Would it be right to elect a president who is a member of a church whose pastor expresses hatred toward the United States, as described in this video?
(67% of the 2302.8006 class thought yes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49Ly5CwkvI&NR=1
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4 comments:
I do not think that the pastor was necessarily expressing hate towards the United States, but rather expressing distaste in some of the actions that the American government has done in the past. Truthfully, there are things that should be workled on in the government, and we cannot sit by and say how angelic our governemnt is and that no one should say otherwise. That would be naive. If the people have issues with the government's doings, a leader of some sort is usually the one to express it. In this case, the leader of an immense congregation spoke what many people thought. Also, I do not beleive that by electing Senator Obama to the presidency we will be electing Rev. Wright. They are two seperate people with seperate ideals.
I think because people have too much freedom of speech was the reason for him to say that, and I don't think this should be use against a candidate because he attends such congrigation.
There are many things which political opponent use against one another, I must say almost all the presidential candidate have many things that people can use against them. Moreso, he wasn't the one who said it and he wasn't there, so why hold him responsible for what someone else said?
Senator Obama has made it very clear that he does not agree with the views expressed by his pastor proclaiming that we must sing “God damn America!” But if we are to play the guilt by association game, let us look at some history.
In 2001, two days after the September 11 attacks, two prominent Christian leaders both blamed America for the acts of terrorism. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson both said (and agreed) that 9/11 occurred because of the ACLU, our federal courts, our public schools, gays, lesbians, abortionists, pagans, secularists etc. etc. These were two men that George W. Bush had openly accepted endorsements from. These radical anti-American viewpoints may seem to echo Wright’s just a little bit…The Bush administration said they did not agree with these views and the country let it go at that.
Very recently also, Pastor John Hagee (who believes there is nothing in our constitution about separation of church and state) has decided to endorse McCain and McCain has accepted his endorsement. John Hagee also believes that Hurricane Katrina occurred as a punishment for a city that was so full of sin, it was offensive to God. He also believes that the Holocaust was caused by Jews’ disobedience and that all who follow Islamic theology have a scriptural mandate to kill all Christians and Jews. Senator McCain has explained that Hagee believes in what McCain stands for, but that doesn’t mean McCain agrees with all of his positions.
If we are to let these incidents of guilt by association slide, why is Obama suddenly the center of our attention? Especially considering that he is the only one out of these examples who have repudiated the statements completely.
http://tampabayotrain. blogspot. com/2008/03/obama-pastor-obama-denouces-pastors. html
http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php?storyId=6097362
It is definitely a bigger deal than a lot make it out to be. Sure, it is a presidential campaign and it's probably something that would never have come up if critics weren't really reaching for topics to attack him on, nevertheless religion is a very influencial factor in most people's lives. In most cases it affects almost every decision an individual makes to varying degrees.
No matter which way you slice it, religion is a very deeply rooted factor in peoples' choices. That being said, the pastor of your church is more or less the 'face' of your church. I would guess a lot of people can make the distinction that your pastor may not be the complete embodiment of your religion, but I would be willing to bet there are many who cannot make the distinction. That being said, I'm sure Senator Obama is one of the smarter group who tell that some of the things his pastor says are probably not views reflected by his religion.
However, no matter which way you slice THAT, pastors are a very influencial part of your religion, and clearly this pastor in particular, is VERY influencial to his congregation. We can tell that this pastor has been a very influencial person to Sen Obama based on the examples given in the video, that pastor married him and his wife, he got the name of his book from his pastor, and even made an analogy that likened him to an uncle, or family.
It wouldn't be unreasonable, then, to say that these controversial views held by this pastor might also be held by Sen Obama to some degree. The real question is, do we hold it against him?
Personally, I do. Will that be a strong factor in my decision of who to vote for? Not likely. I may not like this particular thing about Obama, but I wouldn't disqualify him from presidential candidacy simply for that, I think it's too insignificant to the big picture of presidency. There are more trying issues to worry about when selecting president than controversial views held by his pastor that he might possibly share to some degree or another.
-Mr Powell
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