Obama on Religion
17 June 2008, 3:20 pm
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg8lCLumByw&hl=en]
Despite the endless press regarding his controversial pastor, we’ve heard very little about religion from the candidate himself. While he doesn’t espouse an ideology in this video that affirms l/g/b/t peoples, he should be credited for speaking clearly about the separation of church and state and doing so from the pulpit. I’m not a political historian, but I can’t recall precedent.
Thanks to TNG reader “Sam,” for passing this along.
Speaking on the importance of the separation of church and state is reminiscent of JFK, who had to contend with anti-Catholic bias when he ran in 1960. He assured voters that his faith would have no bearing on his conduct as president, which is a far cry from what many presidential candidates tend to articulate in today’s political climate. Even Mitt Romney, when he gave his speech on how being a Mormon would influence his potential presidency, made an argument that having faith in God is what should matter to voters, but that his specific Mormon faith would not influence his policy positions. I must say that I prefer the emphasis on separation of church and state to an emphasis on the importance of presidents at least having some kind of faith. After all, most of the founding fathers were agnostic.
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