It didn't take long for the bigots to squirm about the "unbelievers" line, did it?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

http://news.aol.com/article/obamas-nonbeliever-nod-unsettles-some/316339

Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some
By MELINDA HENNENBERGER, AOL

(Jan. 23) - Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama's nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal. (...)

With that one line, the president "seems to be trying to redefine American culture, which is distinctively Christian," said’ Bishop E.W. Jackson of the Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va. "The overwhelming majority of Americans identify as Christians, and what disturbs me is that he seems to be trying to redefine who we are.’"

Earlier this week, Jackson was a guest on the popular conservative Christian radio show 'Janet Parshall's America,' where a succession of callers, many of whom identified themselves as African-American, said they shared the concern, and were perplexed and put off by the president’s shout-out to nonbelievers. (...)

Jackson said he and others have no problem acknowledging that "this country is one in which everybody has the freedom to think what they want.’" Yet Obama crossed the line, in his view, in suggesting that all faiths (and none) were different roads to the same destination: "He made similar remarks in the campaign, and said, 'We are no longer a Christian nation, if we ever were. We are a Jewish, Hindu and non-believing nation.'"

Not so, Jackson says: "Obviously, Jewish heritage is very much a part of Christianity; the Jewish Bible is part of our Bible. But Hindu, Muslim, and nonbelievers? I don't think so. We are not a Muslim nation or a nonbelieving nation."’ (more at link)

By the way, I ask to Jewish DUers, did you find that last line condescending?

[gollygee]

1. To even mention us is to be offensive

Nice.

He didn't even call the US a "non-believing nation". He just said that Americans include Muslims, non-believers, etc., in addition to Christians and Jews. Which is very true.

[Catch22Dem]

2. I'm so tired of these fucking mental lightweights

We are not now, nor have we ever been a Christian nation. Obama was not talking about pop culture, where we ARE predominately Christian. He was talking about the US Constitution. Something these assholes take for granted.

[HillbillyBob]

5. Emphasis on Men-tal.

What are the real percentages of Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic, Pagan, Wiccan, Witch, Satanist, Atheist, &tc?
Besides that most of the so called Christians are nothing of the sort, my own label for the white self-satisfied, self righteous, is inverted to be exclusive rather than inclusive of others is the label Kreestian.

[MrsBrady]

17. and that's the problem -

they don't know the difference between their religion and their government

[WePurrsevere]

3. No matter how many times I read Obama's quote...

from his Inauguration Speech I don't read anything about people of all faiths going to the same destination (although I personally believe that). It seems to me that he's simply saying that America is a nation made up of many faiths and those with none. :shrug: When I hear nonsense like this I'm reminded of the line from the song, "The Boxer".. "... a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

Besides historically speaking we're not a "Christian nation" that's a myth that those who want control over the morality of all citizens use to persuade the ignorant. Explorers came here looking for riches and the fountain of youth. Settlers came here looking for riches, land, sanctuary and a fresh start. Our founding fathers resisted putting "religion" into the Constitution for a reason.

America is a glorious stew and that's what makes her what she is today. B-) One of the things I really like about Obama is that he understands and seems to embrace that. It's truly sad that so many others can't.. or won't.

[RTFirefly]

4. Gotta love it.

Simply acknowledging that non-Christians live in America is offensive to some people. Is their faith so fragile that they are shaken by the mere existence of competition?

[rpannier]

6. Old Testament and New Testament

In the Koran.

He needs to actually read the Book before making those assertions.

Someone should also point out the Jefferson said the Constitution applies to "Mohammedans and Hindoos." (I think that's how he spelled both -- I remember Jefferson used two o's in Hindu. And many westerners used the word Mohammedans instead of Muslims for years)

[Best_man23]

7. Give me that old time religion

[Demeter]

8. I Feel Really Sorry For the Believers

Their faith is going to be tested (to destruction). They will be much better, or much bitter, for it. The choice is theirs.

[nebenaube]

21. did you read the comments there?

I swear they are going to "bring it on"...

[zbdent]

9. "the Jewish Bible is part of our Bible" ...

yep ... and a lot of major Christian holidays are actually retooled pagan rituals ... so where's their recognition?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. I was taught that all roads lead to God

from a very early age, when I was still a Christian. Now I say all roads lead to Truth, if you are willing to search for it. Obama is right--this is a pluralistic nation, and always has been. When I was growing up in the '50s, I knew Muslims, Jews, and an occasional Buddhist and a couple of Bahais--and I grew up in downstate Illinois, not one of the coasts. Once the 60s hit, I learned about other faiths and found them to be practiced in pockets around the US. Even talked to a couple of folks brave enough to say they were atheists. So this tomfoolery about this being a Christian nation is just that--tomfoolery.

[stray cat]

11. You mean the complaints by athesist about the term as well I suppose?

it was an inclusive message that annoyed a few people on each side of the political spectrum for different reasons.

[NNN0LHI]

12. I took that to be a codeword that he doesn't believe in imaginary sky persons either

Which was a great relief to me.

Don

[Robb]

13. God didn't set your house on fire

...but He was working in the hearts of your friends and neighbors when they came to your aid, be they Christian, Jew, or ... miscellaneous.

"Hindu! There are 700 million of us!"

"Aw, that's super."

[BlooInBloo]

14. (shrug) There's no talking to fools who believe in theocracy.

[Orsino]

15. Bishop Jackson is a coward and a bully...

...who can't be happy with even a mention of unbelievers. So timid is he that not even his comfortable, overwhelming majority is safe enough for him.

[salguine]

16. As a non-believing Jewish Hindu Musilm, I found it VERY offensive.

[alarimer]

18. Yes all faiths are "created equal"

They are all equally nonsense.

[terisan]

19. The real danger to the Constitution was Obama's having Roberts add "so help you god" to oath

If Bush had done this people concerned about separation of church and state would be furious---but few have mentioned this. It pleased fundamentalist Christians greatly and will be used by them in the future to press their narrow religious beliefs.

The prescribed oath of office does not include this mention of God and Obama's action to include it was nefarious and political.

[MorningGlow]

20. I love it

"SOME" are upset. So this story features one Christian minister who has his panties in a wad and doesn't even know that the Koran also has the same content as his bible. The only "upset" people I've heard about are the ones in the maelstrom of the right-wing noise machine.

They need to get over it.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

22. No, what's disturbing is that you jackasses keep trying to redefine who "we" are.

Who the fuck died and made this guy arbiter of who should believe in what? Also, I didn't realize there was a constitutional protection for something such as a religious majority. Where did that come from? The fairy fucking godmother? Pulled out of his ass? Probably the latter.

[Odin2005]

23. Ugh, more, "if we don't have a Christian Theocracy we are being persecuted" BS.

These fuckers would kill all us non-believers because our mere existance constitutes "being persecuted" in thier sick eyes.

[On the Road]

24. You Know, I Really Don't Mind "Under God" in the Oath,

nativity scenes on public property, and similar nods to Christianity.

But this complaint is really, really over the top.