January 30, 2009
 

Friends,

Below is a series of conversations during President Obama's first days in office. Some names have been withheld to protect somebody. The first is a response from a woman who voted for him, the second is my initial response to a phone call from her. Finally, there is an online article regarding how some other Obama's voters are responding. My question is, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Alveda

"You are right. We should all find this action during his first week in office repulsive. I have been telling all of my family and friends and co-workers what he has done and they all agree that this should not be part of the agenda of a man who has promised CHANGE and HOPE. "Where there is LIFE there is HOPE" and signing this Mexico City Pro-Abortion death warrant approving that our tax dollars pay for millions of 3rd world children to be aborted worldwide is definitely a betrayal of the trust that many people of faith like myself have placed in him. I wonder where our national religious leaders are. I did receive an e-mail with the statement that the National Council of Catholic Bishops released on Friday. What has the National Conference of Black Catholic Bishops had to say specifically?  I will see our NAACP state president tomorrow at the installation ceremony for new officers and I will confer with him as to what we could do as a state conference. I do feel challenged to speak with my own voice which I will but it does not carry much weight on the national scene. I just wish I had more time to deal with these issues in a consistent fashion I am in the process of formulating a letter now. Thanks"

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From:
Subject: FW: Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some
Date: Saturday, January 24, 2009, 9:40 AM

I got your message. It's funny in a sad way that you say you are "a little bit down" regarding President Obama's consistent displays of anti-life aggression. He is doing what he said he would do. Yes, the reversal of the ban on money for foreign abortions that President Obama signed is a red flag and the tip of the iceberg. Also, when you have time, visit the White House Home Page and go to the women's agenda where you will see his pro-abortion stance hidden in language of "reproductive choice." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/women).

President Obama's pro-murder agenda is the most aggressive America has ever seen. Something really needs to be done about all of this! Remember that I said that all of those who were so excited about the Inauguration should party with a purpose? He should not get a pass on all of this, and lead more millions of our diminishing populations to the slaughter. It's no use saying that's just Mexico. Our neighbors are human as we are. This is not an I told you so message. That would be petty on my part. This is a wake up please message. His actions are of the sort that bring a stronger curse on the nation. Those who voted for him need to loudly advance a culture of life message. Are you going to lead that charge that you promised to lead getting the pro-life community who voted for him to get the message out to him in a big way? There must be instant responses to each pro-murder thing he does. Call out, sound the alarm and alert everybody and get a release out! His supporters should be at the head of the line of responding that killing humans is not good. I didn't vote for him, and he will hear my voice. You did vote for him and he must hear your voice too. We can do some releases together as well. Call your congressman and the Black Caucus and demand that they take a group of you to a meeting with the President! This is a good time to pray for America, pray for our President, repent and seek God, for all of us, no matter what our stance has been. Peace out!

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From:
Subject: Fwd: Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some

Check out this article...

HEADLINE...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.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," the new president said. "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth," he also said. Nothing too controversial, proclaiming that America's strength lies in its diversity.

But between those two statements, the new president got specific: "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."

By mentioning, for the first time in an inaugural address, the 16.1 percent of Americans who check "no" when asked about religion, Obama turned it into the most controversial line in his speech - praised by The New York Times editorial board and cited by some Christians as evidence that he is a heretic, and in his well-spoken way, a serious threat.

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.

Parshall noted that atheists were celebrating the unexpected mention, and indeed they were: "In his inaugural address...President Barack Obama did what many before him should have done, rightly citing the great diversity of America as part of the nation's great strength, and including 'nonbelievers' in that mix,'" said Ed Buckner of American Atheists.

"His mother would have been proud,"' Buckner said, referring to the fact that Obama's mother was not a church-goer. "And so are we."

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."'

With all the focus on Obama as the first African-American president, the succession of black callers to Janet Parshall's show was a reminder that the "community'' is not a monolith, and that many socially conservative black Americans are at odds with Obama's views, particularly on abortion and gay rights. Nor do they all define civil rights in the same way.

The Rev. Cecil Blye, pastor of More Grace Ministries Church in Louisville, KY, said the president's reference to nonbelievers also set off major alarm bells for him. "It's important to understand the heritage of our country, and it's a Judeo-Christian tradition,'' period.