By Dave Grigger
Barack Obama showed his true colors in a speech that maligned Christians and threatened religious freedom on Sunday.
The president drew cheers and applause from a like-minded Democratic crowd as he claimed that religious freedom did not give Christians the right to speak opposition to gay marriage. Christian freedoms, it seems, disappear the moment anyone voices disagreement with Obama’s agenda.
The president’s views are hardly constitutional, and have more in common with Emperor Nero than Washington, Adams, or Jefferson – and remember, too, that Christians have already been imprisoned in this country for refusing to act against their religious beliefs.
Obama made the comparison even more frightening with a thinly-veiled call to purge politicians who still stand for conservative values. “We need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes,” he said to raucous applause.
‘We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom and are profoundly respectful of religious traditions,’ Obama said during remarks that were interrupted by repeated applause and cheers.
‘But we also have to say clearly that our religious freedom doesn’t grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights.’
‘And that even as we are respectful and accommodating genuine concerns and interests of religious institutions, we need to reject politicians who are supporting new forms of discrimination as a way to scare up votes.
‘That’s not how we move America forward,’ he added. That was an apparent reference to some of the Republican presidential candidates. (Via)
The trope is a familiar Hollywood standard – vicious, venal Christians using political power and intimidation to frighten minorities – but it bears no relation to reality, where respectful Christians insist on their right to peacefully disagree, even while being led away in chains.
One would think a sitting president would understand a simple truth: disagreeing with people in power is both a religious right and a basic right granted in the Constitution. When that right is taken away, what is left is not a free nation, but a dictatorship. And it’s only a matter of time before prison is replaced with fire.
Should Christians be worried? What do you think?
