Comments on: Personal Religious Beliefs of Candidates

By: craz3z

craz3z — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:34:08 +0000

Nobody knows why Oprah stopped going to Trinity. She has never said why, and the whole subject came up as a result of speculation by a gossip columnist in a Chicago paper years after the fact when Obama began his run for the presidency and the subject of Trinity first came up. It’s been picked up by right wing blogs and repeated on message boards (the usual suspects), but you won’t find any statement from Oprah to that effect from any legitimate news source. Who knows if she even goes to church anywhere anymore? Besides, if she felt that strongly about it why hasn’t she disassociated herself from Obama?

By: SueN

SueN — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:25:15 +0000

It is hypocritical to go after McCain’s odious ties to a right-wing white Christian preacher, while giving a pass to Obama’s longer and closer ties to a radical black Christian preacher. He could have walked away like Oprah did, but he didn’t. He only came forth when the issue became public and he was losing public support; and even then he danced around the specific issue about his judgment and sacrificed the grandmother who raised him instead of taking responsibility for his own adult actions.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:16:54 +0000

and there’s stuff about our taxpayer money going to religious schools instead of public schools–i don’t know if either have been clear on that.

and have they both promised to kill faith-based funding? i think not.

By: DeanOR

DeanOR — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:16:27 +0000

A black minister who is sometimes outraged by injustice! My God, what next!

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:14:51 +0000

“If you can show me how a candidate’s personal religious beliefs have affected their political positions or their voting record, I’ll pay attention.”

Obama specifically attributes his faith for his position against equal marriage rights.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:13:34 +0000

it matters because they alienate me and millions of others when they cuddle up to haters and “exgays” to get religious votes.

it matters because we’re not all Christian and “called to serve” and “committed” and all that “faith” stuff excludes us Jews and Muslims and Hindus, etc.

it matters because it smells of GOP stuff, which is not what Democrats should be encouraging.

it affirms the false view that religious people don’t vote Dem when they do and always will.

it matters for many reasons.

By: cinnamonape

cinnamonape — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:08:19 +0000

I agree with the Constitution…that there be “no religious test” for political office. I will try and judge people on their actual policies and whether those are good for the country and the people as a sum…in the long term. So, in terms of whether a person is of this, or that religion…I don’t worry. In fact some Presidents, like Nixon (who was, I believe, a Quaker) would have benefitted from a bit more influence from his faith.

Many people feared that Kennedy was going to be influenced by the Pope’s dictates. At that time (and still) the Church expected that Catholics would act in a Catholic manner in their decisionmaking. The issues then were contraception and divorce, now it’s abortion (funny how Iraq wasn’t something raised, although Pope John Paul II certainly considered the invasion a sin).

Kennedy, who struggled in the Primaries in some states because of this controversy decided to face the issue head-on in his speech in front of an Evangelical Ministers Association in Houston, after polling suggested he was behind Nixon also because of the religious questions that were being passed around in cheap mass-produced pamphlets. The speech, and passages therefrom were successfully used to reduce the impact of the doubts of Kennedy’s independence.

JFK Speech Regarding Politics and Religion

BTW Fox (yuck!) just did a poll that showed only about a third of Republican voters actually thought that Obama shared the positions of Wright. So that’s about 30% of 30% (i.e 10% of the public). Throw in another 10% from independents…and you have the 20% hard core supporters of Bush. Most of these would be very unlikely to be swayed to vote for Obama in any case. Their “belief” is already established. Most likely believe that Obama is a fundamentalist Muslim, too..and find the contradiction that he’d follow the tenets of a Christian preacher not the least contradictory.

By: dmac

dmac — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:45:56 +0000

craz3z at 47–

there is a derogatory phrase used by some in the xtian world to describe that.

mccain is a ’church shopper’

By: hawkseye36

hawkseye36 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:45:56 +0000

How about if the sacrifice is W or Darth?

By: ForrestPrince

ForrestPrince — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:27:09 +0000

Sadly, the truth is that for many congresscritters their conscience often demands that they align their proposals and their votes with their personal religious convictions. Witness House Resolution 888, a deplorable Xtian revisionist-history mash-up (sorry, no link, but a Google search under “Chris Rodda” will get you there) that is so fallaciously religion-soaked it is pathetic. Yet, imagine if this bogus resolution passes, as it probably will. Although non-binding, it will be set in the record and people will believe it as truth, even though it is simply one falsehood stacked upon another. James Madison would be rolling in his grave over this faith-based legislative stupidity.

That’s why it’s important to keep a watchdog eye on the religious aspect of our political leaders. Without doing so, everyone’s “liberty of conscience” is at risk.