Obama’s Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some
Obama’s Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some
Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama’s nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal.
“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness,” the new president said. “We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth,” he also said. Nothing too controversial, proclaiming that America’s strength lies in its diversity.
But between those two statements, the new president got specific: “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.”
In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama celebrated America as a “nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers.” Some Christians are taking issue with the approach to inclusiveness, saying the president misrepresented America’s culture and heritage.
By mentioning, for the first time in an inaugural address, the 16.1 percent of Americans who check “no”’ when asked about religion, Obama turned it into the most controversial line in his speech — praised by The New York Times editorial board and cited by some Christians as evidence that he is a heretic, and in his well-spoken way, a serious threat.
With that one line, the president “seems to be trying to redefine American culture, which is distinctively Christian,” said’ Bishop E.W. Jackson of the Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va. “The overwhelming majority of Americans identify as Christians, and what disturbs me is that he seems to be trying to redefine who we are.’”
Earlier this week, Jackson was a guest on the popular conservative Christian radio show ‘Janet Parshall’s America,’ where a succession of callers, many of whom identified themselves as African-American, said they shared the concern, and were perplexed and put off by the president’s shout-out to nonbelievers.
Parshall noted that atheists were celebrating the unexpected mention, and indeed they were: “In his inaugural address … President Barack Obama did what many before him should have done, rightly citing the great diversity of America as part of the nation’s great strength, and including ‘nonbelievers’’ in that mix,’” said Ed Buckner of American Atheists.
“His mother would have been proud,”’ Buckner said, referring to the fact that Obama’s mother was not a church-goer. “And so are we.”
Jackson said he and others have no problem acknowledging that “this country is one in which everybody has the freedom to think what they want.’” Yet Obama crossed the line, in his view, in suggesting that all faiths (and none) were different roads to the same destination: “He made similar remarks in the campaign, and said, ‘We are no longer a Christian nation, if we ever were. We are a Jewish, Hindu and non-believing nation.'”
Not so, Jackson says: “Obviously, Jewish heritage is very much a part of Christianity; the Jewish Bible is part of our Bible. But Hindu, Muslim, and nonbelievers? I don’t think so. We are not a Muslim nation or a nonbelieving nation.”’
With all the focus on Obama as the first African-American president, the succession of black callers to Janet Parshall’s show was a reminder that the “community”’ is not a monolith, and that many socially conservative black Americans are at odds with Obama’s views, particularly on abortion and gay rights. Nor do they all define civil rights in the same way.
The Rev. Cecil Blye, pastor of More Grace Ministries Church in Louisville, Ky., said the president’s reference to nonbelievers also set off major alarm bells for him. “It’s important to understand the heritage of our country, and it’s a Judeo-Christian tradition,”’ period.
But his even bigger beef with the president, he said, is that a disproportionate number of “black kids are dying each day through abortion. President Obama is supportive of abortion, and that’s a genocide on black folks. Nobody wants to talk about that as a civil rights issue.”
Spoonman
Jan 24, 2009 @ 18:05:20
People are stupid. I almost don’t hope this country survives sometimes.
rgz
Jan 24, 2009 @ 18:47:41
They want to shut us up, that’s why we must debate, debate, debate we can’t let them manufacture consensus, we can’t change their minds with good arguments but we can create a healthy skeptical environment for the future generation
John Morales
Jan 25, 2009 @ 00:29:32
I’m not American, but it’s clear Obama was making a statement of fact. How is a statement of fact a redefinition, in any sense?
This is a blatantly false claim, and evidence of hypocrisy.
whitey
Jan 25, 2009 @ 13:06:06
Oh yeah, Obama is redefining our culture? While they are peddling their revisionist history of a united christian theocracy of america? I love how the most terrifying thing to them is simply acknowledging our existence. It would be like the Klan stating that if you just don’t believe black people exist they won’t.
AnneGetYourGun
Jan 25, 2009 @ 22:50:52
I am a Christian. I read/study the Bible as well as other Christian studies. Here is my dilemma. I believe that there is only one choice/way to live.
But, God gave me a choice. Everyone gets a choice. I don’t get to force my faith/belief down anyone’s throat. It wasn’t pushed down mine. If it was then it wasn’t a choice.
Scotty B
Jan 26, 2009 @ 12:06:34
Admittedly, there is a large portion of American culture where this is (unfortunately) true. But it is interesting how even mentioning other religions is seen as an attack on Christianity by that group. Imagine if Obama hadn’t mentioned Christianity first!
Heck if he had put listed the different groups in order of size, non-believers would have been much higher on the list. What would they say then?
mikespeir
Jan 28, 2009 @ 14:18:27
I’m proudly an American. I’m also a “non-believer.” Consequently, Obama was not redefining anything. He got me spot-on.
Michael
Dec 20, 2009 @ 21:35:31
I feel like people forget that there is a separation of church and state for a reason. That doesn’t just mean separating the Catholic church, it means Jewish, Muslim, hell, even atheistic teachings have no place in the formation of laws. Laws need to be in the best interests of the American people, and in keeping with the ideals outlined in the Constitution. While the moral codes taught by these religions can have a role in the formation of the laws of the land, ultimately the laws need to be fair and just to all of Americas citizens. That’s why even though I am a devout Catholic I fully support homosexual unions. If people choose not to live the lifestyle that my religion teaches, that’s fine; they don’t have to. While I believe that they may not end up in Heaven because of the way they choose to live, that doesn’t mean that I think they should be discriminated against here on Earth.