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sterbo

(CNN) -- A top U.S. evangelical leader is accusing Sen. Barack Obama of deliberately distorting the Bible and taking a "fruitcake interpretation" of the U.S. Constitution.
James Dobson says Barack Obama is distorting bibical teachings to fit "his own confused theology."

In comments to be aired on his radio show Tuesday, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson criticizes the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for comments he made in a June 2006 speech to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

In the speech, Obama suggested that it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting that some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.
"Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?" Obama asked in the speech. "Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?
"So before we get carried away, let's read our Bible now," Obama said, to cheers. "Folks haven't been reading their Bible."
He also called Jesus' Sermon on the Mount "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application."

In the comments to be aired Tuesday, Dobson said Obama should not be referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament. Listen to Dobson blast Obama's biblical interpretations »
Who is James Dobson?

• Influential evangelical leader
• Founder and chairman of Focus on the Family
• Radio commentaries heard by more than 220 million people each day
• Seen on 60 television stations in U.S. each day
• Had backed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for president
• Has been critical of John McCain

Sources: CNN, Focus on the Family
"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology," Dobson said, adding that Obama is "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."
Responding to the comments, Joshua DuBois, Obama's national director of religious affairs, said the Illinois senator is "committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for American families."
"A full reading of his 2006 Call to Renewal speech shows just that," DuBois said. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together."
The comments come shortly after DuBois called Focus on the Family to suggest a meeting with the group ahead of the Democratic Party's convention in late August, according to Tom Minnery, the organization's senior vice president for government and public policy.
Minnery wouldn't say whether any such meeting is planned but said the group is open to it.
Dobson also takes aim at Obama for suggesting in the speech that those motivated by religion should attempt to appeal to broader segments of the population by not just framing their arguments around religious precepts.
"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal rather than religion-specific values," Obama said. "It requires their proposals be subject to argument and amenable to reason."
Dobson said the suggestion is an attempt to lead by the "lowest common denominator of morality."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" he asked. "What he's trying to say here is, unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.
"What the senator is saying there, in essence, is that 'I can't seek to pass legislation, for example, that bans partial-birth abortion, because there are people in the culture who don't see that as a moral issue,' " Dobson said. "And if I can't get everyone to agree with me, than it is undemocratic to try to pass legislation that I find offensive to the Scripture. Now, that is a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
According to Minnery, Dobson was particularly offended by a portion of the speech in which Obama mentioned evangelical leader and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
In the speech, Obama said, "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?"
In response, Minnery said, "Many people have called [Sharpton] a black racist, and [Obama] is somehow equating [Dobson] with that and racial bigotry."
Dobson's comments follow the Obama campaign's recent efforts to increase its appeal among evangelicals, many of whom have expressed reservations about supporting Sen. John McCain the presumptive Republican nominee.
Dobson himself has said he will not vote for the Arizona senator.
Minnery said he doesn't expect Obama to make inroads into the reliably Republican voting bloc.
"Evangelicals are people who take Bible interpretation very seriously, and the sort of speech he gave shows that he is worlds away in the views of evangelicals," he said.

Minnery also said Dobson will probably continue his criticism of Obama.
"Given our fact that religion seems to be such a relevant topic in this election again, we will defend the evangelical view vigorously," he said.


*CNN

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Buzzby

Only another Fundamentalist Christian fanatic would consider the "political" ruminations of one who thinks that the United States of America should be governed by an ancient religious text instead of the Constitution we have long fought to defend.

These are the same wackos who want to impose Biblical law on all of us, no matter what our beliefs, and execute people for violating any one of the Ten Commandments.

Check out Theocracy Watch in my sig.

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gabriel420

I'm not going to point out the obvious about James Dobson, but...


I do think that our country (and the whole damn world) could use a little Sermon on the Mount. Just a thought...?

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WE'll build castles in the sky on the ruins of a hell earth
and find a rage to live inside so full it's about to burst.

Buzzby

The whole world could certainly use a more spiritual approach to dealing with other people and other countries. But you can't legislate spiritual growth, all you can do is encourage it. That kind of change only comes from within.

Otherwise, you end up with "religious" politicians who set up punitive systems for all those who have a different idea about what is moral and what is not. We see a lot of that in Muslim countries. They have volunteer religious police who enact brutal street justice on anyone they consider to be in violation of sharia law.

troublemaker_42

People are entitled to their opinions, no matter how misguided or uninformed they may be. Its up to us as individuals to wade through the sea of bullshit in order to gain true understanding of the issues. If you're a mindless sheep who take people like Dobsen at their word and do no further research, you deserve whatever happens. Common sense is a rare commodity in this here world, and I have no sympathy for anyone who would rather be a drone than actually engage their brain.

However, one could just as easily apply the "whacko" label to Rev. Wright, could we not? A primary difference is that McCain hasn't embraced Dobsen (or vice versa for that matter), while Obama staunchly defended Rv. Wright as his "spiritual advisor" right up until it was readily appearent his campaign would suffer hugely because of it. Then, his Reverand of many years was tossed to the curb like yesterday's garbage. Talk about a 180!!!!

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You CANNOT help the poor by destroying the rich.
You CANNOT strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You CANNOT bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You CANNOT lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You CANNOT further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You CANNOT build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You CANNOT help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
I'll stick to my guns, money, religion and freedom...you can keep the change

 

troublemaker_42

Conmsidering its completely off-topic for the thread, I've got to wonder WHY you went there...

NoobMcGee

Seemed to be an appropriate response to the thread title.

Trocisp

I'm going to be perfectly honest here (like there are times I'm not.. )

I opened this thread, and before reading the article but after seeing the picture I expected this thread to be about pedophilia, with another of sterbo's goofy thread titles.

sterbo

We can let Freud decipher that one. Oh, my word: Shama Lama Ding Dang Dong Doodle...
GoofyWilbur.jpg