Oh man

The following article appeared on cnn.com this morning:

June 24, 2008
Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible
Posted: 11:09 AM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney


Dobson takes aim at Obama on his radio show.
(CNN) — One of the country's leading evangelical leaders is accusing Barack Obama of deliberately distorting the Bible and taking a "fruitcake interpretation" of the U.S. Constitution.

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

WATCH Dobson says Obama has a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution

In the two-year old speech, Obama suggests it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.

"Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy?" Obama asks in the speech. "Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is okay and that eating shellfish is an abomination. Or we could go with Deuteronomy which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount."

"So before we get carried away, let's read our Bible now," Obama also said to cheers. "Folks haven't been reading their Bible."

In the comments to be aired later Tuesday, Dobson said Obama should not be referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.

"I think he's deliberately distorting the tradition understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said, later adding that Obama is "dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Responding to the comments, Obama's National Director of Religious Affairs, Joshua DuBois, said the Illinois senator is "committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for American families."

"A full reading of his 2006 Call to Renewal speech shows just that," DuBuois also said. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together."


Dobson also takes aim at the senator from Illinois for suggesting in the speech that those motivated by religion should attempt to appeal to broader segments of the population by not just framing their arguments around religious precepts.

Dobson said the suggestion is an attempt to lead by the "lowest common denominator of morality."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" he said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

"What the senator is saying there, in essence, is that 'I can't seek to pass legislation for example that bans partial birth abortion, because there are people in the culture who don't see that as a moral issue," Dobson also said. "And if I can't get everyone to agree with me, than it is undemocratic to try, to pass legislation that I find offensive to the scripture. Now that is a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

Dobson's comments follow the Obama campaign's recent efforts to increase its appeal among the evangelical community, many of whom have expressed reservations about supporting presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. Dobson himself has said he will not vote for the Arizona senator.

Several comments followed the post and most of them were in support of Obama. I'm not a big Dobson fan, never have been, but what is his point? If he was trying to make Obama look bad by bringing up something he said in the past, I think it's really back lashed against himself, and made mainstream Christianity look pretty bad.

A lot of people associate James Dobson and Focus on the Family with Christianity as a whole. I think most people would be surprised at the number of Christians who oppose Dobson these days, but this whole thing just made me really sad.

And people wonder why 'us kids' would rather call ourselves 'followers of Jesus' than Christians. Some nasty connotations come with the word 'Christian' today. I just can't decide if it's better to dissociate with the word, or try and redefine it.

Anyway, that really pushed my buttons this morning. I agree with one of the commenter's that I don't want to learn about being a follower from my president, I'll leave that to my pastor.

much love,
carrie jade