Barack Obama and Pastor Jeremiah Wright
There is one more big reason why I cannot support Barack Obama in good conscience. It is because of his stance on issues related to marriage, the family and sexuality. A friend of mine recently compiled the following list of positions that Barack Obama favors, from the public record.
Barack Obama Favors
- “the full and unequivocal repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act,” which protects states from forced legal recognition of same-sex “marriages” performed in California or Massachusetts.
- Homosexual civil unions (the legal equivalent of marriage with respect to childrearing, adoption, inheritance, tax and hiring law and freedom of association, requiring costly new government and insurance benefits that natural, traditional families and the rest of society must subsidize).
- He seeks to “ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits” of natural, traditional marriage are extended to same-sex couples.
- State-by-state homosexual marriage (by way of Supreme Court orders to override legislatures as necessary, dignifying what we once called “sodomy” with religious legitimacy)
- Condom distribution in prisons (de facto facilitation of “safe sodomy” )
- Full, open homosexual integration into our military. Our military women aren’t required to bunk and bathe with male soldiers; is it appropriate to force any of our troops to bunk and bathe with declared homosexuals? What about the morale of our troops?
- Automatic “same-sex citizenship” for foreign homosexual “permanent partners” of American gays.
If you are going to call yourself a Christian, you have to deal with the fact that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is clear about God’s rejection of all sexual immorality in general – and homosexual behavior in particular. Does Barack hold that Moses (echoed by Paul in Romans 1) is merely offering an option from the Lord Almighty in Leviticus 18:22-23?
“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is an abomination.”"
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
Barack Obama recently contested the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by declaring that “I do not agree with General Pace that homosexuality is immoral.”
I ask you then, Mr. Obama… on what grounds do you call yourself a Christian, yet reject publicly and categorically the position your historic faith holds on marriage, the family and sexuality? As a fellow Christian, I just can’t support you in this! I don’t see how any other Christian can either.
(Thank you to Steve for the compiling of public data)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Here’s a brand new article on Obama and abortion that my roommate Jarrett co-write - it highlights the tragic extremism of Obama’s position.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=ZDI0MDJiOTM1Zjk0NjUyNWM2NzY3YTdmM2I2MWUyZDM
There is no argument about the horrors of abortion from me. I have lately taken to playing the devil’s advocate in order to try to understand our current situation better: how we can isolate the issues of abortion and homosexuality, raising hell about morality and biblical truth, when both candidates are obviously imperfect people? Is abortion MORE evil than greed, slander, dishonesty, or infidelity? Is the standard we hold our elected leaders lopsided in its focusing on specific evils and ignoring of others? Honestly, I am as repulsed by McCain’s anti-Obama campaigns as I am by Obama’s stance on abortion. I feel like when the nation has only 2 choices for a president, there are going to be moral “compromises” on both sides. Government is a fallible establishment. That hasn’t prevented God from being in control and even using people to do good things in the world - even people that support a woman’s right to choose.
It’s a tough decision. I find it hard to justify voting for either candidate.
Taylor,
I have a lot of mixed feelings about both candidates as well. I think it is fair to say that most people do.
As a Christian though, I am coming to the conclusion that the worldview and character of the candidate is actually more important than specific issues.
Furthermore, I’m actually far more interested in knowing the worldview of a candidate’s core support base and donors than I am in the candidate’s faith, experience or resume. The reason for this is that the candidate’s supporters are ultimately going to hold that candidate accountable for moving their agenda forward.
I feel like we may begin to miss the forest for the trees when we focus on specific issues and vote purely on the basis of our 2 or 3 most important issues. Political strategists have millions of dollars to spend in order to obscure issues that are highly complex and turn them into slogans that benefit their political party. For instance, you mention “greed” as an issue that you are concerned about. While we can find appalling examples of greed in both political parties and argue endlessly about who the party of greed is, I think it is far more helpful to look at the ultimate objectives of each party and candidate’s goals. Not the stuff they say on their commercials and websites, but the stuff they tell their supporters they will do when they get elected.
Personally, I’m very concerned about the kinds of judges that Barack Obama will nominate. He has made all kinds of promises to groups like Planned Parenthood, ACLU and readers of the Daily Kos, just three groups that I know to be deeply hostile to Christians (or at least Christians who believe in the ultimate truth of the Scriptures and the ultimate authority of Christ).
What do you think, Taylor? Is there anything in particular that excites you or upsets you about what each candidate’s supporters want them to accomplish as president?