Should the US be a Christian nation?

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

Are you saying Obama and Hillary have no right to use religion in the same manner the conservatives do?

If you think conservatives are wrong to do so, what of liberals who do the same?

Could you please be more specific? Could you please provide a quote where xingu takes issue with conservatives for invocations of religion comparable to Obama's and Clinton's?

. . . i'm saying i can't think of a single denomination (or any selection of varying ones) that embodies such a value overall. . .

Perhaps liberal Christianity is help the poor.

Conservative Christianity is help the rich.

And Jesus was a communist.

xingu wrote:

Perhaps liberal Christianity is help the poor.

Conservative Christianity is help the rich.

And Jesus was a communist.

Should either liberal Christianity or conservative Christianity be the basis of a political party's legislative agenda?

I would be cautious about the quotes Real posted. One can depend that out of context quotes from conservative websites about liberals or evolutionist will most always give a false picture.

I would love to see the entire sentence this "instrument of God" quote was taken from and also the context in which it was said.

Cut and pasting speechs has become an art form with conservatives.

This quote from Real was from an article written by Dr. Paul Kengor and featured in conservative websites such as http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=ED3D3AFE-3996-4CF5-91F4-13DC5A702AC2

Here's a CNN report on Obama's visit to the SC evangelical church. He is not reported to have said that he is an "instrument of God" who is going to create a Kingdom on earth as Kengor's article suggests.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/08/obama.faith/index.html

I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God." He finished his brief remarks by saying, "We're going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

Perhaps liberal Christianity is help the poor.

Conservative Christianity is help the rich.

And Jesus was a communist.

Should either liberal Christianity or conservative Christianity be the basis of a political party's legislative agenda?

Well Republicans use conservative Christianity as the basis for their legislative agenda. Do you agree?

Over the weekend, Senator Obama went into a huge church in Greenville, South Carolina and called himself an "instrument of God," one who is "confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on earth."

real, in my entire life i've only seen two people on the entire planet strip things of context better than you can.

for instance, i practically agreed with what you said about liberal hypocrisy, and you're still rollign your eyes.

Far different than the way Dr. Paul Kengor presented it.

Quote:

Over the weekend, Senator Obama went into a huge church in Greenville, South Carolina and called himself an "instrument of God," one who is "confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on earth."

If you didn't read this very carefully you would get the impression that Obama is saying he is an instrument of God who was sent to create a new Kingdom on earth. Wonder why Kengor didn't quote the whole sentence but only the "instrument of God" part?

xingu wrote:

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

Perhaps liberal Christianity is help the poor.

Conservative Christianity is help the rich.

And Jesus was a communist.

Should either liberal Christianity or conservative Christianity be the basis of a political party's legislative agenda?

Well Republicans use conservative Christianity as the basis for their legislative agenda. Do you agree?

Are you asking 'do you agree that they do?' or 'do you agree that they should?'

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

Perhaps liberal Christianity is help the poor.

Conservative Christianity is help the rich.

And Jesus was a communist.

Should either liberal Christianity or conservative Christianity be the basis of a political party's legislative agenda?

Well Republicans use conservative Christianity as the basis for their legislative agenda. Do you agree?

Are you asking 'do you agree that they do?' or 'do you agree that they should?'

I am making the statement that conservative Republicans use conservative Christianity as the basis of their legislative agenda. Do you agree with this statement

xingu wrote:

Far different than the way Dr. Paul Kengor presented it.

Quote:

Over the weekend, Senator Obama went into a huge church in Greenville, South Carolina and called himself an "instrument of God," one who is "confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on earth."

If you didn't read this very carefully you would get the impression that Obama is saying he is an instrument of God who was sent to create a new Kingdom on earth. Wonder why Kengor didn't quote the whole sentence but only the "instrument of God" part?

Most sources I've seen, including MSNBC , only quoted that.

You might notice that they all capitalized Kingdom as well. One might ask whether that theological allusion is a proper inference or not.

Perhaps Obama meant kingdom in a much more political sense. Or perhaps they were working from a printed copy of his remarks, provided by the campaign.

What do you think?

btw Did this qualify as a campaign speech, and why was it in a church during Sunday morning service?

My point is that conservatives are often trashed for it, while liberals are given a pass.

real life wrote:

xingu wrote:

Far different than the way Dr. Paul Kengor presented it.

Quote:

Over the weekend, Senator Obama went into a huge church in Greenville, South Carolina and called himself an "instrument of God," one who is "confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on earth."

If you didn't read this very carefully you would get the impression that Obama is saying he is an instrument of God who was sent to create a new Kingdom on earth. Wonder why Kengor didn't quote the whole sentence but only the "instrument of God" part?

Most sources I've seen, including MSNBC , only quoted that.

You might notice that they all capitalized Kingdom as well. One might ask whether that theological allusion is a proper inference or not.

Perhaps Obama meant kingdom in a much more political sense. Or perhaps they were working from a printed copy of his remarks, provided by the campaign.

What do you think?

btw Did this qualify as a campaign speech, and why was it in a church during Sunday morning service?

I'm assuming that when you talk to overly religious people you have to talk to them in a language they understand. I suppose when Obama said Kingdom they understand it in a different way than secular people would. I hardly think Obama is saying he wants to start a new kingdom in America with him being the monarch or a Kingdom in which he is God's new Son.

And yes it was a political speech given on a Sunday. The parishioners knew that. I'm sure they knew in advance that Obama was going to visit their Sunday service and give a political speech. Sunday is a good time to catch them. Since you asked do you have a problem with this?

Quote:

My point is that conservatives are often trashed for it, while liberals are given a pass.

If conservatives are critized for it it's because they use religion to promote attacks on foreign countries (Iran and Iraq), anti homosexual agendas (hate promotion), and trying to insert CC religious dogmas into public schools (Creationism); among other things.

I think Hillary and Obama also have a Christian agenda; to help those who need help and not use religion to promote wars, hate and to destroy the wall that seperates government and religion.