"President Barack Obama wants Christians to know Islam is not the only religion that has inspired violence and terror."

[Beggar for the Spirit]

These are interesting comments by the President considering the fact that violence and terroism

right now is only considered a problem with mainly just Islamic extremists.

Maybe Obama is hinting at the fact that "a'' religions" are bad?

 

 

 

President Obama:  'People committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ'

 

"President Barack Obama wants Christians to know Islam is not the only religion that has inspired violence and terror."

 

(Here is link to entire article)

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-people-committed-terrible-deeds-152411532.html

Edited February 6, 2015 by Beggar for the Spirit

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Sorry for the mistype above, I was trying to type"

 

Maybe Obama is hinting at the idea that "all religions" are bad?

Edited February 6, 2015 by Beggar for the Spirit

[trottigy]

No, I listened to the speech. He was saying - it is terrible the way SOME - IN ANY RELIGION - may use it as a reason to commit atrocities (see crusades as an example). Don't blame the religion - Islam, Christian, whatever - blame those who miss use it.

Edited February 6, 2015 by trottigy

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Hey Jerry,

 

Thanks for your comment.

I didn't hear the speech I just came across this article.

 

You said that what you heard Obama saying was,

"don't blame the religion".

I can see him saying this, but yet some of the quotes in this article

seem to indicate more of a blaming of "religions" - particularly the Catholic Church and even Christianity

and not just "some" bad people in them.

Maybe I am misreading them?

Notice these quotes here:

 

(Obama)

"Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," Obama said Wednesday. "

 

"And in our home country, slavery, and Jim Crow, all too often was justified in the name of Christ."

 

"This is not unique to one group or one religion," Obama cautioned."

 

When I read these it appears that Obama does not speak of "some" in religion who misuse it, but instead

he provides as evidence major historical events that involve religions and their leaders as in

the Crusades(Catholic religion) and Inquisition(Catholic religion) and

slavery here in the U.S.(various Christian religions).

And that in these events horrible violence and "terrible deeds" were committed just as the Islamic Terrorists do today.

 

And when Obama says that atrocities like those that he mentioned have been "justified in the name of Christ.",

he appears to be cautiously and slyly avoiding naming any religion (because of course that would be improper politically right now),

yet what is the "Inquisition" often called - the "Catholic Inquisition".

 

He may have used words like "some" and "people" who have misused religion, but really the evidence he

uses paints the picture without outright saying it that the Catholic Church and other Christian religions

have also "committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ".

Obama even directly is quoted as saying,

"This is not unique to one group or one religion"

    (in other words terrible deeds are not just with 1 terrorist group or with just the Islamic extremists but

      this is a serious problem with other religions also)

 

Politicians do this quite often, slyly implicating/accusing but speaking in general terms so that no one is quite offended or

can say "He was speaking about us!"

 

This is how the various quotes of Obama read to me.

But do you feel that maybe these are misquotes or were taken out of context?

Or am I just misunderstanding what these quotes are saying?

 

And if anyone else has any thoughts, please let me know your views, thanks

Edited February 6, 2015 by Beggar for the Spirit

[will11j]

Just from reading that short article, it sounds like Barak Obama is calling on people to unite in faith and religion. Quit the opposite to the turning on Babylon the Great we are all waiting for. How much longer will they tolerate it....I wonder.

[Stavro]

Rather than relying on incomplete and potentially biased news reports, the White House publishes full unedited transcripts of each of the president's speeches.

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast

 

In the full speech, he was somewhat less ambiguous about the target of his remarks.

 

"So how do we, as people of faith, reconcile these realities -- the profound good, the strength, the tenacity, the compassion and love that can flow from all of our faiths, operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends?"

 

"So this is not unique to one group or one religion.  There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.  In today’s world, when hate groups have their own Twitter accounts and bigotry can fester in hidden places in cyberspace, it can be even harder to counteract such intolerance. But God compels us to try.  And in this mission, I believe there are a few principles that can guide us, particularly those of us who profess to believe."

 

"And so, as people of faith, we are summoned to push back against those who try to distort our religion -- any religion -- for their own nihilistic ends.  And here at home and around the world, we will constantly reaffirm that fundamental freedom -- freedom of religion -- the right to practice our faith how we choose, to change our faith if we choose, to practice no faith at all if we choose, and to do so free of persecution and fear and discrimination."

 

 

Reading the entire speech, the message I see isn't so much a desire to end or suppress any particular religion, but to remove people's ability to use religion as a shield for murder and hate-speech. He does appear sincere in his desire to separate the 'good majority' from the 'bad minority', but it seems he doesn't quite understand that murder isn't just a perversion of these religions, it's their very foundation. Or worse, he understands that all too well and he just wants to put on a heavy coat of whitewash. (Matthew 23:27)

[ChocoBro]

Sounds like he is implying that islam has been hijacked in the same way that Christianity has been time and again.

 

I am not surprised, seeing as the Potus has repeatedly shown a powerful bond to this religion, and the Quran, once going so far as to bash the bible and praise the words from the Quran that he quoted in fluent arabic.

 

So sorry though, that this argument doesn't really hold any water in the end. And I am somewhat glad more and more people are seeing it for what it is, politically correct pacification speech.

 

Because though it is true that Christianity was hijacked for purposes of evil over and over, there are numerous clear and distinct differences between the founders of these two faiths.

 

So he's right, Christianity has been distorted. Islam? Weelll, not so distorted.

 

Seems though that more and more righteous muslims are waking up to this fact.

[normadenardo]

Do I understand correctly that Muslims regard themselves somewhat as the descendants of Ishmael? And that their true origins are pre-christianity?

Edited February 6, 2015 by normaclutter

[Beggar for the Spirit]

Thanks Brother Stavro for the link to the official transcripts of the

President's speech.

I rarely have heard or read 1 of the President's speeches,

I am normally not too interested.

But I just happen to come across this article by the "Business Insider"

that has an interesting slant to Obama's speech.

 

I did go and read the official transcript and it is true that when you read/listen to

the entire speech, the "overall" feeling you get is positive about Faith and religion.

and that it is just some people who misuse it, like Jerry mentioned.

 

But the fact is that not everyone accepts this as just a "positive" feeling speech,

the Business Insider did not, they saw certain statements he injected into

his speech that caused them to entitle the article about his speech:

Not

"Obama: Encourages faith and to 'Love thy Neighbor'"(which he quotes the Torah, Koran, Holy Bible)

but rather

"Obama: 'People committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ'.

 

So when you read this title and then read their article and how it

quotes accurately these certain statements by Obama, it shows

that the "Business Insider" viewed his speech as having some very

interesting statements about religions, Christianity and religious violence.

Now that was not what the entire speech was about, but the fact the

secular people can "read between the lines" of his speech and

see not such a "positive" speech about religion or Christianity is

interesting.

 

 I wonder if a speech like this by a politician is similar to how we

speak about the message that "false religion" spreads, that it sounds

good and peaceful yet there are drops of poison within it.

 

In other words, if Obama's speech was simply to speak of how good

faith and religion can be and that it is just "some" who misuse it,

then why inject major historical events that show, not just some people,

but religions like the Catholic Church(The Inquisition and the Crusades) having

"committed horrible deeds in the name of Christ"?

 

Or why mention the devastating slavery that existed in the U.S.

for many years/decades that Christian religions were promoting in

the "name of Christ"?

 

Anyway just some interesting thoughts, that is why I posted this article.

I was curious what others thought about the speech.

[Stavro]

But I just happen to come across this article by the "Business Insider" that has an interesting slant to Obama's speech.

All media sources are biased, though some attempt to hide their bias better than others, and Business Insider is no different. Although they are better than many media outlets (such as Fox News), they aren't entirely immune to cherry-picking quotes to support a chosen narrative.

In another article I found on this speech, it was even stated that Obama was supporting ISIS, telling Christendom that they have "no moral standing to criticize" the actions of ISIS and radical Islam. Clearly the speech was a direct condemnation of all religious-backed terrorism, but as long as quotes can be cherry-picked people will continue to distort the meaning to support their chosen view of the world.

Edited February 6, 2015 by trottigy

[Adelin]

When I read these it appears that Obama does not speak of "some" in religion who misuse it, but instead

he provides as evidence major historical events that involve religions and their leaders as in

the Crusades(Catholic religion) and Inquisition(Catholic religion) and

slavery here in the U.S.(various Christian religions).

And that in these events horrible violence and "terrible deeds" were committed just as the Islamic Terrorists do today.

this is an argument I used in conversations these days - many people condemning Islamic religion do not realise that their own religion IS guilty of similar things