JB> Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible

 JB> Jun 23, 9:38 PM (ET)

 JB> By ERIC GORSKI

 JB> COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - As Barack Obama broadens his
 JB> outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's
 JB> biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic
 JB> presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a
 JB> "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

 The religious right is expert on 'fruitcake interpretations" of
 the constitution.

 ...

 JB> "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we
 JB> expelled every non-Christian from the United States of
 JB> America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?"
 JB> Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al
 JB> Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

 A most excellent question. The reality is, there is little
 history shown of religious refugees in this country's early days
 truly wanting a nation free of oppression, they just wanted to
 be the oppressors. The puritans and pilgrims were not noted for
 their liberal views of other faiths. Even when the Catholic
 colony was founded, with freedom of religion, it was only for
 those who believed in the Trinity.

 JB> Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which
 JB> Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters
 JB> like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and
 JB> eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the
 JB> Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful
 JB> that our own Defense Department would survive its
 JB> application."

 JB> "Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

 Boy did he hit that one right.

 JB> Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old
 JB> Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to
 JB> Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.

 Ok, Leviticus no longer applies? Isn't Leviticus the source of
 the condemnation of homosexuality that is so often cited? Didn't
 someone just recently ask what Obama thought about
 homosexuality?

 JB> "I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional
 JB> understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his
 JB> own confused theology," Dobson said.

 IOW, he's much like Dobson.

 JB> "... He is dragging biblical understanding through the
 JB> gutter."

 It was Dobson who said Leviticus no longer applies. It is Dobson
 who is practicing cafeteria Christianity.

 ...

 JB> Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's
 JB> argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates
 JB> over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's
 JB> terms but in arguments accessible to all people.

 Yeah, let's keep the debate so narrow no one but the elite can
 understand it.

 JB> He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to
 JB> govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality,"
 JB> labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the
 JB> Constitution."

 Until Dobson is anointed as the voice of God, he doesn't get to
 say what denominator of morality is to be in the Constitution.
 OTOH, if Dobson wants a religious interpretation of the
 Constitution, I will only accept it if it gets the imprimateur
 of the Pope.

 Is that acceptable to Dobson? Is that acceptable to the
 participants in this echo?

 JB> "Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the
 JB> political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with
 JB> regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What

 Are the rest of us, in a democracy, required to conform to
 Dobson's bigoted notion of what is right for the nation?

 JB> he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have
 JB> no right to fight for what we believe."

 If everybody agrees there is nothing to fight for.

 ...

 JB> Obama recently met in Chicago with religious leaders,
 JB> including conservative evangelicals. His campaign also
 JB> plans thousands of "American Values House Parties," where
 JB> participants discuss Obama and religion, as well as a
 JB> presence on Christian radio and blogs.

 JB> Patriotism is not who can leak the most
 JB> Top Secret documents to the NY Times ..

 Sometimes that is exactly what patriotism is.

 Patriotism is most certainly not displayed in outing a covert
 agent for political gain.

 Somebody find a way to enlighten Dobson to the tagline.

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Those who lie in the name of God are Satan's greatest servants.
 * Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5a