This time the Religious Right is right (OneNewsNow.com)

This time the Religious Right is right

Sandy Rios - Guest Columnist - 7/23/2008 10:00:00 AM

Sandy Rios "For Obama, faith is not simply political garb, something a focus group told him he ought to try. Instead, religion to him is transforming, lifelong, and real." That's a quote from The Faith of Barack Obama, published by Thomas Nelson, the world's largest Christian publisher, scheduled to be released in early August by author Stephen Mansfield, an evangelical Christian biographer of New York Times bestseller, The Faith of George Bush.

Highly respected Catholic professor at Pepperdine School of Law, Douglas Kmiec is also effusive in his support of Obama: "Obama said he earnestly wants to 'discourage' the practice (of abortion) despite the distortions of some who think if they affix the 'pro-abortion-won't overturn-Roe-label' to the senator, pro-lifers like myself won't give him the time of day. Sorry, good friends, not this year," he wrote in the Chicago Tribune.

Kmiec was reporting on a recent meeting with Obama that included Franklin Graham, Bishop T.D. Jakes and about 30 other religious leaders. Late in 2006, Obama had stood on the stage of Rick Warren's influential Saddleback Church, declaring his faith in the context of fighting HIV/AIDS, gladly taking on the mantle of implied endorsement.

Soon the Obama campaign will begin appearing on Christian radio and Internet outlets, and they'll be hosting thousands of "American Values House Parties," where attendees will discuss Obama and religion.

Yes, indeed. The Barack Obama campaign has a wonderful plan for your life...especially if you are an Evangelical. And he has plenty of help to expedite the plan.

But one stubborn Evangelical is calling out the charade: Dr. James Dobson, respected founder of Focus on the Family and unquestionably the current leader of the "Religious Right." "I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson declared on a recent broadcast.

So, who's right? Is Barack Obama deliberately distorting the Bible and Christian theology as a means to a political end or is he, in fact, a man of great faith?

Stephen Mansfield wrote, "Young evangelicals are saying, 'Look, I'm pro-life but I'm looking at a guy who's first of all black' — and they love that; two, who's a Christian; and three, who believes faith should bear on public policy."

But at a 2006 "Call to Renewal" conference, Barack himself said, "If God's spoken, then His followers are expected to live up to God's edicts regardless of the consequences. To base one's own life on such uncompromising commitment may be sublime, but to base our policymaking on such commitments would be a dangerous thing." Translated: First, faith should not bear on public policy. Secondly, Barack Obama will not be seeking what he calls "sublime."

Kmiec insists Obama, "earnestly wants to 'discourage' the practice" of abortion." Then how come Obama has a 100 percent voting record supporting it? — has opposed any and all restrictions on it? — and has NARAL and Planned Parenthood fairly salivating at the thought of his election?

Dobson, on the other hand, claims Obama distorts scripture. In a recent policy speech, Obama boasted that he drew his willingness to champion the homosexual agenda from the Sermon on the Mount, not on some passage in the "obscure" book of Romans. I wonder if he noticed that part of Jesus' sermon that said to look at a woman with lust was the same as committing adultery. Did he glean from that passage that to look on another man would somehow be okay? When he mocked the relevance of passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, I wondered if he'd read the passage in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (which includes Leviticus and Deuteronomy). I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matt. 5:17).

At the 2006 conference, he also chided his audience, "Let's read our Bibles now. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles." He surely didn't have himself in mind, did he? His devotion to scripture must mean he knew about that "obscure" book of Romans — that formative epistle written to the early persecuted church in Rome that transformed Martin Luther and catalyzed the Protestant Reformation and has been the bedrock of orthodox Christian theology for centuries. That obscure book? The one that warns, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness...." — and goes on to speak very directly on sexual morality: "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another....Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (Romans 1: 18, 24, 26-27).

This passage would probably be Exhibit A of why Obama thinks to base policymaking on such "uncompromising commitments" would be "a dangerous thing." How would one face homosexual activists with such unflinching certainty?

"For Obama, faith is not simply political garb, something a focus group told him he ought to try. Instead, religion to him is transforming, lifelong, and real," declared Mansfield. The exception, apparently, is when that faith interferes with the reigning public policy orthodoxy on abortion and homosexual rights.

There are other moral reasons to support Obama, argues Douglas Kmiec. Feeding the poor is one of them. "He intends to ask government and non-governmental entities — and you and me — to do our part." But what Professor Kmiec may not know is that Obama really hasn't been doing his part. According to Obama's released tax returns, from 2001-2004 he gave less than one percent of his income to charity.

"He's dragging biblical understanding through the gutter," Dobson declared passionately. And he's right.

With great bravado and eloquent phrasing, Obama twists and turns every phrase so effectively that while championing a radical moral agenda, he feigns strong Christian faith. While boasting concern for the poor, with his own wealth he looks the other way.

A man of deep Christian faith? Not by the definition of the Jesus he claims to serve and the Bible he quotes so frequently.

Thank God for Dr. Dobson's boldness on this one. This time the "Religious Right" is right!

Sandy Rios is host of the "Sandy Rios Show," heard weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. on WYLL AM1160 in Chicago and serves as president of Culture Campaign, a non-profit dedicated to awakening a sleeping army of concerned citizens never before involved in public policy. This column, originally published in late June, is printed with permission.

Opinions expressed in 'Perspectives' columns published by OneNewsNow.com are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, OneNewsNow.com, our parent organization or its other affiliates.

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Comments on this article:

"The old but misguided Social Gospel wins again. Part of it is "...don't mix the Bible in with po;itics."
"One thing for sure, if Obama were to ever go on trial for being a Christian, he would be found innocent. Their is absolutely no fruit. Everything he does is the antithesis of Bible teaching such as multiple ways to heaven, abortion, homosexuality etc etc etc. If he had any concept of what the Scripture said and meant he could not have spent even one day in Wright's church. If a pastor started teaching the herracy that Wright taught I would get up and walk out. Obama sat their for 20 years and only left because of the negative effect on his campaign NOT because he believed it was wrong. Scripture tells us to judge the fruit and Obama's fruit is pretty rotten. He either has no concept of what the Bible teaches or he is purposely violating all it does teach. A Christian means a follower of Christ and Obama has proven to be an enemy of Christ."
"I almost stopped reading this article after about 3 paragraphs,thinking this writer was confused. It wasn't until I pushed on that I realized I was reading the "right" viewpoint"
"Excellent article backed up by God's Word. Thank you."
"I heard, originally, that Obama was rejecting some "obscure passage" in the Bible. That's certainly bad enough--we don't need to ratchet it up by saying he was calling the entire book of Romans obscure! Or did I hear wrong. Someone correct me if I'm wrong! If I'm right, then we dishonor God by misquoting Obama."
"Well said! Obama is twisting scripture like the devil."
"Obama is a nice man with a luke warm faith based on generally being a nice person. Unfortunately, he is allowing himself to be forced into drawing some kind of clear picture of his fuzzy endearment to the idea of faith. I can't judge him for this, I mean I have my own short comings as a Christian. But we do not want to elect a man for president who is so unclear about who he is in relationship to all these extremely important questions that he is naively willing to just kind of make this stuff up as he goes along flinging mud at and rearranging The Church and and its deeply rooted identity in truth and through history. And of course he obviously does not propose anything close to Biblical or Christian values when it comes to instituting laws to protect our families and children."
"I believe Dr Dobson spoke too soon when he announced that he would not vote for McCain. But now that he has evaluated the situation has recantered. Senator Obama is not by any stretch of the imagination a man that recognizes God's Word as supreme authority of every believer's life. If he did, he would not have the voting record that supports killing babies and perverted relationships. It doesn't matter what face he tries to protray to Christians, his record says it all."
"and they will be decieved by the beast, they worship him and follow blindly into the pit of hell!"
"Amen to This ("Dr. Dobson was right in his assesment of Obama, but IS NOT a true voice for the Conservative Christian. He flip-flopped and is "considering" endorsing McCain who is no better than Obama!"). Beside remenber who he was endorsing the first time around?"
"Dr. Dobson was right in his assesment of Obama, but IS NOT a true voice for the Conservative Christian. He flip-flopped and is "considering" endorsing McCain who is no better than Obama!"
"Obama is a FALSE PROFIT plain and simple. He does not know God, but he does know the father of lies because has has been lying from the begining."
"What we have here is the epitome of the Biblical warning about those "wolves in sheep's clothing." That is exactly what Obama is. People who can't see through him are people who are blind to truth. They don't want to know or see truth. They want to be a part of electing the first black president so they can say, "See, I am not prejudiced!" Neither am I--about race, but I am very discriminating when it comes to right and wrong. Mr. Obama is wrong--and if he is elected, America will suffer for years! Mark my words!"
"I have only one thing to say: NO to Barrack Obamanation. He is a son of satan as sure as anyone ever has been."
"I agree with the conclusions of this article. My concern is that readers may not read the entire article and misunderstand if they stop after three or four paragraphs."
"Excellent!!! I wish everyone in the USA could read this. To some the truth doesn't matter though. A lot of people are voting for the one who will give them the most handouts. America, we'd better wake up before it is too late. Obama's definition of a Christian and mine are totally different."
"Dobson is the one who fails to get the full meaning of the Gospel of Christ. Salvation of believers is exemplified in the life of Barak Obama, while John McCain's life is full of failures and lack of repentance."
"I am sorry but mr. Mansfield and Kmiec sound like crackpots! I am with Dr. Dobson on this one. I watched Obama misquote then twist scripture on 3 different occassions, I ran and got my Bible to be sure and checked. I consider what he did those 3 times as blasphemous!!! What whould one expect from a man who was a member of a church for 20 years that teaches hate???"
"Obama is a fake! Beware of the false prophets! Many will say Lord, Lord... but Jesus will tell them, I never knew you."
"Excellent article! Right on the mark! ><>"
"Matthew 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." If we do not have the discernment of the Holy Spirit living in us how are we going to discern the very spirit of the words anyone is speaking? Matt - Orlando, FL"
"Why the unceasing focus upon religious professions and beliefs of candidates? Where was the concern about Richard M. Nixon's affiliation with the Quaker Church? Or Mitt Romney's affiliation with the Latter Day Saints? Ultimately, what happens if the so-called "religious right" is wrong and at the end of their game, they have nothing LEFT. Heh heh . . ."
"Obamah may be a man of great faith, but the question is what that faith is in. Secular humnanists have great faith in evolution, but that certainly isn't faith in the creator. The current crop of psycho babblers have great faith in self esteem, but that doesn't mean they concern themselves with God's esteem. It would seem that Obamah has great faith in his own "greatness" much as did Saul when he began to believe his own press. Megalomania seems to be the essence of Obamahs faith."
"It's a shame more Christians aren't calling Obama out for holding views on homosexuality and abortion that are clearly and defiantly opposed to Biblical teaching. The way he willfully misinterprets, disregards and manipulates scripture to fit his own world view is disgusting. And the fact that he's a public figure and tries to compel others to buy what he's selling is just outright sinful. When the Bible talks about people pretending to be Christians, people that are really of the world, this is what it's talking about. It's also a shame that the African American community is willing to compromise itself and Biblical teaching and support someone simply because he shares their skin color and occasionally pays lipservice to Christianity."
"Amen."
"I havae no respect for Dobson. He is lost some where in the theological woods. As with most of the foar right leaders, he picks and choses what he wants to put fourth. Personally, I see nothing wrong with abortion. We need to have mass distribution of contraceptives to all who may want them, along with sex ed classes that clearly explain how the work, and what they do an what they do not do. Abstanance should be a part of those classes, but it should not be the only thing presented. For most, abstanance training will never over come hormones."
"I THINK BARACK OBAMA KNOWS LESS ABOUT CHRISTIANITY (OUTSIDE WHATEVER IT IS HIS CHURCH AND REV. WRIGHT TAUGHT), THEN HE DOES ABOUT POLITICS. HE SHOULDN'T BE TALKING ABOUT EITHER. GOD HELP US ALL IF HE IS ELECTED TO RUN OUR COUNTRY"
"Dobson is right that Obama is "confused" but his uneducated comments threaten us less than John McCain's hostility towards Christians calling us "agents of intolerance". McCain's strategy is to talk life BUT confirm pro-abortion judges and justices AS HE DID WITH GINSBERG AND BREYER. McCain is also tied with Gay activist Pat Sammon LCR. Obama is foolish and deceived. McCain is evil. I'm 100% for Chuck Baldwin!"
"The Church of today is sorely lacking in discernment - the proof is in the fact that many so-called Christians support a demon like Obama. A Christian is someone who has complete faith in Christ as the only way to salvation and believes what He teaches throughout the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation. Obama has proved that he neither believes in John 14:6, nor he does not believe in what the Bible teaches, ergo he is not a Christian. The same can be said for his pathetic, pseudo-Christian followers."