Provocation of your Mind –
Part II
Since his election as our President, I have kept an open
mind and a supportive attitude towards Barack Hussein Obama and his presidency.
In fact, up until lately, I had never criticized him by name or position for
the respect of his office as our president. However, that is rapidly changing.
I no longer keep silent about my feelings towards him, his vice president and
his former secretary of state.
They have all demonstrated and disclosed behaviors,
words, and actions that betray the American way of life in its purest sense and
foundation. They have and are presently still………. Undermining our constitution.
Gathering my thoughts on this matter, I researched the president’s words and
how he stood on Islam and Christianity in our world.
Notice: Remember
that these are my thoughts and nobody else’s so keep that in mind as you read
this. It is after all is said, conjectural and speculative in nature and not
necessarily factually applied to the situation these words were spoken and
delivered.
Citing an article written by Geofrrey Grider, on October
2, 2013, I gathered some of the president’s thoughts which he has conveyed to
the public, foreign governments and his own staffers appointed with his authority
to act on behalf of the United States. In all honesty, my writings were
prompted by a personal discussion in the home where another person challenged
me to debate the patriotism of Allen West, a strong critic of our president.
In his own writings, Allen West alludes to the president’s
comments about Islam and Christianity in his own web blog that is controversial
because he appear to me [my opinion] to be a blunt and honest speaker as well
as a writer. Allen West, in my opinion is an American patriot and should be
recognized for his work to tell or expose the truth about what is happening in
American society and media outlets. His comparative listing of approximately 40
quotes from our president reflects an ideology I cannot and will not agree
with.
In return, I invite you to research your own findings and
determine your own conclusions about the president’s mind provoking statements
and his intentions of bringing a collective idea how to embrace this religion
in our country. To quote Mr. West, it
paints an “interesting picture.” He mentions that he tried to balance the POTUS
words on Christianity that were favorable but was more concerned about public
awareness of the words spoken and those ‘left unsaid” as to the true nature of
our president’s intentions. He writes that some of those unsaid words leads to
an ideology of the Black Liberation Theology which we all know is a growing
concern inside our country as it radicalizes our men and women as well as
children as disciples of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church and gospel.
So where does Barack Hussein Obama stand on Islam and
Christianity? You decide that on your own – it is not my resolve or desire to
change or influence your mind and believe what I believe it to be.
·
“The future must not belong to those who slander
the Prophet of Islam”
·
“The sweetest sound I know is the Muslim call to
prayer”
·
“We will convey our deep appreciation for the
Islamic faith, which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world —
including in my own country.”
·
“As a student of history, I also know
civilization’s debt to Islam.”
·
“Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance.”
·
“Islam has always been part of America”
·
“We will encourage more Americans to study in
Muslim communities”
·
“These rituals remind us of the principles that
we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance,
and the dignity of all human beings.”
·
“America and Islam are not exclusive and need
not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of
justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”
·
“I made clear that America is not – and never
will be – at war with Islam.”
·
“Islam is not part of the problem in combating
violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.”
·
“So I have known Islam on three continents
before coming to the region where it was first revealed”
·
“In ancient times and in our times, Muslim
communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.”
·
“Throughout history, Islam has demonstrated
through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial
equality.”
·
“Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for
great diversity and racial equality”
·
“The Holy Koran tells us, ‘O mankind! We have
created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so
that you may know one another.’”
·
“I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner
celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a
blessed month.”
·
“We’ve seen those results in generations of
Muslim immigrants – farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads
and build our cities, the Muslim innovators who helped build some of our
highest skyscrapers and who helped unlock the secrets of our universe.”
·
“That experience guides my conviction that
partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what
it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the
United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they
appear.”
·
“I also know that Islam has always been a part
of America’s story.”
·
“Whatever we once were, we are no longer a
Christian nation”
·
“We do not consider ourselves a Christian
nation.”
·
“Which passages of scripture should guide our
public policy? Should we go with
Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an
abomination? Or we could go with
Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?”
·
“Even those who claim the Bible’s inerrancy make
distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages – the Ten
Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ’s divinity – are central to Christian
faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to
accommodate modern life.”
·
“The American people intuitively understand
this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of
those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional
amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in
counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their
politics.”
·
From Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope: “I am
not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union that confers
equivalent rights on such basic matters as hospital visitation or health
insurance coverage simply because the people they love are of the same sex—nor
am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in
Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount.”
Obama’s response
when asked what his definition of sin is:
·
“Being out of alignment with my values.”
·
“If all it took was someone proclaiming I
believe Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins, and that was all there was
to it, people wouldn’t have to keep coming to church, would they.”
·
“This is something that I’m sure I’d have
serious debates with my fellow Christians about. I think that the difficult
thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there
is a call to evangelize and proselytize. There’s the belief, certainly in some
quarters, that people haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior
that they’re going to hell.”
·
“I find it hard to believe that my God would
consign four-fifths of the world to hell.
I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India
who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all
eternity. That’s just not part of my
religious makeup.”
·
“I don’t presume to have knowledge of what
happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the
here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values
is a good thing.”
·
“I’ve said this before, and I know this raises
questions in the minds of some evangelicals. I do not believe that my mother,
who never formally embraced Christianity as far as I know … I do not believe
she went to hell.”
·
“Those opposed to abortion cannot simply invoke
God’s will–they have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is
accessible to people of all faiths.”
·
On his support for civil unions for gay couples:
“If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon
on the Mount.”
Other quotes by Obama –
·
“You got into these small towns in Pennsylvania
and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for
25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton
Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration
has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.
And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or
antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or
anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
·
“In our household, the Bible, the Koran and the
Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African
mythology”
·
“On Easter or Christmas Day, my mother might
drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese
New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.”
·
“We have Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists,
agnostics, Buddhists, and their own path to grace is one that we have to revere
and respect as much as our own”
·
“All of us have a responsibility to work for the
day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow
up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of
peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home
for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of
Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra — (applause) — as
in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them,
joined in prayer. (Applause.)”
·
“I believe that there are many paths to the same
place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are
connected as a people.”
Sources:
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