Obama speaks about religion at National Prayer Breakfast

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pgd
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03 Feb 2011, 10:45 am

Historically, the White House has tended toward promoting Christianity as the national religion of the USA. There is not much evidence that the White House has encouraged Americans to convert to Buddhism or Hinduism or agnosticism or atheism. Why? It often seems to be about votes and wearing Christianity on the sleeve of a politician tends to mean: getting elected and staying elected.

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords »

Giffords' husband: 'Maybe it was fate'
USA Today - Catalina Camia - ‎15 minutes ago‎
Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, delivered the closing prayer at the National Prayer Breakfast today and offered a few words about his wife's recovery.
Video: Mark Kelly's Twin: Will He Fly or Not?The Associated Press
Obama speaks about religion and hate at 2011 National Prayer Breakfast (video) Examiner.com
NECN - New York Magazine - People Magazine - msnbc.com
all 694 news articles » (Google)

Was Sarah Palin (Alaska Christian/high profile Christian lady politician) at the National Prayer Breakfast (2011)?

Your views on the Rev. Barack Obama implying that he's saved - you aren't - unless you are a card carrying Christian Democrat?

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Old Stereotype: WASP

White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant and Republican Party

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans usually of British descent with a ...
Origin of term - Expansion - Culture attributed to WASPs - Fading dominance
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestant - Cached - Similar

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New Stereotype: BAHP and Democrat Party

Black, African-Harvard Educated, Protestant who promotes using modern technology (the Blackberry) and whose wife, the First Lady, has a campaign to end the sin of childhood obesity within about twenty years. The new stereotype is along the lines of Martin Luther King / Bill Cosby, etc.

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http://www.values.com/ - Changing culture (normal, inevitable over time)

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Recent role models for American society: Homer Simpson (man of common sense), Archie Bunker (man of common sense), Harry Potter (boy of common sense), etc. Words: attempted humor, humor, irony, satire, current culture, etc.



thechadmaster
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05 Feb 2011, 7:46 am

pgd wrote:
Historically, the White House has tended toward promoting Christianity as the national religion of the USA. There is not much evidence that the White House has encouraged Americans to convert to Buddhism or Hinduism or agnosticism or atheism. Why? It often seems to be about votes and wearing Christianity on the sleeve of a politician tends to mean: getting elected and staying elected.


Christians are the majority in the US (76% in 2008). Politicians by nature are interested in courting the majority to get votes. If a particular politician were to actively seek the atheist vote (for example), not only would he find that atheists are a very small voter base, but by courting atheists, he might alienate Christian voters, who generally dislike atheism.

Christianity may not be our "official" religion(unfortunately), but it is the majority religious group, much like English is the majority language, but not the official language.


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I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.


NeantHumain
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05 Feb 2011, 10:37 pm

thechadmaster wrote:
Christianity may not be our "official" religion(unfortunately), but it is the majority religious group, much like English is the majority language, but not the official language.

Our government is under a constitutional obligation to respect a separation between church and state. We are a liberal democracy (fortunately), which means aspects of popular, majoritarian rule (the democratic part) are combined with respect for individual liberties and minority rights (the liberal part). Politicians have every right to practice their religion freely, but they cannot make their religion a part of their official functions in the government; they cannot use the power of the state to advocate for/advance religion.