Re: Barack Obama's Spiritual Mentor

In article <13tk1qgc0laloaa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
DGDevin <dgdevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Claude V. Lucas wrote:

The "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright is in no way comparable to
Mike Huckabee,

Why do you put his name in quotation marks? He has a Masters and a
Doctorate in Theology/Divinity and was a pastor for four decades, what more
does he have to do to earn the usual honorific applied to preachers? Was
Jerry Falwell a "Reverend?" He used to be a segregationist known for
referring to the "civil wrongs movement," doesn't seem like a real Christian
attitude. How about Pat Robertson, Jim Baker, Jimmy Swaggart and so on, do
those guys live up to what you figure the title "Reverend" should mean?
Wright strikes me as a bit theatrical and he is for sure too close to that
clown Farrakhan, but I don't see how that is Obama's problem any more than
Falwell and Robertson et al. were the problem of Reagan or either of the
Bushes.

None of those TV preachers were in charge of the churches that
Reagan or the Bushes attended that I know of.


and if any of the "screwball Bible-thumpers
Huckabee has hung out with over the years" had even whispered
anything comparable to the loony racially oriented crap that
Rev. Wright has been spewing, the mass media would be all over it.

You sure about that? You never heard a Southern Baptist preacher say things
that made you figure he should wear a hat when he's out in the hot sun? One
of Huckabee's first jobs was on the staff of James Robison, one of those
televangelists who pays himself and his wife a third of a million a year to
preach, nice work if you can get it although as a class such folks don't
have the greatest reputation. Did you know that Huckabee was once pastor of
an all-white church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas that didn't admit black members
until the *1980s*? Did you know that Huckabee holds to what is known as
Biblical inerrancy, which means that he believes every word of the Bible
(including scientific and historical matters) is absolutely without error or
contradiction? That means he needs to believe Methusaleh lived to the age
of 969 and that he can't eat lobster because it's one of those animals
Leviticus identifies as unclean and so on and so forth. Uh huh, sure, bet
he doesn't eat bacon for the same reason too.

As far as I know, Huckabee isn't going to get a nomination for either slot.


Of course, *now* Obama wants to distance himself from that kook.

He's been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for over
20 years, and hasn't felt obligated to disavow any of the Rev
Wright's rantings until lately, when his feet are starting
to be held in the fire.

I know people who've been practicing Roman Catholics or Mormons or Baptists
or whatever for that long or longer who I've never heard disavow the beliefs
of their respective churches, some of which are kind of looney-tunes, does
that mean I can't trust them and should oppose them running for public
office?

Do those people attend church where the minister

Promotes a separatist theology?

Travels to a hostile foreign nation with an admitted racialist?

Do they sit in the pews while the speaker attempts to blame the ills
of the country on a particular race? For years.


As for what Obama thinks of that whackjob Farrakhan:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802290013

[quote]
On the February 27 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume,
congressional correspondent Major Garrett asserted that, in a February 26
MSNBC Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Barack Obama "said he denounced
[Nation of Islam leader Louis] Farrakhan's previous anti-Semitic remarks but
would not reject them." But, in his report, Garrett did not air or mention
the beginning of Obama's response to moderator Tim Russert's initial
question about Farrakhan: "You know, I have been very clear in my
denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think that
they are unacceptable and reprehensible."

[unquote]

So my question would be if Presidents like Reagan or Bush 41 or Bush 43
don't condemn the loopier statements of preachers like Roberston or Falwell,
preachers who get invited to the White House and are close to the Republican
Party (Robertson's group Christian Coalition was sued by the Federal
Elections Commission for coordinating its activities with Republican
candidates) then by what right do we demand that Obama meet a standard we
don't expect others to live up to? Please explain why he gets singled out
for this special attention when other politicians (with the notable
exception of Romney) don't have their religious associations questioned much
at all.

Because a candidates religious beliefs are not the issue.

The people that they choose to associate with are.

Obama evidently also has at least one ex-hippie bomber among
his associates as well. Throw in a crooked real-estater and
he's got most of the bases covered.


Although he has been extremely careful to avoid any instances
of foot-in-the-mouth disease himself, the words of Obama's
family members and close associates such as Rev. Wright are
more than a bit of a disturbing reflection on someone who
aspires to be President of the entire US.

It's a bit disturbing to me when someone running for President says he
rejects the scientific theory of evolution, anyone who figures fossils are
God's little joke and the earth is really only 6,000 years old is not
someone I want making important policy decisions (and in this I'm not
thinking just of Huckabee BTW).

It *does* help keep the focus away from his past record
and his positions on issues, though.

If I were drawing up the plans for an ideal President I wouldn't come up
with Obama, but I'll take him in a heartbeat over Hillary. I got a feeling
McCain will beat him anyway, the Dems are setting themselves up for that
already, they have a particular talent for blowing elections when Bill
Clinton isn't around to whup some smarts into them.

It's fine with me if the Democrat Party can't find anyone other
than recycled radicals and power-hungry yuppies to run for national
office. I broke my "no-Hannity" rule and watched him interview McCain
for an hour earlier.

He'd be a great Democrat Party candidate. At least he seems to be aware
that there are those in the world that want to destroy the US and wants
to do something about it. Obama and the Klintons seem as if they are
more interested in helping.

I just wish that *one* of the candidates would allow me to
vote for them without holding my nose.


.

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