Christian Newswire: OBAMA has "crassly politicized religion"; 'Jesus came with a sword, not peace'

[Bluebear]

Evidentment the right wing conservative Christians are not going down without a fight. With a sword. Just like Jesus would have done. :sarcasm:


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Obama Asked to Debate Role of Religion

Contact: Dane Rose, Program Director, Faith and Action, 202-546-8329, 703-447-1072 cell; Reverend Rob Schenck, 703-447-7686 cell

WASHINGTON, June 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), president of the National Clergy Council and chair of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance, will hand deliver a letter to the U.S. Senate office of Barack Obama on Monday challenging the presidential candidate to a public debate on religion.

Senator Obama this weekend used a national church conference to attack, "the so-called leaders of the Christian Right," who, he said, were "too eager to exploit what divides us at every opportunity. They've told Evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values, dislike their church."

Mr. Schenck said:

"With all due respect, I challenge the Senator to first identify who, exactly, he is talking about. Second, he must explain what he means about what divides us and how it jibes with Jesus' words, 'I did not come to bring peace but a sword.' Finally, I ask Senator Obama to cite specifically who, when, where and how these unnamed leaders have 'told Evangelical Christians Democrats disrespect their values, dislike their church.'"

Mr. Schenck continued, "Contrary to the Senator's attack on religious conservatives, it is Mr. Obama who has utterly and crassly politicized religion in his bid for the presidency."

In his letter, Mr. Schenck will ask Mr. Obama to debate him on the role of Christianity in the political arena.

http://www.earnedmedia.org/ncc0623.htm

[wildhorses]

1. self delete

idiots.

[xchrom]

2. it won't happen -- but i wish obama -- or someone -- anyone

with real progressive fire in the belly would take mr SHANK up on his challenge.

i'm progressive, liberal, believer who is SICK of these dim witted fucks hijacking the fucking faith.

it's time -- past time that all christians are defined by these loud mouthed jerks.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. If he's going to quote the New Testament, READ the whole thing!

Like the part that says, "Blessed are the peacemakers" or the part that says "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" or "turn the other cheek".

[baldguy]

4. Rob & Paul Schenck are terrorists, plain & simple.

Like al Qaeda, they fundamentally misrepresent the faith which they claim to represent. Their aim is to incite violence to promote a religion of peace.

If the Schencks & their ilk don't like him, Obama must be doing something right.

[Kahuna]

5. The sword Jesus spoke about was to use against blasphemers

like shank. It was not about WAR. Jesus said, "blessed are the peacemakers,"not blessed are the warmongers.

[Liberal Veteran]

10. Not exactly...

...the entire quote in context makes it clear he is saying that his message would likely create discord within families.

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."

Certainly without taking it completely out of context, can anyone claim Jesus ever advocated violence against others.

[nebenaube]

13. very easy to interpret that as...

"Kill the unbelievers"

[Kahuna]

14. Actually, I AM right. The only reason Jesus would set family member

against family member is because of those who would pervert Jesus' cause. That WOULD BE a blasphemer. So while you found a quote, you porobably don't understand what a blasphemer is and that according to the Bible, that is the true one unforgiveable sin. To understand any given quote, you would have to read all of Jesus' words to understand why he would make such a statement.

[Liberal Veteran]

15. I have read the bible many times, thank you very much.

At the time those words were spoken, he was saying that some people would follow his teachings and others would not (and would likely stay in their own religion) and that would cause discord.

There can and often is discord in families involving religious differences without dragging blasphemy into the equation. Blasphemy would be one of many things that Jesus was referring to when he said that.

BTW, only blaspheming the Holy Spirit was called an unforgivable sin. Pedestrian blasphemy was apparently totally forgivable.

[Mythsaje]

6. Obama to Schenck:

"Pharisee."

Okay, debate over.

This is the ONLY quote from Jesus these people can possibly use to strengthen their morally depraved position and it's amusing this jackass trots it out to attack Obama. From everything I understand about the man, he opposed crass self-righteousness and hatred and, as far as the quote about sword goes, maybe he simply understood that those who cling to self-righteousness in their personal evil would never stand for anyone like him who wasn't afraid to call them on it.

[Liberal Veteran]

7. Well, there you go. Evangelicals announce Christianity is a religion of violence.

I'll have to remember that when they call Islam a violent religion.

[jobycom]

8. Another preacher who misunderstood Jesus's "sword" comment.

The Bible quote is from Matthew 10, verse 34 to be exact. Jesus is instructing his apostles to go out and convert people, and he tells them that many will reject his message. His message will divide families, households, friends, etc, but Jesus says "That's okay, I didn't come to bring peace but the sword." The context is very clear--Jesus was talking about splitting believers from non-believers.

Most preachers use this passage to claim Jesus supported war or self-defense, which is assinine. Look no further than the crucifixion story, where Jesus tells Peter to put away his sword, and he heals the man Peter attacked. Obviously, Jesus believed it was better to die than to kill.

This preacher is using the "sword" passage to defend his own assholery, as if Jesus instructed him to be a jackass towards people with different ideas of Christianity than he had.

Obviously, both interpretations are way off. Jesus was talking about converting unbeliever, even if it created strife within a family.

Full disclosure: I'm an atheist and don't care about internal religious squabbles one way or the other, and frankly, I suspect that most of the Gospels reflect the beliefs of the people who wrote them, a generation or more after Jesus's execution. Even so, I hate preachers who think they can misrepresent their sources (whether the Bible, the Constitution, science, history, or whatever) and get away with it because some idiot institution somewhere declared them "Men of God." I sometimes wonder if lying would disappear entirely if there were no more preachers, since they are less trustorthy than salespeople, lawyers, and politicians combined--and contribute much less to the world. Apologies to any good preachers out there--there must be some.

[canetoad]

16. Not to mention

that 'three times' is not an exact description, but means someone felt pretty strongly. Forty days and forty nights? No-one bothered to count but it was longer than a couple of days.

Guess it's pointless to mention oral tradition when dealing with literalists.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. This is why I am opposed to Dems getting involved in religious pandering

It will backfire like this.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. what Obama said is spot on- and something that needs to be

said and publicized.

If no one has the balls/ovaries to challenge the lies being propagated by the hate-full violent 'religious right'- then it will continue to spread deception and incite violence, war, oppression and domination.

It isn't pandering to stand up for what you believe- it is the only "right" thing to do. To remain silent for fear of what others may twist your words into, is to sell out. Silence is NOT 'your friend' and will only enable 'evil'.


imo

As for saying Jesus advocated use of the sword- that is bullshit-

Did the diciples who were "military" men continue to 'serve' Rome??- (i think not)- nor did Jesus EVER use violence against people to further his agenda, or in SELF-DEFENSE (contrary to the 'religious-right' mentality of today)

[BlooInBloo]

12. Yup. They're going to hate him no matter what - so why pander?

EDIT: Typo.

[BeyondGeography]

17. They're playing Obama's game

and that would be a fun debate. We could learn, perhaps for the first time, why Jesus would be so fired up about pre-emptive war and tax cuts for the rich.

[earthlover]

18. another hypocrisy of the religious right

I don't think it wise or necessary for Obama to get into a debate with fundamentalists. After all, fundamentalists don't think the scriptures are subject to debate in the first place!

He should simply say it is his understanding of Christianity that Jesus was the "Prince of Peace", that this is true 365 days of the year instead of just on special holidays, and that he agrees with Jesus that peacemakers are blessed.

Obama needn't get bogged down with theological details.

This is just one more example of how the religious right makes a fool of themselves religiously. They want us to believe that the Bible is the unerring word of God, literally, with no contradictions. Yet here we have a quotation that is interpreted by a fundamentalist in a way that directly contradicts Jesus' teachings to turn the other cheek, that peacemakers are blessed, that the measure with which we are judged is how we judge others, and the example Jesus set while facing death when he said we should not live by the sword, but rather love.

To ascribe to Jesus what one's own personal beliefs and prejudices are is not in keeping with the admonition to be meek, and furthermore it smacks of blasphemy. Sounds like our religious right bretheren are so intent on the sword that they make a mockery of the notion that the Bible makes no internal contradictions.