Christian Right: Obama Is A Heretic For Observing Day Of Prayer In Private Just Like Most Other Presidents
Christian Right: Obama Is A Heretic For Observing Day Of Prayer In Private Just Like Most Other Presidents
President Obama will sign a proclamation recognizing today as a National Day of Prayer (NDP). Notably, the President will not continue George W. Bush’s practice of holding a “formal White House event.” In response, conservative commentators in recent days have been suggesting that Obama is in some way attempting to downplay the significance of the NDP — and faith in general.
Limbaugh went so far as to suggest that Obama was trying to “cancel” the NDP, while the National Day of Prayer Task Force issued a statement suggesting that Obama was departing from historical tradition. The task force claimed that Obama’s decision was “contrary to the administrations of President George W. Bush, President George H. W. Bush, and President Ronald Reagan.”
This morning on Fox and Friends, co-host Steve Doocey echoed the claim that Reagan and George H. W. Bush held events similar to that of George W. Bush. Guest Elisabeth Hasselbeck asserted that public events at the White House on the National Day of Prayer stretched back to President Truman and strangely suggested that Obama’s decision was interfering in Americans’ right to “gather and pray” in public:
HASSELBECK: This has been a tradition in our country in our country since 1952 with Truman. … I think that we are looking to him today to lead this country and this has been a huge tradition. It has also been one that has been protected in our country through our constitution. We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit.
Watch it:
In reality, it was Bush who broke with tradition by holding official White House events on the NDP. Indeed, as the National Day of Prayer Task Force spokesperson Brian Toon explained on May 1, “There was no East Room event until George W.” And despite the Task Force’s claim today that Reagan and H. W. Bush were in the habit holding White House events on the NDP, U.S. News and World Report explains that each of them held such events only once during their presidencies.
Asked by ThinkProgress about the Task Force’s false statements, Rev. Susan Thistlethwaite, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, pointed out that the organization is chaired by Shirley Dobson — wife of the ultraconservative Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. Indeed, the fact that conservatives and the Task Force in particular feel the need to lie about the history and traditions surrounding the NDP suggests that they are less concerned with promoting prayer in America than they are with taking every possible opportunity to “slam Obama” for political gain.
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Rush is just resorting to hysterical lies at this point.
Must be the Oxy talking.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:32 pmI’m sick of religious litmus tests.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:34 pmChristian Right: Obama Is A Heretic For Observing Day Of Prayer In Private Just Like Most Other Presidents
– - Hold on, TP. Are you now saying that Elisabeth Hasselbeck and morning twits Steve Doocey, et al, are what you consider the Christian Right?
Yeah, not so much.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:37 pmUh guys, Sermon on the Mount. Somewhere around Matthew 5 or Matthew 6, right next to the Lord’s Prayer.
Says something about not to pray in public like the Hypocrites – they love attention and they already have their reward. But instead lock yourself in your innermost secret room and pray in private.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:37 pmFail.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:38 pmI will mark the day by praying that Justice will be served upon those who committed war crimes and other atrocities.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:38 pmSTFU.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:39 pmmatthew 6
5″And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pmAs far as I know we are all free to pray whenever we wish.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pmI don’t need to do it in a public forum. Maybe Obama feels the same way?
Looks like the american christian taliban are getting wound up….
KMAMF
May 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pmE. Hasselbeck:
So “gather and pray,” already. Who’s stopping you?
May 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pmBy all means let’s make a show of ones private spiritual life. Everyone knows that only the most public displays prove you are religious. Why look at Bush. And look at the rest. And look at Limbaugh. Now there is an example of a decent human being.
As far as the religious right dominated by the radical televangelists and the breast beating hypocrites that make up the religious right, save me. That brand of religion has nothing going for it. These hateful beings, better hope there is no God or Jesus waiting on the other side. They are doomed to explain what the preach and what they do.
Find me a more violent, woman hating, hate filled book in the world then the Bible. It can’t be done. I would just as soon worship an auto parts catalog. It has more relevance and nothing offensive to the human soul.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pmSo much for thou shalt not bear false witness. They wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pmease up with the stones there loonies, it is not like he said Jehovah.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:43 pm.
FREEDOM from RELIGION!
.
May 7th, 2009 at 2:43 pmThese poor, poor Christians. When will the relentless persecution of them ever end??
May 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pmFrom the Book of Matthew:
6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
but I don’t really expect these people to have actually read the Bible, the same way that I don’t expect these people to have read the Constitution… It’s all just a political tool for them to use..
May 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pmHasselbeck is nothing but a RW hack! She was on LKL las night on CNN and said how she and Michelle Obama are really good friends and “talk all the time”…….now she gets on FNC with the F&F bimbos this morning and gets all snarky…what a windsock she is!! The Christian Right really needs to stop and smell the roses, for their time in the sun is over~!!
May 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pmThere are so many things wrong with this faux outrage, first being; There’s a Prayer Task Force!?!?!? WOW
May 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pmHASSELBECK: This has been a tradition in our country in our country since 1952 with Truman. … I think that we are looking to him today to lead this country and this has been a huge tradition. It has also been one that has been protected in our country through our constitution. We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit.
Nice to see such a noted historian and constitutional scholar like Liz (Why is she famous again) Hasselbeck , commenting on such things ……….
May 7th, 2009 at 2:52 pmYes HasselBarack, Obama and his family were doing Muslim praying, they didn’t want to offend you folks on the Right. I can see what wonderful people you and your Fix Noise nutjobs are, being Praying people. May god bless you all with Jim Jones Kool-aid, can I mix it for you?
Sorry Rush, what do you think?
May 7th, 2009 at 2:52 pmLiz (Why is she famous again) Hasselbeck
Because she ate gross stuff on Survivor and married up…
May 7th, 2009 at 2:59 pmSorry to go OT, but this is too funny not to share:
Joe the Plumber quitting the GOP: report
“Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he’s so outraged by GOP overspending, he’s quitting the party — and he’s the bull’s-eye of its target audience.”
Wurzelbacher’s been in the news for his homophobic remarks earlier this week, in which he said he’s told “queers” to stay away from his children.
Well, more elections. Big Government is never popular in theory, but the disaster aid, school lunches and prescription drugs that make up Big Government have become wildly popular in practice, especially now that so many people are hurting. Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, tells TIME he’s so outraged by GOP overspending, he’s quitting the party — and he’s the bull’s-eye of its target audience. But he also said he wouldn’t support any cuts in defense, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid — which, along with debt payments, would put more than two-thirds of the budget off limits. It’s no coincidence that many Republicans who voted against the stimulus have claimed credit for stimulus projects in their district — or that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal stopped ridiculing volcano-monitoring programs after a volcano erupted in Alaska. “We can’t be the antigovernment party,” Snowe says. “That’s not what people want.”
May 7th, 2009 at 2:59 pmWe should be able to gather and pray as we see fit.
Elizabeth said it, not me. We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit. Obama sees it fit to honor the National Day of Prayer the way he sees fit. If you want to honor the day yourself in a public forum, go to a church and do it.
And Doocey making the association between Obama and his visit to Ray’s Hell Burger? Weak weak WEAK. You might as well say that Dubya and Laura Bush were Satanists for having a recipe for deviled eggs.
WEAK.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:03 pmSo when do we get a day of non-prayer?
I mean, as long as we are asking non entities for personal favors, lets just ask Godzilla to kill the Taliban, Luke Skywalker to save the auto industry (presumably by letting GM in on how that landcruiser thing works), and maybe Captain Spock can fix our health care system.
holy rollers are silly people
May 7th, 2009 at 3:07 pmwait ’til the girls on the view get her butt in the hot seat again over this…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pmRe: “We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit.”
She meant “prey”
May 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pmWhat the HELL is wrong with these people.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:16 pmThey will always find an opportunity to criticize Obama. No matter what he does, they will criticize him. If he joins a catholic church, they will criticize him about his view on abortion. If he joins any Church, they will find a controversy somewhere, somehow.
Dearly beloved, let us join hands (if you have any left from your tours in Afghanistan and Iraq), hearts and souls in lifting us up from the pagan Obama influence. Let us bless our nation’s efforts to wipe out wedding parties in the Middle East with drone missiles, build walls to separate ethnic minorities in Iraq and peddle weapons of death to all nations on the planet. Let us hold Smithfield farms up to the Lord as they foul our water, dehumanize those people (documented and undocumented) who work for them and destroy those animals to bring food to our tables. Bless our efforts to wipe out the Middle Class by laying them off, overcharging them for everything from their gasoline to their health care benefits, closing their places of work, making college education far too expensive to afford for their children and foreclosing the living hell out of them to teach them a lesson. Bless our efforts to make the gated community into a moat with armed guards and guide those who live within those communities to enlighten us once more with how every economic tornado has a silver lining. Guide us in our efforts to trample the poor, turning their neighborhoods into shooting galleries while the NRA boasts of its constitutional rights and leaving them in place of permanent despair. Lead us in our efforts to ravage this planet, hell, it’s too much work to get 6 billion off of the planet anyway so when the storms get stronger, the waters rise, the crops die and the land becomes fallow we will be able to subsist on the true bread. Can I get an alleluia, can I get an amen?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pmHell, if he had observed the day in public, they would be pontificating about how the true Christian prays in public, unlike the Pharisees who pray in the street corners and show their glum faces when they fast…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pmhow the true Christian prays in private I mean…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pmIs it just me or has Hasselbeck been ‘guesting’ on other shows. rather frequently lately?
I know TV-land is pretty incestuous anyway, but could Hasselbeck be putting out the feelers for a new gig–say, one in which she won’t be challenged for her hypocrisy and stupidity quite so often? (i.e. never again?)
After all, some of the blondes on FOX are beginning to show their roots, aren’t they? The timing would be right.
I’m just saying…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:21 pmCling to it CFP. And cling hard.
It’s all you’ve got, so hang on tight.
Never mind that no one else cares, just hang on with all your feverish might…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:21 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Let’s bring out Obama’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for a few of Obama’s favorite prayers like “God damn America,” or “the United States of KKK A.” Or maybe one of those good, racist sermons about “the white devil.” It’s no wonder Obama is taking this one in private.
Or the Reverend Parsley or Reverend Hagee who said to the point that God punished New Orleans because of the TEH GAYS…
that’s very hateful isn’t it? Or is it okay because TEH GAYS are being bashed? Admit it, if he held a formal event, you would be CONDEMNING him with that Bible verse I posted above…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:21 pmYou glossed over the fact that John McCain sought out Hagee’s endorsement, right?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:22 pmI was going to post the text of Matthew 6:5-6, but I see others beat me to it.
President Obama shouldn’t be concerned with this type of criticism. If he prayed publicly, I’m sure the evangelical wingnuts would be throwing Matthew 6:5-6 in his face.
Obama has also been criticized because he hasn’t chosen and joined a church in Washington. Um…neither did Dubya. In fact, the last president to attend a church regularly in Washington was Clinton, who along with his family attended a Methodist church in Washington practically every Sunday he was in town. And this pointed out the problem of a president attending church — the church had to install metal detectors and endure being swept by the Secret Service every time Clinton showed up.
People don’t always realize the logistics involved every time the president goes somewhere, no matter who the president is. Geez — even for Obama and Biden to go out for a cheeseburger required a motorcade.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:23 pmAs rastaman so aptly pointed out, Jesus instructed his followers to pray in private.
This is a truth that fundies find so easy to overlook.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:25 pmAmericans who really believe in God can pray when ever they want to, they don’t need one day. As for the lies well if you don’t read you will believe anything your told. Elizabeth Hasselbeck cried on TV because she wasn’t invited to the White House by Bush and right now she needs all the money she can get to support her family as her husband’s not doing well in his career. Now I wonder if Bristol and Carrie are praying or doing something else? We know Sen. Vitters is getting real busy with his hired lady. Larry Craig is free to search the men’s rooms for sex. Instead of Christians giving lip service maybe it’s time to start looking at what the bible teaches. You can beat Elizbath Hasselbeck will teach her children the racist values she has.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:26 pmConservativeForProgress Says: It’s no wonder Obama is taking this one in private.
Dude…really? Is this your A-game?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:27 pmand since you are a fair person, CFP, remember Reverend Hagee said that Hitler was fulfilling God’s WILL! You seem to think that Obama ENDORSED Wright’s rhetoric, right? So in your fairness and balance, you must then believe that McCain agreed with all of Hagee’s rhetoric, right?
Hagee on Hurricane Katrina “All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Islamic Beliefs
Fresh Air host Terry Gross asked if Hagee believed that “all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews,” to which Hagee replied, “Well, the Quran teaches that. Yes, it teaches that very clearly.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on African-Americans
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hagee was going to “meet with black religious leaders privately at an unspecified future date to discuss comments he made in his newsletter about a ’slave sale,’ an East Side minister said Wednesday.” The Express-News reported:
“Hagee, pastor of the 16,000-member Cornerstone Church, last week had announced a ’slave sale’ to raise funds for high school seniors in his church bulletin, ‘The Cluster.’
“The item was introduced with the sentence ‘Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone” and ended with “Make plans to come and go home with a slave.” [San Antonio Express-News 3/7/96]
Hagee on Catholicism
“Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.” [Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee]
Hagee on Women
“Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.” [God's Profits: Faith, Fraud and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, Sarah Posner]
“[T]he feminist movement today is throwing off authority in rebellion against God’s pattern for the family.” ["Bible Positions on Political Issues," John Hagee]
Hagee on LGBT Americans
“The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment.” [NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06]
Hagee on Iran
“The coming nuclear showdown with Iran is a certainty,” Hagee wrote [in 2006] in the Pentecostal magazine Charisma. “Israel and America must confront Iran’s nuclear ability and willingness to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons. For Israel to wait is to risk committing national suicide.” [The Nation, 8/8/2006]
“‘And they the hunters should hunt them,’ that will be the Jews. ‘From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.’ If that doesn’t describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can’t see that.”
May 7th, 2009 at 3:28 pmLimbaugh, by being an oxycontin addict, is a heretic who should deport himself like he has suggested numerous times before
May 7th, 2009 at 3:30 pmIf you speak about your faith, you have none
May 7th, 2009 at 3:30 pmYes, CFP, Obama’s praying with Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright for the Anti-Christ to rise up and enslave us all. Then Rev. Gene Robinson will lead a sermon about how the gays and lesbians must destroy the institution of marriage through the spread of swine flu so the Chinese and Hugo Chavez can institute their own ideas about communism and fascism in FEMA concentration camps.
Did I cover all of the bases?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:32 pmPurple State Says:
Yes, CFP, Obama’s praying with Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright for the Anti-Christ to rise up and enslave us all. Then Rev. Gene Robinson will lead a sermon about how the gays and lesbians must destroy the institution of marriage through the spread of swine flu so the Chinese and Hugo Chavez can institute their own ideas about communism and fascism in FEMA concentration camps.
Did I cover all of the bases?
You forgot the children. Won’t anyone think of the children?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pmConservativeForProgress Says
May 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Let’s bring out Obama’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for a few of Obama’s favorite prayers like “God damn America,” or “the United States of KKK A.” Or maybe one of those good, racist sermons about “the white devil.” It’s no wonder Obama is taking this one in private.
_________________________________________________________
In the first place, Wright is no longer President Obama’s spiritual advisor. In the second place, you are basing your judgement of Wright on some YouTube footage representing a few seconds of Wright gleaned from more than 20 years of sermons. In the third place, Obama has given no indication that this case of cherry-picked divisive rhetoric (which is almost always used out of context), which Obama specifically repudiated, represents his “favorite prayers”. And in the fourth place, this is old news. The campaign is over. You have no basis to suggest that Obama’s treatment of NDP has anything to do with his past association with Wright’s church except to be hateful.
George W. Bush has so far been the only president to make a big show in the East Room out of the NDP. I wouldn’t interpret Obama’s reluctance to make a carnival out of the day as an effort to downplay the significance of prayer and faith.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Let’s bring out Obama’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for a few of Obama’s favorite prayers like “God damn America,” or “the United States of KKK A.” Or maybe one of those good, racist sermons about “the white devil.” It’s no wonder Obama is taking this one in private.
ConcervativefornoProgress/(aka Rush)You already have your own radio show. You are not welcome here at TP, I think you “took one” in the a*s too many times for you REICHT wingers are brain dead. Makes me want to kick some GOP butt, big time.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pmGee, Pat Robertson says God is damning the US by lifting his protection. Wow. Robertson claims HE has insulted GOD.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:39 pmI saw on a previous post, just today, you posting about the KKK in America….
May 7th, 2009 at 3:39 pmThose right wing bangers can pray all they want, hell, have a national prayer day, week, month, year.. for all I care. Quit trying to shove your fanatic religion in the spotlight and in the Whitehouse!!! The constant barrage of whining from the religious nutjobs is beyond what is tolerable. They should have called GW and had an event at his place. Real faith is quiet and humble not the attention w*ore seeking brand practiced the the fanatic fringe. Thank- you for letting me rant. :)
May 7th, 2009 at 3:40 pmDon’t forget that Obama was criticized for observing Passover. I guess prayer is wrong when a Jew does it ?
And while we’re at it, In addition to the admonition against public prayer in Matthew, isn’t there also one about vain repetitions ?
So could someone point out to me where in the Lord’s Prayer it says “God Bless America”
May 7th, 2009 at 3:40 pmIt does not matter what Pres. Obama say or do, the GOP (regilious right nuts) are going to go against him regardless. He can say red and they will complaint and say green.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:40 pmAnd this imprecatory prayer, which I have seen much of, people praying for GOD to damn other people, how can one rationalize such spite?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pmraynman Says
May 7th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
but I don’t really expect these people to have actually read the Bible, the same way that I don’t expect these people to have read the Constitution… It’s all just a political tool for them to use..
____________________________________________________________
Why waste your time reading the Bible, when everybody knows the purpose of it is to hit people over the head?
/snark off
I suspect Jesus is appalled.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pmright wingers think jesus wanted them to be rich, hateful, and warlike
I guess once you believe he was born from a virgin, you’ll believe anything, including trickle-down economics and that torture works.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:43 pmI so tire of the feigned outrage….the shrieking, the tabloidal tantrums and judgement by those whose teachings tell them not to judge.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:44 pmTHE POLITICAL BASTARDIZATION OF RELIGION
Evangelicals are the bullies and hypocrites who believe the earth is 6,000 to 10,000 years old despite it being 4,500,000,000 years old. The “rationalization” that the word “day” may not mean 24 hours is an admission that the bible IS NOT a literal document, but one that is literally dependent on the reader’s subjective/biased interpretation rather than a verbatim dissemination of “god’s words” or his intentions.
It’s amazing that fundamentalists who claim to base their values on the words in a book pick and choose which words ARE and ARE NOT to be interpreted literally/factually.
Why should a book that has been translated numerous times from numerous languages by numerous fallible human beings over a period of more than 2,000 years be necessary as proof of and or a justification for one’s moral values? When faith itself is completely ethereal, why do so many people base their religious values on the written word?
The majority of people who place so much emphasis on a bible DO NOT practice ALL the values in that bible nor do they project the grace and tolerance of an enlightened believer. Where in any interpretation of any bible does it suggest that god wants people to use his words as a political weapon or litmus test?
May 7th, 2009 at 3:45 pmI’m constantly amazed at the level of moronicness these people will go to demonize someone the are so obviously afraid of.
Hypocrites.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:47 pmI wonder if Michelle Bachmann will find this “Interesting” ……
1) The ranting from the religious folks on this issue proves WHY the first amendment exists and why it needs to be enforced.
2) The more they yell, the more people will hopefully see them for what they are – big babies.
They weaseled their way in to the White House and now it’s time to elbow then out. Don’t they get it? They have their tax free land to worship whatever they want! Tax payers own the land the White House sits on so, the 1st amendment holds true. The constitution is not a hamburger:
I’ll take a “constitution burger” hold the 1st amendment and extra 5th amendment and a side of 2nd amendment.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:49 pmThese folks lie all the time, which is a sin, and for which their god would punish them, so the only conclusion I can come up with is they don’t really believe in god.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:52 pmTo them religion is a social networking thing like facebook.
Oh Sheesh. People are just letting their imaginations run amok
May 7th, 2009 at 3:55 pmThou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor?
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” [Matthew 6:5-6]
I would venture to say that President Obama does the latter and those who ridicule do the former.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:56 pmOne must remember that these people reward those most able to deny reality. I’ve always found it difficult to understand how one can look up, or submit, to an authority figure who is the most delusional member of the group. They even reward their children for an ability to reject knowledge.
But, what really pisses me off is the combination of smug arrogance and xenophobia. They have managed to convince themselves that God will protect them while holding the contradictory position that they have the right to attack anyone who scares them. And, since they are scared of anything/anyone they can’t understand? They are scared of, pretty much, everything/everyone.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:56 pmIt’s just like a conservative to duck the question with another attack. Explain yourself CPF, would you have condemned Obama if he had participated in a formal event?
My guess is either you would have condemned him for making his faith public or you would have dismissed it as a phony show…
May 7th, 2009 at 3:58 pmEarly bible writers didnt believe in or teach the doctrine of the devil, but dont let that stop a good lie.
May 7th, 2009 at 3:59 pmIt’s a National Day of Prayer, CFP. There are tons of people we can pray for.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:03 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
Let’s bring out Obama’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for a few of Obama’s favorite prayers like “God damn America,” or “the United States of KKK A.”
May 7th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
____________
I wish we could. I like Reverend Wright – he’s awesome. We need many more liberation preachers like him and a lot fewer hatemongers who treat Jesus like a marketable commodity.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:08 pmAs mentioned a couple times above, the only authority for Christians on the prayer issue is this one:
Pray in secret
When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
The personal opinions of Limbaugh, Doocey, Hasselbeck, and Dobson
May 7th, 2009 at 4:09 pmare simply irrelevant.
Franky, I don’t give damn what they think!
May 7th, 2009 at 4:12 pmMatthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Mark 1:35
May 7th, 2009 at 4:13 pmVery early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t there supposed to be something called “Seperation of Church & State”? I know it didn’t exist when Bushie was King but why can’t people like ConservativewhitesfornoProgress get it that they got their ass*s kicked this last election and their ideas and screaming at the moon just doesn’t work anymore?
God loves Rush, Bachman, Cantor, Coulter, Foxx, Fox/Fix and the rest of the GOP “sheep”!
What ever happened to Steele & Sarah?
May 7th, 2009 at 4:24 pmI know I’m not the first to observe this, but CFP is really proving to be a disappointment in the trolling department.
It’s like getting up on Easter morning to find a small chocolate rabbit in your basket instead of a big one, and then biting it to discover it’s hollow.
And artificial chocolate. The kind that tastes like soap.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pmThis must be the 9,732nd sign of the apocalypse.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:39 pmDoncha just love the smell of fresh self-righteous hypocrisy in the morning?
May 7th, 2009 at 4:44 pmWhen you have to lie when it comes to talking up prayer, isn’t that a line all of these hypocrites know they shouldn’t even cross as “religious” people?
When these would-be Jesus’ and Mary Virgin Once-overs want to turn their noses down from the sky, maybe they’ll find their crap smells just as bad as everyone elses.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:47 pmI lol’d when he got all excited about Obama going to HELL burger. Does he think his audience is 5?
May 7th, 2009 at 4:50 pmWhenever W was closing his eyes and pretending to pray real hard, he was fantasizing about Jeff Gannon real hard.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:52 pmralph the wonder locust Says:
And artificial chocolate. The kind that tastes like soap.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
____________
Made in China, no doubt.
P.S. The secret ingredient is antifreeze.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:01 pmspring heeled jack Says:
Whenever W was closing his eyes and pretending to pray real hard, he was fantasizing about Jeff Gannon real hard.
I’d bet more along the lines that Dumbya was thinking he was Link from the video game “The Legend of Zelda” and he was saving Princess Zelda Laura Ingraham from Ganon Olbermann.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:02 pmGeorge Carlin once made a wise quote that I try to live by: “Keep thy religion to thyself.”
May 7th, 2009 at 5:09 pmSo could someone point out to me where in the Lord’s Prayer it says “God Bless America”
Don’t believe GBA is in the Bible, but this is:
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” It’s in Proverbs 14.
Perhaps it’s better to put it the way John Adams put it when he addressed some Mass Militia men on October 11, 1798.
Any TPer think something in the last 200 years has proven Adams wrong…or Proverbs wrong for that matter?
May 7th, 2009 at 5:11 pmI’ve stopped calling those people the “Christian Right” because they’re neither. I propose “lunatic fringe” at this point (and a term coined by a real Christian Republican).
George W. Bush was just as fake as the rest of them. I remember back in the day when the National Day of Prayer was spent quietly, in prayer even.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:13 pm“…conservative commentators in recent days have been suggesting that Obama is in some way attempting to downplay the significance of the NDP — and faith in general.”
Amen to that!
Imagine no religion…
May 7th, 2009 at 5:14 pmIn order for prayer to work, one must assume two things.
1. god(s) exist
2. this being is interventionist in nature.
And if such a being exists, one must also conclude it is very malevolent, judging by all the suffering inocent humans have endured.
Oh, and I don’t recall anyone getting upset at G.H. Bush’s comment that atheists shouldn’t be citizens.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:26 pmbitblt quotes John Adams….
Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other
That pretty much explains why the Bush Years were such as Disaster.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:28 pmbitblt Says:
So could someone point out to me where in the Lord’s Prayer it says “God Bless America”
Don’t believe GBA is in the Bible, but this is:
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” It’s in Proverbs 14.
Ah, I see you’re happy quoting from the OT when it suits you. And no one has ever disputed the fact that moral people get along better than immoral or amoral people. What’s your point?
Perhaps it’s better to put it the way John Adams put it when he addressed some Mass Militia men on October 11, 1798.
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other
Any TPer think something in the last 200 years has proven Adams wrong…or Proverbs wrong for that matter?
And again, Adams had the opportunity to mention Jesus and yet . . . he didn’t. Again, what’s your point, blt?
May 7th, 2009 at 5:30 pmnellre @ 61:
These folks lie all the time, which is a sin, and for which their god would punish them, so the only conclusion I can come up with is they don’t really believe in god.
To them religion is a social networking thing like facebook.
Funny that you mention facebook. I know a bunch of real estate agents that go to church just to get business (listings and buyers). They all have their different churches too but some larger churches (mega churches) have more than one agent “working” different crowds. The agents have to be carefull not to overlap too much else they get called out – in a way. That “immediate” trust is predicable and exploited by these sales people. Some agents get frustrated or angered because one agent has a “lock” on a church and they can’t break in. LOL! What a bunch of hypocritical sheeple!
May 7th, 2009 at 5:34 pmRantingTommy Says: right wingers think jesus wanted them to be rich, hateful, and warlike
Ranting Tommy, I love the logic that says Blessed are the Peacemankers (Matthew Ch. 5). So we’re gonna build a nuke and name it “Peacemaker” and therefore it is blessed.
Or the tone deafness that led to building a warship and naming it for the town Corpus Christi (Body of Christ, which is also affirmed in every Mass while receiving the Body).
May 7th, 2009 at 5:42 pmIn John Adams’ day, it was common convention to equate religion and morality. We’ve evolved since then.
And while the last desperate fringes of the Psychochristians(TM) have become more political and vocal in recent years, their numbers are dwindling. Despite their often hysterical protestations, the youth of America are learning about reality rather than depending on the superstitions of their parents.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7513343&page=1
May 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pmNobody needs to get married anymore with the right wing acting like an angry spouse that complains about every little thing. “Oh I hate the way Obama breathes, in and out and in and out. And then he chews his food, why can’t he swallow in whole. And he uses mustard. It’s disgusting.”
May 7th, 2009 at 5:55 pmWhen do you think was the last time Limbaugh saw the inside of a church?
May 7th, 2009 at 5:56 pmYou still there, bitty? I was going to ask you if there’s any empirical data to suggest that Modern American Evangelicals are morally superior to those of other Faiths, or no faith.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:05 pmIf it’s true that Obama stayed at home to pray instead of taking the spotlight on the National Day of Prayer, then he is one of the few actual Christians in Washington, D.C.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners [and on the TV] to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen…
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”
–Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount
May 7th, 2009 at 6:21 pm“A nation of Godly men, not a nation of a god”. I don’t think Godly men questions another man’s prayers.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:22 pmBitbit says: Don’t believe GBA is in the Bible, but this is:
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” It’s in Proverbs 14.
But you see BitBit, I don’t see where the verse says anything that makes it sinful to do ones praying in private.
To make your verse apply, Jesus was sinning when he went alone, in private, to pray ?
May 7th, 2009 at 6:38 pmAlso BitBit, by saying “God Bless America” at every appearance, while in the background doing all sorts of immoral actions, was not Bush saying vain repetitions.
I also note that “God Bless America” is calling on an action of God, apparently because we keep repeating it. As such it represents a talisman. This as opposed to saying may we act in a way consistent with God’s blessing.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:40 pmI wasn’t aware that we had a national day of prayer. I’m holding out for the National Day of Wishful Thinking.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:45 pmThat depends. Does Church’s Chicken count as church?
May 7th, 2009 at 7:20 pm“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites… but when you pray, enter into your closet and pray in secret… and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions… after this manner therefore, pray… ” -Matthew 6:5-9ff
May 7th, 2009 at 7:59 pmYet more proof that the GOP cares nothing about facts, only lies, hysterics, & smears. Why do we care about these liars anymore? What are they teaching our children? Please, until the Repubs can offer anything constructive, or anything honest, based on FACTS, let’s blow them off. They have to learn to function in today’s society. As yet they have no clue.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:19 pmMaddow had a great guest tonight! Bam! Smack down those right-whiners and took them to school!
May 7th, 2009 at 9:26 pmThis legislation shouldn’t exist at all. Why isn’t it being challenged in the courts?
May 7th, 2009 at 9:56 pmI am convinced that my Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day react to the Pharisean Christians, like Limbaugh and Hasselbeck and others, the exact same way that he reacted to the original Pharisees: i.e. “you brood of snakes…” Let those that have ears, pay attention.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:27 pmConservativeForProgress Says:
You really are a worthless ignorant punkass troll. You are so pathetic it makes me sick. You havent ever ONCE made a decent post. You are stupid, disgusting, and worthless.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:45 pmCFP dont you ever just sit down and cry about how ignorant and pathetic you are?
May 7th, 2009 at 10:46 pmraynman says: 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
I’m no biblical scholar, and in fact, have never read the Bible through but I have known of the aforementioned passage for some time……..obviously these the Faux Noise yahoos haven’t a clue……..I believe they are selective Christians—pulling out passages to suit their narrow minds, but I bet they all wear clothing made of things other than cotton and eat pork, work on the Sabbath,etc. because they want to. Hypocrits all.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:57 pmnellre @ 61 says
These folks lie all the time, which is a sin, and for which their god would punish them, so the only conclusion I can come up with is they don’t really believe in god.
To them religion is a social networking thing like facebook.
Although it may be true that there are many hypocrites in and out of churches, all of us need to understand that a hypocrite does not change the truth. The truth does not change. The truth is what we need to be looking for and are responsible for.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:02 pmcurious says:
Find me a more violent, woman hating, hate filled book in the world then the Bible. It can’t be done.
This may help you see some of the “love” mentioned in the greatest book ever written — the Holy Bible:
Matthew 5:44 – But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Matthew 5:46 – For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Matthew 19:19 – Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mark 12:30 – And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mark 12:31 – And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 15:13 – Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus loves you and I so much that He allowed himself to be crucified as an atonement for our sins. Once He arose from death, He conquered the power death had on us to keep us bound and separated from God. Through Christ’s conquer of death, you too have the same opportunity to pass from death to eternal life with God — if you accept the sacrifice Jesus made for you! Christ’s grace is sufficient to cover all your sins — He forgives you even now! I once read — “Justice is getting what we deserve, Mercy is being spared from what we deserve and Grace is receiving something we don’t deserve”. Accept Jesus grace and mercy today!
May 7th, 2009 at 11:10 pmJCDAD :
Jesus sure was a great guy according to those readings. If only we could convince these TV pundits to read these passages and then shut up. They’ll need a lot of grace for their actions in my opinion ……
May 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pmRW-LW:
His Grace is sufficient!
2 Corinthians 3:5 – Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2 Corinthians 12:9 – And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Even TV pundits can make it in :- )
May 8th, 2009 at 12:35 am______
rightwing-leftwing Says:
Funny that you mention facebook. I know a bunch of real estate agents that go to church just to get business (listings and buyers). They all have their different churches too but some larger churches (mega churches) have more than one agent “working” different crowds. The agents have to be carefull not to overlap too much else they get called out – in a way. That “immediate” trust is predicable and exploited by these sales people. Some agents get frustrated or angered because one agent has a “lock” on a church and they can’t break in. LOL! What a bunch of hypocritical sheeple!
May 7th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
______
Yeah, it’s not at all uncommon for non-Christians to pretend to be Christians for financial gain.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:46 am______
Mathazar Says:
And if such a being exists, one must also conclude it is very malevolent, judging by all the suffering inocent humans have endured.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
_____
One might conclude that we reap what we sow. ;)
May 8th, 2009 at 12:50 amYou liberal hypocrits! You people spit on anything (right)eous. I have come to believe that in this very screwed up World, you people have it backwards. Good is evil and evil is good. You expect any conservative christian to bite our tongues when it comes to what we believe is good and moral.Yet you are screaming the loudest. Have you ever stopped to think, maybe we just DONT CARE what you think or want? You complain about how you should have the freedom to chose anything immmoral,you think this is your right…ie. freedom. Freedom that gives you as AMERICANS to stand in the streets of Washington,D.C or Berkeley,CA and protest for GAY rights or ANTI WAR but PRO CHOICE? Its not ok to kill a soldier but is it okay to kill a baby. Your own child!!!What kind of sense is that? You mock God and everything HE stands for. You think its great that Obama is trying to eliminate any religion at all and change years of tradition to hush the National Day of Prayer. Well I am sure that will change to. Along with all the other change thats coming!!! I hope you all enjoy Hell.You people make me sick. What DO you believe in anyways?
There ARE two sides. Those who are good…aka Born-Again Christians,that is, God fearing, Bible thumping, I am going to Heaven,not Purgatory,etc..and then there are you…Liberals. The “Save the planet, save the animals, dont wear fur, but LETS KILL AN INNOCENT BABY because we are completely stupid and irresponsible, but GOD forbid we have war, where they murder and mame people for your freedom so you can chose to kill those babies,(not a fetus b-t-w, a human life, you morons). Whats the difference? You people have no beliefs. Anything goes,free sex,no morals,no consciencious,gay marriages,(whats next marriage to animals?),you people disgust me. You have freedom to live this way because of the men and women who died fighting for those freedoms.If our military didnt go out and fight for your really screwed up beliefs, you couldnt murder your unborn babies or protest your GAY marriage in the streets. Its too bad they fought for those rights for you. I guess all I have left to say is I will enjoy eternal life, in Gods Kingdom in Heaven while you people (liberals), burn in Hell. Theres room for you, but hey, come on now, you really would rather rock out and have your party here now right!? Its so much more fun! Well, by all means, yell, scream, complain, protest,kill innocent children, save the planet and the animals and the aliens you think kidnappped you and took you to Mars,and we will see in the end who has it so much better. But I will still pray for you all. Because as long as there is God there is hope and forgiveness. And I forgive you that you have your wires crossed from too many trips to Mars! That MUST be the problem I will say this though, as long as you think you have any rights to protest your beliefs, I will protest mine. If that means praying in a group on a National Day of Prayer, going to church to worship my LOVING,forgiving Jesus Christ, and trying to the very end to save you all from hell, I will do just that because I have that freedom too.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:58 amJOHN 3:16, ROMANS 3:23.
shkurbon says:
… and trying to the very end to save you all from hell, I will do just that because I have that freedom too.
shkurbon, any Christian would know that Salvation is a gift from God and it is God that does the saving … You can’t save anyone.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:48 amThe Christian right are angry and God is going to come through with his selective Armeggedon. Where the reaper just comes for them…………
May 8th, 2009 at 3:21 amIt never ceases to amaze me that we still talk of religious freedom in the USA when the whole concept of freedom of conscience has in fact been anathema to those who clamor for their rights! The first lie in history was that the pilgimn fathers left England due to persecution. They left on the King’s charter, and after a bill of rights was passed guranteeing the freedom of religion. They also instituted laws that condemned to death any who dissented with their views. What we see today from the Chritian Right Wing is only a continuity of this mind set.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:15 amThe audacity of people especially President Obama standing up expressing their right to religious freedom .Then cancels this get together at the White House ,whats he doing saving the taxpayers money ,not following in Bush’s footsteps AGAIN?Now our country wont get the needed prayer because this event has been canceled.You might know Elizabeth Hasselbeck was part of the discussion,because her mindless ramblings are the pinnacle of absurdity..
May 8th, 2009 at 7:25 amshkurbon Says:
What DO you believe in anyways?
First off, thank you for trying to pack EVERY liberal into your filthy stereotype.
/sarcasm
Now, not every liberal qualifies for the categories you plunge them in, so stop trying to force square pegs into round holes. Personally, I believe in morals, but not morals that have been forced on me by religion.
I believe it is the responsibility of man to live as a moral compass for the next generation and his surroundings. I do not encourage free sex and preach abstinence, but I also understand that it is the right of the individual to decide if they are ready to have sexual relations. I do encourage them, however, to really consider consequences before proceeding.
Because of this, I believe that the mother must live with the choice she makes. I support the mother’s right to choose if it is a risk to her life or if it is caused through rape. I do encourage her to reconsider if she is capable of bearing life, especially since I feel adoption would be a better choice for the child.
Most of all, I support your right to religion. I support your choice to follow God and listen to his preachings. However, if I am to be tolerable of your way of daily religion, I ask that you not suppress my right as an American to follow my own path towards righteousness. I meditate daily, love thy neighbor, and do my personal best to be a good citizen and creature on this planet.
This is America. I dare you to take all that away from me.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:09 amPRAYER is between YOU and GOD. Bush , like other HERETICS and ANTICHRISTS, wanted to put on a show.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:37 amThoise in ISLAM pray in public together. I am sure Jim Jones,and other cult leaders put on shows and prayed for their mass audiences, too.
Let it go, quit listening to drug addicts and the ANTICHRISTS from the GOP.
This is AMERICA–The only G word that america trusts in is GREED–GOD doesn’t bless countries anymore–and WE (America)ARE THE BABYLON from the NT REVELATIONS.
Wake up, people.
If you listen to Rush (theiving, drug adict) Limbaugh, or subscribe to the “Wisdom” of Sean (idiot) Hannity, or Bill (adulterer) O’Reilly–You are as big of an idiot as they want you to be.
CHRISTIANS–read your own BIBLE and think for yourself. It would be a shame to miss out on HEAVEN because you didn’t see who/what JESUS plainly told us was ANTICHRIST.
For all other religions here in the U.S.–Old Wives Tale, “He who yells the loudest is the GUILTIEST”. The three aforementioned “Moralists” (HA) yell, because there is little fact or intelligence to their rants. Don’t buy it.
Give your soul to GOD, not the GOP’s ANTICHRIST machine.
shkurbon @114: we just DONT CARE what you think or want
Really? You don’t? Well then, I don’t care what you think or want either!
We agree on one thing at this point.
Its not ok to kill a soldier but is it okay to kill a baby.
Agreed, it’s not OK to kill a soldier or a baby. However, Soldiers are SENT to war. Mothers to be have a CHOICE to do as they see fit. Ket word is CHOICE. Get it straight – your bent views are blinding you.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:10 amFather,
May 8th, 2009 at 10:10 amI thank you for this country! I thank you for the freedoms that we have been granted. I thank you for our President, President Obama. I pray blessings upon him. I pray that that you hold him in the palm of Your hand and keep him safe. I pray You give him strength and wisdom to carry out the awesome job and decisions placed before him daily. I pray peace, love, and joy over him and his family. Lord, be with them always. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen
_____
John T Says:
It never ceases to amaze me that we still talk of religious freedom in the USA when the whole concept of freedom of conscience has in fact been anathema to those who clamor for their rights! The first lie in history was that the pilgimn fathers left England due to persecution.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:15 am
______
Why the need to try to rewrite history? ;)
May 8th, 2009 at 10:14 amMaybe obama will pray as the usa takes its finial breath when the usa dies. I’m sure one day soon Iran will strike out at the usa and history will repeat itself and obama will revert to the Carter presidential act of closing himself in the oval office and praying in private. It took a real president like Reagan to stand up to iran.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:24 ampreechar Says:
Maybe obama will pray as the usa takes its finial breath when the usa dies. I’m sure one day soon Iran will strike out at the usa and history will repeat itself and obama will revert to the Carter presidential act of closing himself in the oval office and praying in private. It took a real president like Reagan to stand up to iran.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Did Reagan’s bold stance against Iran come before or after he and his advisors decided to seel them arms?
May 8th, 2009 at 11:18 amI think people that need a “day of prayer” to proclaim their faith are in need of some serious help. the Bible teaches that we should pray without ceasing. This was not meant for one day of prayer for all the cameras to see how rightous our politicians want us to believe they are. I do not share President Obama’s beliefs and it is not my place to judge. God is the only judge anyone has to face. The people claiming to be christians on tv are not good examples of walking the christian walk. One of the things that makes a country so great is freedom of religion and Pres. Obama was exercising that right. As americans we share that right and should be considerate of others even when we donot share their beliefs.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:53 amSomewhere between the extreme left and the extreme right is an area of sanity and logic. I consider myself a Christian because I adhere to the tenets taught by Jesus Christ: love of one’s fellowman, people being more important that wealth, treat others as YOU would like to be treated: THAT Christian message. Extrapolating from that: religion has NO PLACE in government not because it is unimportant but because MAN cannot agree on it and thus, rather than a uniting and healing influence, it becomes a source of conflict and divisiveness. I believe in freedom of religion, I DON’T believe in freedom FROM religion, but I think that President Obama ( and I generally tend toward the moderate Rebublican side of the aisle ) is right. Religion is what is in your heart and how you TREAT, not what you IMPOSE ON, others. Jesus Christ lived simply, owned little, and never expected nor engineered his doctrine to be forced on governments: “Render unto Caesar”…, etc. His message was peace, love, acceptance, and tolerance but he DID NOT endorse bilking and manipulating people in the name of his faith: remember the treatment he gave to the moneychangers at the Temple? If everyone in this country simply lived by the Golden Rule, everything else would fall into place. Neither Rush Limbaugh nor Ted Kennedy or any of their ilk on either side has any idea of true Christianity. I’m not a fervent Obama supporter but I must say that so far, at least, the man seems to be trying to be fair. That is a MAJOR cut above of all the other right- and left-wing rabble who seem to get all of the airtime.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:57 amMustang55, Your comment is perfectly put. Thanks for spending the time to write it.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:22 pmI am amazed and appalled at the vitriol and hatred being spewed on this blog by both the “religious right” and the “liberal” sides of this issue. Neither is showing respect for the others’ beliefs and their right to express those beliefs. I appreciate Purple State’s comments. You expressed yourself thoughtfully and kindly, with no attempt to one-up anyone else. I don’t agree with everything you said, but that is what makes America great–the freedom to believe as we choose and the freedom to express those beliefs.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:06 pmWOW! “Christians” being UnChristian like. Nothing new here, just more noise from the hypocritical crowd…
May 8th, 2009 at 1:45 pmIf Limbaugh and Hasselbeck want to fight for the bill that designates “NDP” then that’s great. If Obama doesn’t want to pass it, then that’s his decisioin. But maybe if we had more national prayers our country wouldn’t be in the toilet financially, morally, and spiritually. Everyone wants to quote the sermon on pharisees praying in public, but maybe we should also remember
. At least Obama is sticking to his politics, passing laws for “NDP” and legalizing abortion with the same signature seems a mite hypocritical to me.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:11 pmTo quote from Patrick Sean O’Sullivan’s conservative-resources.com:
“Ultimately, the best defense against tyranny is awareness of how the ideas of freedom and equality are manipulated in the right wing vs left wing argument by extremists who would make them a sacred cause. As Eric Hoffer wrote, ‘The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause’.
Of course, freedom and equality should never be made holy causes because the closer a society comes to achieving one, the less it has of the other. This is the unfortunate nature of the right wing vs left wing division. It is precisely the ability to compromise which is so lacking in the fanatic that allows some measure of freedom and equality to co-exist, however imperfectly.”
I have read all sorts of comments here except someone offering a compromise position. How about it guys and gals, anyone for a compromise position?
May 8th, 2009 at 2:56 pmAs far as I know we are all free to pray whenever we wish.
I don’t need to do it in a public forum. Maybe Obama feels the same way?
May 8th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Makes me glad I am an Atheist and just don’t pray. I wouldn’t want anyone complaining about how and where I prayed.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:59 pmHow about this for starters on a discussion regarding compromise:
1. All human life is sacred. The foreign soldier that our military kills was once a fetus whose mother chose not to abort. So why should we go out of our way to kill him or her. If one believes that person’s life was sacred as an unborn child, it stands to reason that as a grown up this life is just as sacred and ought to be protected. This is especially true since most soldiers are just past the age where we consider them children. And it also holds true for our own soldiers. If we wanted their lives spared as fetuses, why not just as vehemently defend their grown up lives and oppose wars that will place them in danger? When was the last time an American soldier was killed by a foreign soldier on U.S. soil? A couple hundred years ago? How about all the innocent civilians, especially children, that our military kills in those wars. I fail to see how having killed two million people in Viet Nam and losing the lives of more than 50,000 of our soldiers there did anything to guarantee my right to post on this blog some 30 years later.
2. It should be without discussion that all women have an inalienable right to choose whether they want to bear children or not. In order to exercise that right they have a number of options that do not involve aborting an unborn child. These methods include abstinence, contraceptive pills, contraceptive devices such as coils and male condoms and programming sex for dates of infertility (the so-called rhythm method). Women who do not take these precautions may be considered negligent and/or reckless in their sexual relationships and ought not to be incentivized to continue their fecklessness by permitting them to abort the child. At the very least they should be made to bear it and then allowed to give him or her up in adoption if they finally decide not to be its parent.
The logic behind this is simple. The fact that we have a right to freedom of speech does not include a right to slander or defame others nor to incite others to violence or insurrection. Nor does the right to assemble include a right to riot or to conspire to break the law. Under our system of law all rights must be tempered in such a way that we do not affect the rights of others. I propose that a compromise by both sides would be acceptance that once a child is conceived (possibly a future soldier) it has a right to life and that avoidance of conception is preferable to abortion. Finally, isn’t it fair to expect some responsibility in sexual relationships from men and women of child bearing age?
May 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pmMathazar Says:
In order for prayer to work, one must assume two things.
1. god(s) exist
2. this being is interventionist in nature.
And if such a being exists, one must also conclude it is very malevolent, judging by all the suffering inocent humans have endured.
Oh, and I don’t recall anyone getting upset at G.H. Bush’s comment that atheists shouldn’t be citizens.
1. Nobody can say with any more certainity that god does exist than god does not, but absolute certaintity either way is not possible (what if “god” is really the workings of my psyche, or what if when I look for him behind one rock, he runs and hides behind another – humans can’t know for certain)
2.What if prayer changes the one offering the prayer (when done with an open heart/mind), and the point is not to “manipulate” a devine being, but rather to center the attitudes and perspectives of those praying? BTW, I don’t think GH Bush or GW or James Dobson or Obama for that matter should be considered the “voice” of any and all who have personal religious beliefs, be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or any other system. A reference to a statement by any leader is irrelevant to the two points issued above. Furthermore, assuming that god is malevolent because there is suffereing denies that humans cause their own troubles. Perhaps the most loving type of god would let us have our own free choice, instead of working us like marionettes. Be careful in your confidence of absolutes or proofs.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:22 pmJews, Christians, Muslims and people of many other religious faiths not only believe IN God, we also believe in the existence of satan. Hypocresy is not of God, it is satanical. Jesus forgave practically all types of sins but the one sin he always singled out and which was apparently anathema to Him was hypocresy. Any group of persons can call themselves Christian but if they are hypocritical by their words or acts they are not of God, or at least they are not acting in His name.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:45 pmColbert brought his Hypocrisy Hammer down hard Wednesday night on these bible-thumping, two-faced jerks. It’s the least they deserve.
May 8th, 2009 at 4:49 pmRight to prayer is for any religion in any way they believe. The religious fanatics just do not have a clue in their own self righteous, self imposed demons. Let them stay in the dark ages in a cave on some isolated island.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pmBREAKING NEWS! OBAMAS OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE RECORDS RELEASED UNDER COURT ORDER ! RECORDS SHOW REAL NAME BARRY SOETORO & HE RECEIVED FINANCIAL AID AS FOREIGN STUDENT! MORE ! SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ELIGIBILITY CASE AGAINST MR. OBAMA! DO YOU CARE? BOUT TIME?
Obama Faces More Questions on CitizenshipPosted by David L O’Connor on April 26, 2009 at 7:13am Obama Faces More Questions on Citizenship MSM mum on subject April 1, 2009 AP- WASHINGTO… Obama Faces More Questions on CitizenshipPosted by David L O’Connor on April 26, 2009 at 7:13am
Obama Faces More Questions on Citizenship MSM mum on subject
April 1, 2009
AP- WASHINGTON D.C. – In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama’s qualifications for the presidency, the group “Americans for Freedom of Information” has released copies of President Obama’s college transcripts from Occidental College. Released today, the transcript indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate at the school. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California. The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama’s detractors have been seeking.
The news has created a firestorm at the White House as the release casts increasing doubt about Obama’s legitimacy and qualification to serve as president. When reached for comment in London, where he has been in meetings with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama smiled but refused comment on the issue. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs scoffed at the report stating that this was obviously another attempt by a right-wing conservative group to discredit the president and undermine the administration’s efforts to move the country in a new direction.
Britain’s Daily Mail has also carried the story in a front-page article titled, “Obama Eligibility Questioned”, leading some to speculate that the story may overshadow economic issues on Obama’s first official visit to the U.K.
In a related matter, under growing pressure from several groups, Justice Antonin Scalia announced that the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear arguments concerning Obama’s legal eligibility to serve as President in a case brought by Leo Donofrio of New Jersey. This lawsuit claims Obama’s dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. Donofrio’s case is just one of 18 suits brought by citizens demanding proof of Obama’s citizenship or qualification to serve as president.
Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation has released the results of their investigation of Obama’s campaign spending. This study estimates that Obama has spent upwards of $950,000 in campaign funds in the past year with eleven law firms in 12 states for legal resources to block disclosure of any of his personal records. Mr. Kreep indicated that the investigation is still ongoing but that the final report will be provided to the U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder. Mr. Holder has refused to comment on the matter. (more)
May 8th, 2009 at 9:00 pmOBAMA IS A MUSLIM-HE IS THE GRIM REAPER AND YOU ARE HIS FOLLOWERS!
“A nation can survive its’ fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the galleys, heard in the very hall of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor–He speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and wears their face and their garment, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation–he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city–he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”Cicero, 42 B.C., Roman Statesman, orator, and author.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:34 pmLet’s bring out Obama’s spiritual advisor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for a few of Obama’s favorite prayers like “God damn America,” or “the United States of KKK A.” Or maybe one of those good, racist sermons about “the white devil.” It’s no wonder Obama is taking this one in private.
ConcervativefornoProgress/(aka Rush)You already have your own radio show. You are not welcome here at TP, I think you “took one” in the a*s too many times for you REICHT wingers are brain dead. Makes me want to kick some GOP butt, big time.
Now tell me again how the ignorant comment by the brain dead Obama-Biden 2009 is in anyway better that the original comment made by the right winger? Save your breath the Christian right repulses me more than any tree hugging liberal could on his or her best day. Its hell being a 51 year old man without a party that I can identify with,and have enjoyed reading comments on this site, I don’t know how much longer Nader will be alive. I have two questions if anyone would like to answer them for me no insults please. First question is why do most not all Democrats consider Limbaugh (is he really still on) and Hannity the boogey man? Most of my more conservative friends are entertained at Bill Maher and sorry for the spelling Keith Olberman. The last question at what length should government be involved in our life?
May 8th, 2009 at 9:47 pmhttp://216.221.102.26/blogger/post/The-Star-Spangled-Banner-like-youve-never-heard-it.aspx
May 8th, 2009 at 10:17 pmThe Christian Right, Rightwing NUTS, and Organized religion has been and always will be NOTHING but a hate mongering, festering pimple on the ass of society.
May 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pmsha44ss, just a reminder, there is still room for you and the rest on the religious freaks in your own hell too. Shall I make reservations for you?
May 8th, 2009 at 10:26 pmpreechar, You’re ignorant!
May 8th, 2009 at 10:28 pmAnd what are you doing Harleyrydyr, reciting the KKK’s Sheet prayer?
May 8th, 2009 at 10:30 pmIt appears that a lot of hate is coming from the left-leaning comments.
What is at issue is a president carrying on the example of a tradition going back to Truman in 1952. Thus the departure from that suggests more than a “private prayer” issue, but a seperation from it.
Jesus prayed in public and I dont think he was concidered a hypocrite. He only denounced it when people used it merely for show and not sincerity.
Your analysis shows a level of anger that is in you, not those wishing to sincerely express their faith, publiclly–especially when it is being maligned by good people like your selves.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:09 pmWhen the bloated addict (Limbaugh) runs for president in 2012, he should choose that blonde bimbo (Hasselback) as his running mate. Don’t they make a delightful couple?
May 8th, 2009 at 11:20 pmDid Jesus not say, “In all things, be moderate”?? I am personally sick of the “far right” trying to dictate what Americans should think and believe. Prayer is a personal thing…between the individual and God. The government doesn’t have to make a big deal about it. I applaud President Obama for refusing to cater to the conservatives.
May 9th, 2009 at 7:01 amJCDAD Says:
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curious says:
Find me a more violent, woman hating, hate filled book in the world then the Bible. It can’t be done.
This may help you see some of the “love” mentioned in the greatest book ever written — the Holy Bible:
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JCDAD…Regardless of the parts of the bible that speak about love, it still doesn’t take away from how much hatred and bigotry is also in there. besides, curious never said that that stuff wasn’t in there, just that he hadn’t read and/or seen a book, that had more of what he was talking about, it in.
Then shkurbon writes the following:
There ARE two sides. Those who are good…aka Born-Again Christians,that is, God fearing, Bible thumping, I am going to Heaven,not Purgatory,etc..and then there are you…Liberals.
**************************************************
This is mine, and lots of other people’s, problem with people like you. 1st off, you believe that the way you look at your belief, is the one and only true way. To you, EVERYBODY else is wrong, and your’s is the only way. Well then, what about the people who’s beliefs are different, and yet they feel the same way you do. To them, you are wrong, and they are right. That’s the main problem with all of you religious kooks. That is why there have been MORE WARS, started and fought about, by, and for religion, than all the other wars put together (my opinion on this on the all wars part).
As another poster pointed out, people do not need to have religion, nor be religious, in order to have good morals, and/or believe in doing and being good. To people like you, with your very narrow way of thinking, and basically wanting to force your religion (beliefs) on everybody else, make you just as bad as the Taliban in my opinion.
As far as I’m concerned, there shouldn’t even be a National Prayer Day. I know of a few people who truly believe, but that they also keep that belief to themselves, as they feel it is a personal and private thing. To me, and many others, that is what religion should be, a personal and PRIVATE thing, not something thrown out into the public spotlight, and doing what “your” bible says not to do, and that is NOT to judge others.
It never ceases to amaze me, how you “rightous” people, love to pick and choose, what part of a fictional book, that you quote and pratice, and which parts to ignore. It shows how VERY HYPOCRITICAL you are. It also proves the point about how you are just using religion, as a political tool, and make me question whether you even truly belive in your “god” to begin with.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:07 amI am no Rush fan, I do however credit him where credit is due…he is right 98 percent of the time..Obama claims to be a Christian…he stops short of shouting from the rooftops that which defines Christians and that is Jesus Christ himself..until I hear Obama say he accepts Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and saviour..until he confesses with awe swelling pride that christ died for him…until I hear him say that I will stand by what I see..Obama is a Lucifferian entity…full of arrogance and pride…his Muslim name and anti Israel stance make him more opposite Christians than most will ever comprehend. Obama is a false leader..more than your typical politician..not just telling you what you want and need to hear but making you believe it all in the process..what a gift he has. Is there any doubt he is against prayer? Why would a Lucifer worshiper who I believe is either indewlt with the spitrt of Satan or soon will be want any of us to pray? That goes against everything Satan wants. We are living in the last days…the great tribulation is comming and hell will follow it on this earth…Obama may very well be the Antichrist and if not he is most certainly AntiChristian…Open your eyes everyone..Get right with God..accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour and none of any of this will matter to you. Because those who have Jesus will never know the sting of death and when the Antichrist comes and he will….those in christ dead and alive will be raptured and taken away from this earth and the rest will be left to deal with their decision to not follow and believe..to not accept the greatest gift ever given to mankind…the time is short…are you rapture ready…I am.
May 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pmWe are now in a better world now that Bush is gone with the lets blow up the earth thinking that came from his cocaine and alcohol induce rebirth into a christian.
May 9th, 2009 at 1:11 pmAll Bush and hardcore my way or the highway religious people out there think we can destroy the planet by whatever means possible (war, oil use, S.U.V.s etc, etc.) Because “jesus” is coming to destroy it anyway so what the hell destroy it. But this is the greatest lie ever told they believe in destroying the earth just so they can bleed every dollar out the earth make themselves rich and die without a conscience. Religion
is the greatest source of greed and corruption in the world.
The Bible clearly states God will not destroy the earth in fact it very clearly says this is a world without end.But he will pour judgements over those here during the tribulation period and then He will come back and reign as Earths rightful King…The Prince of Peace…you people really should get into a Bible based church and absorb as much as you can..because that way should you decide to not find Christ before it happens you will at least know what to expect before you go to hell with the Antichrist and the Devil Satan and his followers…try and do us all a favor tho and rather than call the bible names and make ignorant rants on a blog filled with the sinners and the lost….at least instead of slinging mud read the bible first under the guidance of a pastor or priest and get it right…I am not perfect and I am not self rightious but…I am FORGIVEN….PRAISE JESUS CHRIST HE IS COMMING SOON!!!! BE READY!
May 9th, 2009 at 1:18 pmRapture: is so typical of what I just wrote. No Rush fan? but agrees with him 98% of the time sounds like he would marry rush if he/she could.
May 9th, 2009 at 1:29 pmAlso typical with the you must agree with me or you go to hell
thinking that has killed more people.
Rapture: doesn’t know jesus will never know jesus and will rot in the ground when it dies. Because his soul or being is lost to a ideology of death and destruction.
Just take some pain killers and listen to your fat and lazy hypocrite on the radio. Or maybe you should think for the first time on your own and get a life. That is what jesus would do!
AMEN 126. godfearingwoman and 127. MUSTANG55,,,,
Although neither of you agree with President Obama’s religous beliefs, your eloquent and non-judgemental responses in favor of freedom of choice were wonderful. So, nice to hear from religous people who believe in the rights of others. It’s refreshing.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:44 pmUnlike 114. shkurbon’s response, which in its angry hatefulness for anyone who did not believe as she did, made her look mean and shallow. I felt sorry for her plight with the world of choices.
Ok, So there is actually a Day for National Prayer, so pray already. You dont need an audiance to pray when you need something from GOD when your laying in bed after having sex or a ciggertte now do you? So pray. Do you need permission to talk to GOD, or to pray to him from someone who thinks he knows what GOD wants! Religious people always say the Bible says this, or the Bible says that, but then again they turn around and belittle or degrade, or judge those that are different them them in any way, or think in a different way then they think things should be thought about. Well here is something for all your religious nuts that cant think for themselves and those that like to but into others business.
Yes the Bible says “Thou shalt not Judge”. So that means get your nose out of other peoples buiness and let them live their life the way they want to, because in the end its between them and GOD, not you, them and GOD!! Here is another one for ya, Did Adam and Eve have a piece of paper and a minister marry them and then tell them ok you are now married? NO they had GOD and their love for one another.
So to all you religious bible thumping idiots out there, read your BIBLE, live by what it teaches you, but dont try to make others do the same, because in the end, if you set judgement on others for what ever reason, you will come before GOD and have to answer for your judgements and that means you could actually go to HELL!!. So do us all a favor and let everyone else live their own life, whether you approve or not, let them beleive in what ever religion they beleive in, what sexuality they want to live, etc. Thou Shalt not Judge means just that, THOU SHALT NOT JUDGE! There is also this to think about GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON FOR OUR SINS, so to me this means that GOD is the ONLY one that can OBSOLVE us of our sins here on earth.So do everyone a favor and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!, clean up your own back yard before you start throwing stones at someone else..Because you will come before GOD and be judged!!
May 9th, 2009 at 2:54 pmAlso GOD teaches LOVE and TOLERANCE. So learn this and you will get along alot better with those you throw stones at now and in life.
I so love it when people spew their hatred at others makes them so easy to identify…I will pray for phaseed he/she needs it. To clarify I never said I agree with everything Rush says I simply said that I listen to him speak and on key issues he calls things with great accuracy very often before they happen..his political views are questionable at best however when he says watch and see Obama will do this…well usualy he is correct..I neither said I love Rush or agree or worship him…my Bible is the oldest most prophetic and historicaly correct version of things past , present and yet to come…I pray that those people here spewing venomous hatred twoard Christians will wake up one day before its too late..I want to see all of you in heaven when this is over…I dont want anyone even phaseed to miss out….may God present in each non believer the thirst for some truth in what is soon to come…it will be far better a thing that you the lost find jesus Christ the redeemer than to wander lost till the great day of judgement and have to spend eternity absent from the lord whilst you knash your teeth in Hell.
May 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pmopenmindednative is trying to live by the law…a law he nor anyone else could ever live up to because adam and eve blew it and fell from Gods grace because of sin…it is you who need to wake up ….you would do yourself a great service by picking up a bible and thumping through it…my suggested reading for you would be lets see….hmmmm how bout the New testament…may God Bless you and move you to Jesus Christ
May 9th, 2009 at 3:29 pmand for the record…..god and Christ and the holy spirit are all God…one being in the trinity……aske someone look it up…stop your hatred we love you why cant you us? hate makes satan stronger..in you he truly dwells…..
May 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pmI myself dont hate anyone! And I have read the bible, several different versions of it in fact. So dont get all rightious on me! I am a child of a higher power and beleive in Christ. I dont need someone like you telling me how to live my life, what to think, or how to do my thinking. So get off your rightious High horse and stop pushing your religion down everyone elses throtes, because they will fight you at ever turn. Let people beleive what they will on their own terms not yours. Its people like you that make religion so hard to accept for others so do yourself a favor and keep it to yourself as It says to do so in the Bible, Matthew 6.
May 9th, 2009 at 3:38 pmI live my life and the only one I have to answer for the mistakes I make in my life is GOD, no one else. Stop passing Judgements on others as You will be judged on Judgement day. Just remember that.
I meant by praying to God …to have an opportunity to lead some to the Lord. Not PERSONALLY save someone myself. Im not God.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:57 pmYou all say that we Religious kooks should be more open minded and yet we should keep our religious views to ourselves. I dont need to be open minded!!YOU SHOULD BE MORE OPEN minded. My mind is closed off to the evil world that you live in. Things that go against God, like Gay marriage,abortion,etc. Jesus commands us to share His Word with others. To lead others to him. Not hide in a closet and keep His love a secret. The Bible is the Truth and the only way of life. The Bible is not a violent, hateful book. The Bible is more Pro Women than the N.O.W. Most of you “non believers” pick and chose what you want to believe out of the BIBLE, if anything at all. We DO look at it like OUR BIBLE and OUR GOD are the only way of truth and life. This is what GOD preaches. This is how it works. Either you read the Bible and believe it all whole heartedly and accept Jesus as your Savior or you dont believe it and you will not go to Heaven. You WILL go to Hell. Those are the facts. You DO get to make that choice. But turn your back on God and you will be very sorry.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:35 pmIts not the Right wing conservative, with the problem. No one is forcing anything on you. You have your right to chose. You get to chose to go to Hell. If you do not accept Jesus as your savior, no matter how good of a person you think you are, how much you love your neighbor, meditate, pray to Mother Nature,etc, you WILL NOT go to Heaven is you dont ask for forgiveness and accept Christ. Point Blank. But it is your choice. Its my choice to tell folks about Christ. If you dont chose to listen, and you end up in Hell, that will be your choosing. So enjoy your Gay marriages and your closed minded ways that go against God and dont complain that you will be left behind!!! You will be if you dont repent.
My views are hardly binding me at all. I am very happy and with the choice that I made that I will worship Christ and go to Heaven. Liberals constantly tell us to be more open minded but you are far from it! The only thing you are open minded about is living a life of sin. You dont want to read the Bible and believe what it says because it goes against what you want to do with your life. A.k.a, have sex before marriage, live with your significant other,have abortions, kill,lie,cheat, steal, etc. You do not want to have to answer for what poor choices you have made. We all will though in the end. If you are so open minded why do you close your mind to God? Read the Bible just see what it has to say. Read it all. You cannot pick and choose. It doesnt work that way.
Another thing, no one is judging anyone. God commands we do what he tells us (the Christian) to do. We are commanded by God to lead others to Christ, so by that, that means following what he preaches. God does not say that Gay marriage or Abortion, i.e MURDER, is okay. We are not judging you, but God will.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:40 pmI am new on here, and do not usually waste my time on these boards, as most of these are simply places where normally nice people attack others and their views because no one will know who they are.
BUT…..after reading some of this viciousness, I do want to make one comment. I am one of your “religious kooks” and am a sincere Born Again Christian. I believe that everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe. I do not cram my beliefs down others throats, and don’t even share my beliefs unless I am asked.
Ok here is my comment. The only problem I have with the Liberals is that they constantly tell us how “open minded” they are, but in reality, they are just as much of a hypocrite as they accuse the Christians of being. They are only “open minded” when it comes to the beliefs of other Liberals that AGREE with them. Boy that is really hard to do! They are totally close minded when it comes to religion or the beliefs of Christians. Personally, I have had many interesting discussions with Non Believers, and we were able to come away respecting each other and being great friends. That seems to be impossible on here.
The Liberals on here have NO respect for the Christians or their right to believe whatever they want. And yes, I agree that the Christians seem to have no respect for your beliefs, either.
I only ask that you do not “rip on me” for my beliefs and I in turn won’t “rip on you” for yours. We each have a right to our opinions. Fighting will only tear our country apart. I initiate my beliefs by my political voting. The majority rules, as that is how it is supposed to work in America. After the voting is in, it does no good to attack each other. We all need work within our political parties for the changes we want. In the meantime, I will stand up for my beliefs when challenged, as you stand up for yours. After all, America is a country based on freedom of religious choice. If you chose to kill babies, support Gay rights, etc then that is your choice. I do not believe God will bless you, and I believe you will go to Hell. Another choice you have because the Lord allows us to make our choice about that. So if you choose to go to Hell, then enjoy your time on earth while you can. And if you don’t believe in Hell that is your choice, too. I suppose we will all find out whose faith is right once we die, won’t we? At least if I am right I will be in Heaven, and if I am wrong., I have lost nothing. I will have led a good life and will just be dead, But, if your are wrong, then you will be in h Hell and will have wasted your life.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:41 pmI need to apologize for the typos on my previous comments. I was not finished with my comment, and the Internet locked up, and posted my comment before I was able to check it for spelling errors!
May 9th, 2009 at 9:43 pmPissedOffVeteran Says:
——————————————————————————–
Looks like the american christian taliban are getting wound up….
KMAMF
I am about as much a TALIBAN as you are a JEW.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:43 pmChristians are NOT Taliban people, and to call them such a thing when they stand for right, and not evil, is a terrible thing to say. The Taliban is AGAINST AMERICA. They hate you, as much as you hate me. And they will hate you even more for including Christians in their midst.
Obviously, you do not know much about the Taliban. They HATE ALL Americans…Liberals,…that would be you…. as well as Conservatives!
What a horrible thing to say!
May 9th, 2009 at 9:47 pmAnd YOU, being a VETERAN should KNOW BETTER! I have respected our veterans all my life…You should be ashamed of yourself! I need to get off of this SICK site.
May 9th, 2009 at 9:50 pmThe Taliban are people who have a particular interpretation of their religion that they wish to force on everyone else. In Afghanistan and Pakistan they happen to claim to be Muslim. A woman from the region was interviewed on CNN yesterday. She is very concerned for the rights of women. She said sharia law is good, but the Taliban interpretation of sharia law is wrong.
In a metaphorical way they might be radical right wing persons claiming to be Christian. If these people try to cram their interpretation down everyone’s throats then they are Taliban.
May 10th, 2009 at 5:37 amI have heard many people, some of them friends, who bemoan the fact that we can’t pray or read the Bible in public school. They say that is the reason our schools aren’t doing so well.
I remind them that prayer and the Bible are not gone from the schools. Children and teachers can pray if and when they wish. We can even read the Bible. We just can’t do it as a public exercise that requires everyone to do it.
It is up to parents and religious leaders to teach their children.
May 10th, 2009 at 5:43 amRapture Do not pray for me Pray to God and go into the closet or your church as intstructed by Matthew 6. As you have proven Jesus is on your sleeve not in your heart. Help others instead of being a selfserving being. Helping other without judging them acting towards them without judgement is supreme law of a human being. Not what you intrepet out of a book written by men thousands of years passed down and rewritten to please their mindset at the time. Why does religious thinking change the book every 50s years or so? Only to bring more open minded people in to make more money. They water down their retoric to bring in the money. But listen to drug addicts on the radio(who do it for the money and only money hate sells) This my last rant, hate filled bigots against our government using the book for there righteous selfishness would spend billions to prove there point instead of doing man/gods work helping the tried ,sick,and poor people of this earth. Take care all………..
May 10th, 2009 at 5:55 amKalikat,
Please don’t put all liberals in the same pot of having “NO respect for the Christians”. It is not a case of Liberal = non-Christian and Conservative = Christian. I count myself as liberal on many issues, especially social. I count myself as conservative on others, especially on the core teachings of Christianity.
BTW, I am gay. I believe that gays do have the same rights as everyone else under the Constitution, not special rights. The problem is that some of those rights have been denied us.
I believe that I am gay because that’s how I was created. When I was baptized and marked with the cross of Christ as an infant God accepted me unconditionally as his child. No one knew at that time that I was gay anymore than they knew that I’d be right handed. That’s how life unfolds. “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)
May 10th, 2009 at 6:20 amshkurbon, Christianity is not built on the Bible, it is built on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the true Word of God. John’s Gospel starts out by reminding us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God . . . the Word became flesh and lived for a while among us . . . the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
A Christian, liberal or conservative, focuses on the life and work of Jesus Christ as he ministered and showed us how to. Sometimes we get distracted by whether or not a person says the right words and makes them public. Our task is to minister to one another in love. God will take care of the rest. Leave any judging that needs to be done to the one who has that “pay grade” to do it.
May 10th, 2009 at 6:44 amIf there is one truth about the Christian Right,
May 10th, 2009 at 10:02 amit is that they are almost always Wrong!
The Moral Majority is neither.
May 10th, 2009 at 10:03 ambible
May 10th, 2009 at 10:22 amPronunciation: \?b?-b?l\
Date: 14th century
a: the sacred scriptures of Christians comprising the Old Testament and the New Testament
b: the sacred scriptures of some other religion (as Judaism)
c: best selling fiction of all time starring made up characters. (see Jesus)
d: interpreted, overdubbed, re-written and released in another conflicting format 35,789 times.
e: new testament sections based on mythical stories called gospels all of whom conflict with each other’s accounts.
f: used for profit and power over the centuries by various individuals. (see Pope, King, George w. Bush, etc..)
g: promoted to no end (see f:) by thousands of Bible Thumpers.
Bi·ble–thump·er
May 10th, 2009 at 10:23 amPronunciation: \bi-bel-?thum-per\
Function: noun
Date: circa 1923
: an overzealous advocate of Christian fundamentalism
The Christian right wing wants to run everyone’s life.
May 10th, 2009 at 4:24 pmReligion and Faith is a personal and private right. I sick of the so called Christian Right thinking that “they” have the only answer when it comes to faith. Because of them I don’t want to be a Christan anymore!
May I share what is perhaps the GREATEST prayer…EVER!!
“Dear Lord…Please protect me from your followers. Amen.”
May 10th, 2009 at 7:03 pmseslichat
May 10th, 2009 at 11:59 pmsesli chat
sesli sohbet
seslisohbet
Hey sha44ss? April fools. Do a google search. Here’s one:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/occidental.asp
wiley: I wasn’t aware that we had a national day of prayer. I’m holding out for the National Day of Wishful Thinking.
May 11th, 2009 at 4:03 amAwesome.
Maybe torture, I mean waterboarding, I mean enhanced interrogation will get these Gopidiots to tell the truth…
May 11th, 2009 at 4:45 amAmen
tiffany rings?
May 11th, 2009 at 4:50 amtiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
tiffany rings?
My, my, my. Aren’t we in a God bashing mood. I’ve read these little remarks, and I can see how another country wouldn’t think it would be too terribly difficult to take over America. Just stir the populace up a little and let them bash each other until they don’t care who is in power. From the President thru the Senate, thru the House of Representatives. It would only take 4-6 years to do it!
May 11th, 2009 at 6:25 amRealize that there are extreme people on the right and the left. Just be aware that they really are in a minority within their wing and remember that our great Nation is what is at stake here.
Just my moniker alone probably set off a few hard noses both right and left.
Yes, I’m religous. And, yes I do not agree with everything every President does. However, I don’t get into hate with people over religion, politics, or if the sky is actually falling in little bitty particles that will kill everything.
What is important is that differences are there, like them or not. America was built with differences and we work them out…not destroy the very model this Country was built on. Don’t let other countries buy up our businesses, land, farms, and neighbors homes. I believe that every American should buy American and not let our jobs go to other countries, while letting other countries build their products here…when they do our companies go under!
Look around folks…America is in trouble and we need to fix the problems…not make more!!
why so much hate? My grandmother always said “If we don’t love each other how can we make life better for anyone?” My question is “if you should live as your god does, do you think this makes him proud?”
May 11th, 2009 at 9:03 amGetting back to commenting on this piece. The real issue is not one of religion or politics. It is that a very vocal group is able to get air time by disseminating baseless lies about our presidents actions and our national history.
If you lie to make a point then your whole position is built on sand. Your audience will only be composed of the witless or ignorant, or those so fearful they are willing to overlook your lies because your message gives them comfort – these are the sheeple who tune in daily for their dose of AM pabulum. Unfortunately, to return again to politics, this seems also to be the current base of the GOP.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:15 amWhich party (people)can you guess is represented by these two men in this parable from Like 18:10-14;
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
God is Sovereign and is in the world today. He lead the blind and the seer to his/her end until judgment day; thus the parable of the wheat and the tare.
Peace
May 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pmAs to what ConservativeForProgress says, the comments from the Rev. Wright infuriate me as well, who is he to say “God damn America!” hmmmm lets see, he was born in 1941, so he had to live until he was 24 for the right to vote and see the elimination of Jim Crow Laws that could prevent him from riding in the front of the bus, eating in any resturant he chose to and even attending schools that were desginated Whites only, and then only with the help of the National Guard. Who the hell does this guy this he is to even think about carrying around a chip on his shoulder. I wonder how CFP would feel if he lost the right to vote for 8 years. Or even if CFP even looked at the speech to see he was calling out the United States for the explotation of its citizens in the Tuskegee experiment, the internment of the Japanese, the United States being the only country to use nuclear weapons on it enemies.
I am not sure where where he gets the Mandela/CIA or how our goverment created of the HIV virus, there are about as logical as CFP connection to President Obama choosing to observe the day of pray in private and how that will ruin America.
I am also curious to why CFP choose that name, I would imagaine that conserivtism would be set into holding on to ideas from the past and not progressing with the world. So if that was the case, Women and blacks would not be able to vote, the Civil rights movement would be turned back, and America would retreat back into isolationism and abandon its policy of spreading democracy where it is not needed or wanted.
May 11th, 2009 at 1:08 pmThe christian mantra is to demonize any and all that do not have the lock step ideology in wrote beneath their brow.
America is a secular country so let em eat cake.
Frederic Starchenkovenner
May 11th, 2009 at 1:35 pmI think the Bibles says to pray in the “closet.” A Fundie like Elizabeth is admonished not to interpret the Word. She must not interpret what is meant by anything in the Bible, not even what “closet” has come to mean, for any reason. Therefore, today’s definition applies. A closet in a house today is a small room where you keep your clothes. Therefore, Elizabeth needs to go into her closet to pray with her clothes. This also means that the Fundie must demand that Obama hold a prayer service inside his closet with his clothes.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:30 pmOK, now that I’ve gone through the process of joining in on this conversation, it’s obvious that we all have an opinion about the issue at hand. I for one am a very proud Born Again Christian Believer and just want to say that you should read Revelation 22:7-16. Let everyone feel how they feel and leave them alone. When all is said and done, Jesus will set it in order when He comes for us that believe. So far as the prayer thing, it is a choice that the President has made. I agree with him fully for the simple fact that I would rather do as the Word of God says by praying in secret He will reward you openly. I am sure that the past presidents that have prayed openly would change that according to the results that came about whether or not our Saviour heard and honored their prayer. I will not proceed to comment on any past events, I will say that time will tell if the Lord will honor any prayers from this point. I would rather pray in privacy and not make an open show of it and receive openly the result of my prayers. For the people that are upset about the president’s actions, they should walk the walk that they talk. If they have “relationship” with the Lord Jesus, He will respond to the prayer whether in public or private. I believe that the people that are upset just are upset about not being able to be invited to the White House to prove that they are in the who of the who. Only the who’s get invited. We should focus on praying in general for our country, our leader-yes, Obama is our leader whether others like it or not-
and for the whole world. Jesus has the last say in the whole matter. Just Pray. I thank the Lord for a site like this because others no matter what they believe get to hear the gospel whether they believe it or not-whether they go to church or not-whether they believe in Satan or not, Just Pray if led to pray in a large gathering, do so. You dont’t need any cameras to acknowledge that you have done it.
!!!
May 11th, 2009 at 2:46 pmHi voiceofelyon,
May 11th, 2009 at 2:54 pmWhat makes you think that you can get away with not praying inside your closet when the Word clearly demands it?
FOR ALL YOU INTELLIGENT LIBERALS OUT THERE WHO MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT THE BIBLE YOU HAVEN’T READ! Glib as you are with the current culture of death you seem to promote, it would have been very sporting of the President to at least maintain the APPEARANCE of caring about the national day of prayer during his 1st year in office! Split hairs about those in the Christian leadership all you want but the joke is going to be on you! Currently in the world, the Muslim people are having way more children than you are so enjoy your ingnorance today and the promise of a Bosnian/Serbian like struggle, perhaps domination in the next 20 to 30 years. Keep splitting hairs children cause countries like ours were formed by none other than those with a Christian foundation. LIBERAL people of the world, get ready to cover yourselves especially women, you’re going to offend your MUSLIM keepers. If you’re Muslim and I’ve offended you, please tell us all about your concept of TAKIA/TAQUIA, however you spell it. YOU OWE THE FUTURE IGNORANT MASSESS THE TRUTH! Many of us Christians know about your plans to blend in and dominate. Your future American subjects are fighting over who Jesus, the SON of GOD was and is today! You have an excellent U.S. president willing to facilitate this process for you. JESUS IS LORD!!!!!!!!
May 11th, 2009 at 2:55 pmI’m a conservative Christian, and I disagree with most of what Obama does. However, I think he did the right thing in not holding a public prayer event. I either would have felt he was doing it just for show, or else he would have mixed it up so much that a true Christian could not participate. What would be the point?
May 11th, 2009 at 4:02 pmWe have freedom of religion in this country (for how long, I don’t know). People may gather or not gather, pray or not pray, as they choose. Forced faith is not true faith.
I believe hard times are coming. But I believe God will use it to purify those who are truly His, humble us, and bring us to the point where we depend only on Him.
CHAVEZ Says:
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YOU OWE THE FUTURE IGNORANT MASSESS THE TRUTH!
As do you, and you’re not saying any of it.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:03 pmBluesunflower, you’ve been informed. While being a Christian is a choice of your own free will today, it might not be for your grandchildren. Feel free to do your homework and look at the immigration and birthrate information in the United States, Canada, and most of Europe. The numbers speak for themselves. The Spanish ironically are only reproducing at a rate of 1.1 children per couple, the Canadians 1.6, the Greeks 1.3 etc. while Muslims are on average are having 8 children per couple. The U.S. is just barely holding the 2.11 line required to maintain our culture. The French are enjoying such peace right now with their immigration situation of Muslims, not. The Muslims are already trying to tell you the Holocaust didn’t happen either. In the good ol Netherlands, please don’t say or print anything that opposses the Muslim view. You might end up real sorry. Bluesunflower, the truth is you’ve already been overun by my Mexican brothers and sisters and luckily you’re no worse for the wear. While we aren’t Muslim, the parallels of the Mexican experience are there. The government looked the otherway for too long and now you’ve got a situation that’s ok, but contentious. When the Muslims get their numbers up, IT WON’T JUST BE CONTENTIOUS!!! Ask a Serbian in Serbia if he’s happy with the way his government is run now. You might never want to become a Christian but it behooves everyone in the U.S. to quit fighting the Christian Church. We’re not the enemy!!
May 11th, 2009 at 7:14 pmChavez, you are the perfect example of an ignorant so called Christian. You speak in generalizations about “Muslims” as if they were a single entity and you are already at war with all non Christians, non Americans and non whites. But you are right, the Christian Church is not the enemy. What you don’t get is that YOU are the enemy.
I also don’t understand this “Culture of Death” you refer to as a liberal cause. It makes no sense at all. Tell me, why do so many so called Christians support war and the death penalty and torture? I fully understand a persons abhorrence of abortion, but why does that so often come in the same package as a willingness to kill and maim and cause suffering to millions?
Part of the answer to this I am sure is good old fashioned racism. Yours is hardly veiled at all in fact. You are no more a Christian than is Ahmadinejad. And, just change the word Muslim to Jew and your rhetoric is straight out of the mouth of Hitler.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:26 pmOh but, Chavez, I forgot to thank you . . . . .
You have been able to articulate in just a few sentences all the energies that are destroying the Christian church. I’m not talking about Muslims here, I talking about the people like you who have hijacked the Christian church and turned it into the a hate filled, fear ridden, self congratulatory club of narrow minded bigots.
Of course, that kind of thinking has been pervasive in Christian churches for a long time. Its just that your numbers have grow so much in the last 8 years or so that your energy is overwhelming other voices. It should be apparent to anyone over 5 with a brain that you are entirely nuts. Perhaps this is why the Christian church is losing young people at an alarming rate – a recent report shows 70% of young protestants have quit the church before they reach 30.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pmCHAVEZ Says:
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Bluesunflower, you’ve been informed.
If you mean I’ve now been informed about Complete Fantasy, Chicken Littlism, and Mountain Molehillism, then I guess I *do* have to thank you, Chavez. You’ve cleared things up beautifully.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:53 amBluesunflower and Dontcallmeafrigginliberal, thankyou for feedback. I suppose if I was passive and not shakin any trees you’d be happy. But you and many fail to see that Christianity is a RADICAL and NARROW path of faith. Don’t confuse GODS word with what you perceive as hate. Christians love life and all people. We invented the concept of tolerance. Every other faith presently kills many who don’t agree with their view. Jesus irritated and upset many out of love and obedience to his Father GOD. He didn’t come here to just hand out daisies and make people feel good about themselves. Why, he made people so mad they crucified him! And nothing has changed cause anytime a Christian wants to “SHARE” his faith, most of the time you get the typical range of “oh that’s nice to how dare they tell me I must live a life pleasing to GOD”. You ain’t selling me nothin today that addressess the whole point Christianity addresses of Eternal life. Go ahead, get disgusted, get upset, hate what I say, mirror the path of disdain Mohammed took 700 years AFTER/AFTER/AFTER Christ! Christianity is a LIFE and DEATH CHOICE for your soul. WAKE UP! WERE NOT HERE JUST TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF! I’m yelling the same way a Drill Instructor yells at troops to keep them alive. With Passion and Intensity!!! TRUE CHRISTIANS are trying to show you the freedom you have in Christ. The Culture of death I’m addressing is way more than abortion. I’m talking about the fact that we’re feeding our kids everything from complete disrespect of their fellow man, completely ignoring that children come from one man and one woman, to believing that “Education” is going to solve their problems. Go ahead and tell me how all those intelligent people who graduated from the right universities and had the right families and pedigrees were so wonderful in leading our financial institutions into MAYHEM. I’ll tell you it was because they didn’t have a moral compass, least of all GOD in their lives. I enjoyed most of your responses but the problem is they were based on common sense. What you say and think today is going to morph with your life experience outside of Christ. GODS word and message is constant and therefore THE TRUTH! If you didn’t know, the muslim church, not the Christian church is the one growing. If that doesn’t concern you, you’re a fool. Yeah let’s compare my view to Hitler. You’re willing to be tolerant of people of whom when they get their numbers up, are NOT GOING TO TOLERATE YOU! Good thinking. THE FACT THAT ISLAM IS GROWING SUPER FAST, just ignore it. You’re gonna be crying like they are in Europe right now. THAT IS FACT, NOT HATE! And by the way, we are loosing our youth because many Christian Church’s have been more focused on getting people into the church via fancy marketing than presenting them with hard life saving discipleship that truly changes their life. Not because there’s something wrong with Christianity. If we have a president that wants to be all things to all people, what good is he? He should have just honored the National Day of Prayer. Period! Thankyou for agreeing with me that the Mexican people are a blessing to this country. If what I’m saying irritates you, GOOD!!! Pray about it and enjoy a Taco or Burrito!!!
May 12th, 2009 at 7:33 pmCHAVEZ Says:
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If what I’m saying irritates you, GOOD!!!
Trust me, you are anything but irritating. In fact, I’m still laughing. :D
May 13th, 2009 at 2:02 amBluesunflower, I’ll take that as LOST and LAUGHING. Hope you and everybody looks deeper at the issue. There’ve been enough Muslim defectors into the Christian church who’ve shared the Muslim Agenda with us as all the evidence you need. This Infidel is moving on. Over and Out!
May 13th, 2009 at 2:12 pm