsel, and so much more. Examples below the fold:
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The Young Faithful Leads Democrats to Church

Year after year, more than 40% of Americans say they attended church at least once a week. Americans attend church more regularly and interpret the Bible more literally than even their neighbors to the north, according to a Gallup Poll. This follows other polls by the organization that religious observance in the United States is greater than most of the world powers. It seems as if the Democratic Party has began to realize the importance of these voters, and have begun to reach out to them. It is lead by party organizations like the DNC’s Faith in Action program, the House Democrats’ Faith Working Group, and the Senate Democrats A Word to the Faithful website. Their efforts are combined with grassroots efforts from groups like Matthew 25 and even a new movement that I am apart of in the Young Democrats of America to create a Faith Caucus (www.youngfaithdems.org) that will work alongside the College Democrats of America’s Faith Caucus. Democrats and even more those in the Obama campaign have understood from talking to young people of faith that the GOP grip on this group is loosening, and we have an opening.

Last week I met with a kid named Jonathan in North Carolina. This 6′4, blond hair, blue eyed, clean cut native of the bible belt belongs to what some are calling a “growing minority” of young evangelicals. They believe deeply in God and their church, but have grown tired of the narrow political agenda of some in opposition to abortion and gay marriage. However, if you talk to Jonathan, he will identify a new list of items he and friends want to be active on. They include erasing poverty, fighting HIV/AIDS, the genocide in Darfur, and even global warming. When you ask Jonathan what party he is a member of, his response is a very unexcited, “Republican”. When you seek more insight into his delay, it comes from his confusion over who to support in November. “I am a Republican and have been one all my life. My parents are Republicans, and I think even their parents have been Republicans. It is what I know. Am I voting Republican in November? I just don’t know.” Jonathan’s view isn’t uncommon in many areas of the GOP strongest voting blocs.

According to an August 2007 poll by the Pew Forum and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 69% of Americans agree that it is important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. However what has stopped Democrats in the past from wining this group is that a recent poll says 52% of Americans view the Republican party as friendly to religion and only 40% say the same for our party. 10% see the GOP as unfriendly to their faith with 13% saying the same of our party. I look at these numbers with promise. Promise because the problem isn’t as big as it once was. The group with the largest promise for our party is young people.

Just recently Pew put out another survey that showed a 15% point drop in support among white evangelicals aged 18-29 with the GOP over the past two years. What is causing this drop? Well for Jonathan it was issues he determines to be “social economic fairness” or policies to ensure a fairer economy and tackle issues of poverty. However some defections to the GOP have come because of their consistent policies on Iraq while others say they believe that it is the duty of government to respect God’s creation (the planet) and favor stricter laws that often times aren’t in line with the Republican platform.

So once again, as goes the young people of this nation, so goes the country. Today, those young people are turning away from a party that urged us to hate each other, and find out what makes us different, to a party that says lets work together, lift everyone up, and find what we have in common. Democrats today are doing just that, and we are doing it by finally reaching out to voters we’ve often ignored.

Tha-Kid JK

tha-kid@revkitchen.com

Obama Leaves His Church of 20 Years

Barack Obama has now officially left his church of 20 years and home to the controversial Reverends Wright and Pfleger, the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

This shows a significant change in Obama’s style. In the past, he has tried to portray himself as a senator who doesn’t play all of the political games that other politicians do. But by leaving his long time church, he is doing exactly what the typical politician would do. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that Obama is a politician like any other, I’m just saying that other people don’t think so and that he has been trying to portray himself as different. With this latest turn, voters will see that Obama isn’t the man-god so many people think he is. Like pretty much any other politician, he will put aside personal principles for votes.

Not only will leaving his long-time spiritual home hurt his image as above “playing politics,” it won’t play well with the growing number of very-religious Christians who have been looking at the democrats as a party that more closely follows their beliefs. That group of voters may see Obama as hiding his faith and putting it on the sidelines, and that could mean more votes for McCain in November. Read more

McCain’s Hate Spewing “Spiritual Adviser”

If you thought Reverend Wright was bad, watch this video of McCain’s spiritual adviser stating that America’s founding purpose was to eradicate Islam.

Reverend Rod Parsley is seen saying that Islam is a “demonic” religion, and that it is Christian’s purpose to “wage war” against it. But more than that, McCain is seen on stage with him, giving a glowing welcome to that pastor. Compare this to another mega church pastor, who McCain sought an endorsement from, that wanted America to invade Iran so we could start Armageddon.

Parsely also claimed pro-choice activists where equivalent to Nazis because they wanted to wipe out blacks. If McCain won’t repudiate endorsements from such crazy people, he defiantly can’t be considered a moderate.

Obama: My Pastor is not my Political Adviser

Obama has come out strong against denouncing comments his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made, including saying “The government gives [blacks] the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon.

Obviously Obama doesn’t hold these views, but just to remind people of that, he’s written a post over at HuffPost defining his relationship with his pastor:

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.

This is the exact sort of thing McCain should have said when a pastor endorsed him who believes we should invade Iran to start Armageddon.
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McCain Accepts Endorsment from Armageddon Wanting Pastor

A pastor who wants a milatary strike on Iran has endorsed McCains bids for presidency. And unlike Obama, McCain said he was “very honored” by the endorsement of the war mongering pastor. The New York Times has more on the endorsement:

Senator John McCain got support on Wednesday from an important corner of evangelical Texas when the pastor of a San Antonio mega-church, Rev. John C. Hagee, endorsed Mr. McCain for president. Mr. Hagee, who argues that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive, biblically prophesized military strike against Iran that will lead to the second coming of Christ, praised Mr. McCain for his pro-Israel views.

The endorsement violates the lines of a non-profit getting involved in politics. Even though he tied in a biblical prophesy in, nowhere in the Bible is John McCains name.

I was willing to dismiss McCain’s bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran song, but he should have forcefully denied this mans war mongering. The last thing we need is a president that deliberately makes prophesies, especially ones like these, come true.

Also, the endorsement of a pastor from a Texas mega-church further dents Mike Huckabee’s creditability.

Barack Obama and Islamophobia

When this election cycle began I expected a fair amount of shovanism, homophobia (because of Giuliani) and racism.

What I didn’t expect was anti-Muslim sentiments against a Christian candidate running for president. Perhaps this has reached a climax with debate moderator Tim Russert asking about Farrakhans endorsement of Obama.

Then Hilary Clinton tried to gain points by saying, “You asked specifically if he [Obama] would reject it [the endorsement] and there’s a difference between denouncing and rejecting.” Obama replied, “If the word ‘reject’ Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word ‘denounce’, then I’m happy to concede the point and I would reject and denounce [Farrakhan]“

Obama went on to clarify his position on the issue:

I think that they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African-American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can’t censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we’re not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally with Minister Farrakhan.

This isn’t the first time Islamphobia has creeped into the 2008 election. Previously both the McCain and Clinton campaign have made a big deal of Obama’s middle name, which is Hussein. Then there are the leaked photos that are designed to conjure images of radical Muslims in turbines.

But a major point of Obamas campaign has been about uniting people. He wants to see Democrats and Republicans, black and white, Mid West and East Coast all work together. Perhaps one of the most divisive divides today is none of the above, but Jew versus Muslim.

Obama needs to reach out to both groups if his message of unity is authentic. If he truly denounces Farakhan as a whole he will be alienating black Muslims. What he can do is reject his anti-Semitism which he has done. Besides, in recent years Farrakhan has even denounced his own anti-Semintic comments.

But apparently many in Jewish community realize this was a game to score cheap points. Here’s what Jewish newspaper Haartez says:

Obama, talking about Farrakhan - and about anti-Semitism among African-Americans, which he also denounced in his speech on Martin Luther King Day - touched a sensitive nerve when he was talking about one possibility that’s inherent to his candidacy: he has the chance to restore the alliance between blacks and Jews.

This will not necessarily get Obama the votes of every Jewish liberal in this country. But it is also one promise that no American liberal Jew can simply ignore.

Huckabee Says Amend Constitution to “God’s Standards”

If anybody needs more proof that Mike Huckabee is one of those crazy baptist ministers that wants to gather all the atheists in the town square and stone them, here it is. Mike Huckabee made a speech on Monday in which he said that he wants to amend the constitution to be in line with “God’s standards.”

He says:

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

Who knows what that means? At the very least, he is suggesting a series of amendments banning abortion and gay marriage and maybe something on how government derives its power from God, and most be obeyed at all times. At the worst, it could mean he wants to go as far as implementing whatever the Christian equivalent of Shar’ia law is in order to bring us back to the days of stoning adulterers. But nobody really knows how far he wants to go. He hasn’t expanded on what “God’s standards” are (to my knowledge).

Keep in mind, it doesn’t really matter what specific changes to the constitution he is suggesting. Any amendment that would introduce the Christian God into the constitution is uniquely un-American. As all good liberals know, the separation of church and state is a fundamental part of American democracy. A constitutional amendment that brings our government in line with one man’s interpretation of the Bible is not just breaking that church state barrier, but an encroachment on civil liberties.

Luckily, I have faith that even if Huckabee became president, he would have a hard time dragging the constitution down to the level of his theological beliefs because there are enough Americans that don’t agree with his exact religious views, but we need to be careful. Huckabee is crazy. Anybody who says otherwise has just been fooled by his charm. He is just a steaming pile of charisma who has shown all signs of being intent on creating a Christian America.

What Does Iowa Mean? A Closer Look

I’ve been going over CNN’s entrance polls for the Iowa caucus, and there are a few interesting things that I’ve discovered.

Firstly, as expected, first time caucus goers voted overwhelmingly for Obama at 41%. In addition, voters aged 17-29 voted for Obama at 57%. Clearly, young Americans are fans of the extremely charismatic senator.

Hillary’s results, when viewed by age, are very revealing, though not surprising. She only won in the 65 and older age group, and she got less and less votes in each younger age group with only 11% in the 17-29 age group. What this shows is that the people supporting her are the people who remember Bill, and who want to see Bill back. The youth, who either don’t remember the Clinton years very well, or weren’t involved in politics at that time, can see the real Hillary, and just don’t like her. Read more

Ron Paul: Blind As Bartimaeus To Evolution

Until today, I have supported Ron Paul. Although he was never my first choice for president, I would have been at least content with him in office. Then I went on Digg.com today and saw a video that worries me. In this video, he says “It’s a theory. The theory of evolution, and I don’t accept it.”

The reason that I have defended Congressman Paul in the past is because I believed that even though I disagreed with a lot of his views, he was educated and all of his views were genuine and well thought out. I would have loved to see him as the republican presidential nominee, and I would have preferred him as president over certain democrats. Unfortunately, I am realizing that I may have been duped.

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Time to End Religiously Influenced Voting

Christmas is coming up, so what better time to talk about religion in politics?

Religion has become a central issue in American politics over the past decades. Republicans are practically required to get support from organizations like the Christian Coalition. Where I reside in the United Kingdom though, we do things a bit differently.

Former Prime Minister and President Bush’s lapdog Tony Blair officially converted to Catholicism this week, but the most of the time that he was actually in office as Prime Minister, he never commented on his religious views. Imagine if our next president spent their entire campaign and time in office without commenting on their religious views. Well, there wouldn’t be any time in office, because he or she wouldn’t be elected.

Most of Europe doesn’t really care about a politician’s belief or disbelief in a religion. What is so different about America?

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Government Funded Missionary Work

(image credit to gruntzooki)

I saw an advertisement on television recently that made me laugh, but then it made me worry. The advertisement was on during Pat Robertson’s show The 700 Club (nothing else was on, and I was in the mood for something scary). I believe the ad was for Robertson’s charity organization Operation Blessing. The ad went something like this. Read more

Head of Prison Rehab Ministry Defends Torture

I use to have respect for Chuck Colson, a man connected to the Watergate controversy, jailed, and then freed. He went on to start a non profit that helped to rehab prisoners, take care of prisoners families, and created the Angel Tree project. Sure he was still a prominent conservative, and had ideologies I disagreed with, but at least he was doing a good work.

But today comes news that Chuck Colson, a man who has dedicated his life to helping prisoners, has called torture a noble act. In Newsweek he is quoted as saying:

Centuries of Christian ethical reflection would lead to the answer “no.” Inflicting bodily or psychological harm on a helpless captive would be inconsistent with the Christian understanding of human dignity. But as with all moral obligations, there may be circumstances for exception.

It is well understood in Christian tradition that while we are supposed to obey the law, there may be times when there is a higher obligation (see Aquinas, Augustine, and Martin Luther King). To rescue a drowning person, a Christian would be justified in disobeying a “no trespassing” sign.

So it is with torture; if a competent authority honestly believed that this was the only way to get information that might save the lives of thousands, I believe he would be justified. That is not moral relativism. It is making a difficult decision when human life and dignity will be affected either way. The Greeks called it prudence.

We have to remember that many of these “terrorists” that the CIA takes don’t have the information we need, or even in some cases are not terrorists at all. Because they don’t know anything they can’t answer any questions, and are tortured for something they know nothing about.

By running a prison rehab ministry, Chuck Colson should realize that a lot of what happens inside prisons is responsible for the trap that sends these men back to jail. Compared with the relatively minor horrors of American jail, how do you expect someone to become a normal citizen after being beaten, drowned, and held naked in rooms with below freezing temperatures? That’s enough to encourage a man to create another September 11th.

And how can he use Martin Luther King, one of the worlds most famous peacemakers, as an example to torture someone? The acts of Augustine and King where both crimes that didn’t harm anyone. If I remember correctly, Augustine challenged an alcoholic king to give up his addiction, and since this was the time of monarchy’s challenging a king would have been a crime. And it’s obvious that Kings civil disobedience hurt no one either, but rather challenged corrupt laws.

But at least the right has progressed to realize that what we are doing is torture. The next step is to help them realize that torture is always wrong.

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