This was the title of an article by Stephen Mansfield. He is the best-selling author of The Faith of Barack Obama, The Faith of George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission. Mansfield writes some pretty amazing things but I wanted to highlight some interesting facts in his writing of Obama and his faith experiences and beliefs.

“He is the first president not born in a Christian home…he is the only president to have once practiced a non-Christian faith.”

“The president is nearly an ideal example of the religious direction of his times…the majority [of American people] believe that there might be many versions of the faith they embrace and that their faith might not be the only path to God. Indeed, Americans are less likely to believe that any single faith is the only path to God.”

“He [Obama] was raised in an atheist’s home…he experienced every type of religious expression, from Jewish to Hindu and native Hawaiian to Buddhist, to name but a few. Then there were the years in Indonesia, where he attended first a Roman Catholic and then a public school, all the while practicing an informal type of Islam at his stepfather’s side. Yes, he prayed at a mosque on some Fridays. Yes, he invoked the blessings of Allah.”

“Obama believes in the divinity of Jesus, yes, and in his resurrection and his grace. But he is not as sure about the meaning of Scripture, and can not comfort his daughters about the afterlife, as he tells us in The Audacity of Hope…he believes in a “living word of God,” one that ever reveals and expands, that comes from unexpected sources. “When I read the Bible,” he has written, “I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations – whether they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion.”

“I am rooted in the Christian tradition,” he has said, But “I believe there are many paths to the same place…”

“This is what we can expect – a big tent faith-based presidency, rooted in a non-traditional approach to Christianity yet seeking to draw in nearly every religious tradition. For this, he understands, is how the majority of the people he serves would want it to be…A people almost always get the leader they deserve. Certainly, in the matter of faith, Barack Obama and the American people, today this is as much as ever the case.”

I came across this article response in the Monday, June 1st edition of the USA Today paper on page 10A by Chuck Tamraz of Carmichale, California. This is a response of a reader on an article about North Korea’s nuke test:

“The article “Nuke test puts U.S., Obama on notice” quotes Beijing professor Shi Yinhong’s opinion that the nuclear test last week by North Korea seeks to “show Obama that he has to treat them as an equal counterpart.” But North Korea is not an equal counterpart because its so-called military could be obliterated overnight by U.S. forces. The only reason Kim Jong II can pretend to ignore this fact and practice saber-rattling diplomacy is the continuing protection and support provided by China. Unfortunately, we have become so financially indebted to China that our freedom to pursue a foreign policy in our own best interest is severely restricted. While members of Congress advise the American people to pay off their credit cards, they continue to borrow heavily form China. Until the U.S. liquidates its debts to China, we will be unable to dissuade a petty tyrant such as Kim from threatening world peace.”

I was reminded of what the Scripture says in Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.” The way America is in violation to God’s Word even in the “accepted” method of using massive debt will have its consequences. I wish it were true that “In God We Trust”, however, the evidence speaks for itself. We trust in man. So American, we ought not be surprised then, when we become enslaved to them.

Obama: We are no longer a Christian Nation

“In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

“We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps finally, staked of the experiment.”

“From the day of the Declaration…they (the American people) were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct.”

“Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world…Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters.”

“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy…Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt”

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

I just happened to be surfing the channels on my TV last night and came across the Miss USA pageant in progress. I also happened to see Miss California come to the microphone to take a question from the judges. The question she received was from Perez Hilton who asked Carrie (Miss California) her view of same sex marriage. My first intuition was to change the channel, because California and homosexuality seems to go hand in hand, and surely this was another move by those who own the cameras to desensitize the rest of America, but I didn’t and the answer I heard was pretty surprising. Her comment was that while she had nothing against homosexuals she did believe that marriage in America should be defined as one man and one woman. Perez was obviously upset at her answer and I was so surprised that I stood there staring as if to verify that what I had actually heard was indeed what I heard.
This morning I woke up to all kinds of blog chatter about her stand and the uproar of the gay community. Carrie clarified here statement but did not back down from her position. The shame in all of this is that only 38% of Americans want gay marriage legalized and America is being fed a lie that this is the sentiment of an overwhelming majority. The move in Iowa to legalize same sex marriage was initiated by a hand full of state judges, and not the people of Iowa.
Carrie credits her faith for her stand and mentioned that this was an opportunity from God to express and prove her faith. I too, as Carrie confessed, have nothing against homosexuals as individuals but I do not approve of their lifestyle and I was refreshed and impressed to here some one stand and affirm the view of the true American majority. May God bless Carrie for her daring stand.