–There was some speculation a few weeks back about whether Rick Warren would invoke Jesus’ name in the invocation. If he left Jesus’ name out of the prayer, evangelicals would be offended. If he mentions Jesus–Muslims, Jews, and Americans of other faiths would be offended.
Well, he mentioned Jesus. Not only mentioning him, but pronouncing his name in several languages. Is it really a surprise? Of course not, Rick Warren is an evangelical pastor. In a statement to the AP a few weeks back, Warren said, “I’m a Christian Pastor, so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray.”
–During President Obama’s inaugural speech, he alluded to 1 Corinthians 13:11 when he said:
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In Obama’s statement, the only quote from scripture was “a time to set aside childish things.” Was it really necessary for him to say “in the words of scripture?” I wonder if he simply felt the need to mention a little something religious in his speech, just to prove his religiousness (religiousness is probably not a word).
–Another quote from Obama:
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.
Really interesting that he chose to mention these groups specifically. Don’t you think the Buddhists, Wiccans, Sikhs, and others felt a bit left out? Why wouldn’t he just say something like, “we are a nation of many religious beliefs?” Anyways.
–Reverend Joseph Lowery’s Benediction was uh..very entertaining, don’t you think. He’s an old man. He’s lived a life full of purpose and done many good things for America. So we’ll forgive him for playing to the crowd as opposed to praying to God. How did he close the benediction?
when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around… when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right.
Very entertaining. No, seriously it was. But wait, was that a dis to white people?
With that said, Not About Religion congratulates Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You ask “was it really necessary for him to say ‘in the words of scripture’?” I will offer my opinion.
This technique is utilized – and has been utilized a number of times by Obama in the past – as a deceptive technique to ‘tie’ non-biblical teachings to scripture. Using this technique – Obama leads people to believe that his platform positions are aligned to scripture. ‘to quote scripture … we all deserve a chance to pursue our full measure of happiness’.
I do not believe that pursuing ‘full measure of hapiness’ is scriptural. I think it sounds more aligned to me to Anton LaVey’s ‘The Whole of the Law is Do What Thou Whilst’.
It’s deceptive. I am quite suprised that someone would ever use God’s word to deceive : )
Just to let you know, everyone is hating on Obama, including you, but you can’t change the fact that you LOST, and he’s your new president. Don’t forget when he sends your 18 year older a check for college, or when he makes sure you can get a job, because you sure as heck need it, you’ll be thankful. Just wait and see!! : ^ (