Friday, April 17, 2009

Will Muslim women remove their burkas for Obama?

Will Amish women take off those prayer veils? Will conservative Catholic nuns slip out of their plain habits? The clothing for men and women members of conservative religious groups is about headship; it's symbolism, not modesty. It's about relationships and spiritual authority: God, then men, then women. It's every bit as symbolic as an IHS on a podium or window that Obama wanted draped and blacked out.

Gerald F. Seib missed it again in Capital Journal in today's WSJ. "Not a single new policy was revealed" at Obama's Georgetown speech. It was a speech of metaphors, he said. Well, Mr. Seib, you didn't see the significance of the trial balloon, did you? You got all warm and fuzzy on the "house upon a rock" thinking it was Biblical. No sir, that just comes from 20 years of Rev. Wright's turning a phrase. Obama didn't know how to speak black when he first got to Chicago, having been raised in a white, agnostic home. You need to dig a little deeper. Let me help.

Obama asked that a Christian symbol be removed, and Georgetown University, one of our oldest Catholic institutions, made the mistake of complying. Seems like a small thing unless you remember some of Obama's promises (threats) during the campaign. That he intended to rein (reign) in "faith based" groups that get government money. He's planning to have all religious symbols removed from buildings that use government money for child care, food distribution, job training, mortgage workshops, voter registration, etc. Churches are going to have to do a lot of "soul searching" and just may need to tell the government that they won't be their go-to guys any more. Remember that the request removed not just a symbol, but a tradition of separation of church and state [i.e., the state doesn't tell the church how to adorn its own buildings and property], and destroyed the historic artistic atmosphere of the room. Georgetown is as old as our Constitution--maybe its crumbling is a sign?
    "Julie Bataille from the university's press office e-mailed me that the White House had asked that all university signage and symbols behind the stage in Gaston Hall be covered.

    "The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they've done for other policy speeches," she wrote. "Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn't high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context."
The primary command of the church, given by Jesus himself, is
    "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age."
So if the U.S. government decides you can't obey what the Bible says about the primary mission of the church, or that you need to bless the weddings of gays, or that you can't have religious instruction in your schools, or that you can't have a Bible in the classroom, I guess you'll just have to turn down that Faustian compact we've had for so many years.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama sure gets testy at the thought that someone else is the messiah.

Anonymous said...

Obama, as representative of about 300 million Americans is finally acting as a real president should.

For the last 30 years, we have had presidents who have not merely personally brought their religious beliefs into the White House, they have personally endorsed one religion or another which brings their ability to act as representative to the millions of non-Christian citizens of the United States.

Obama's action are truly symbolic of the intent of the constitution, expecially the article that states that there will be no "religious test" necessary to serve in any elected or nominated position in government in the United States. The constitution does not directly state that the religious test must be and open one, nor does it state that any sort of implied test is allowed but that NO religious test shall be required to serve in office in the United States.

For the better part of the last 50 years, the use of religion as a test for qualification for office has been an issue forced by the religious right. John Kennedy had to deal with the issue that Protestants made of his Catholicism, and in the elections after that, every president has been subject to religious scrutiny of some kind in order to get elected.

Obama has brought a refreshing sanity to Washington by insisting that he will not in any way, shape or form be seen to be endoring any particular religion while he if formally representing the United States.

On the other hand, he clearly shows that this is no attempt to deny others their right to personal religious choice, as the constitution requires, because on May 17, he will be receiving an honorary doctor of law degree from Notre Dame. Because this is a personal honor being given to him and not to the people of the United States, he will be wearing Notre Dame's traditional graduation robes, which are embroidered with both the cross and a prayer (in Latin of course) to the Virgin Mary.

The real agenda is on the part of the religious right in this case, who have been attempting to create a theocracy in the United States over the past three plus decades. Something that this country was never intended to be, either directly as in a state like Israel, or indirectly as in the United Kingdom as it was in the 18the Century or as it is today.

Norma said...

Oh you poor dear. I feel so sorry for you. We've never had a theocracy--you can't put 3 Christians in a room and get them to agree on anything. You are the epitome of why we are in such terrible trouble after only 3 months of this man's craziness, including thinking a symbol of a Catholic institution detracts from his power so it must be removed. How paranoid is that?

Anonymous said...

"Obama has brought a refreshing sanity to Washington by insisting that he will not in any way, shape or form be seen to be endoring any particular religion while he if formally representing the United States."

He blew that "sanity" by choosing to speak at a Catholic institution, then asking them to cover their symbols.

Norma said...

Obama has given his Christian testimony in public (UCC meeting), it's on the internet, and I'd say it's better than most I've heard or read, so I can't figure out why you say he's not acting out his personal beliefs. UCC is extremely liberal and he's just being one of them.