President Obama’s Moralizing
August 20, 2009 / 11:00 am • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierSo, Barack Obama has gotten religion. How convenient. And he’s gotten religion just in time to beat the bitter Bible-thumping, gun-clingers with it. Even better.
Ann Althouse has the whole story:
Bearing false witness? Breaking the 9th Commandment? So his opponents are sinners. I’m trying to imagine the separation-of-church-and-state freakout if George Bush had taken this approach to arguing for one of his policies.
According to the lede paragraph in the linked NYT article:
President Obama sought Wednesday to reframe the health care debate as “a core ethical and moral obligation,” imploring a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans.
Strangely, the context of that quote — “a core ethical and moral obligation” — is missing from the body of the article. Was something cut? Was it too embarrassing? Too Bush-y? I have to go elsewhere:
First, bearing false witness is not the same as lying. Bearing false witness means witnessing against someone, knowing he is innocent, in order to harm him. In the Old Testament days, a false witness could get a person stoned. Is President Obama actually implying that those who disagree with his ideas are against him personally? Of course he is. Because to disagree ideologically is to besmirch his very existence.
Second, health care is a core moral obligation? Of the government? Now there’s the crux of the matter. See, a Christian has a duty to care for the weak, oppressed, widowed, orphaned, imprisoned, etc. But what President Obama is talking about is NOT Christian charity, he’s talking about forced taxation to redistribute to all who don’t have health care. That might mean the able-bodied and lazy, those who don’t care for their health, etc.
President Obama should steer clear of his religious talk. First, he doesn’t walk the talk as Ann points out. Second, he is talking about the state taking on the obligation of an individual’s religion which is a personal choice–whereas taxation is most definitely NOT a choice. Well, not much of one.
2 Responses to “President Obama’s Moralizing”
August 20 2009 / 12:19 pm
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It is so very nice to see that someone recognizes the difference between Bible care for the poor and forced taxation for social programs.
In Acts 4:32 – Acts 5:11, the apostle Peter made it very clear that the church practice of holding things in common was completely voluntary, and he upheld the principle of private ownership in Acts 5:4. In fact, the entire Bible upholds private ownership, and voluntary charity.
August 20 2009 / 3:05 pm
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C S Lewis, who was of course a Christian writer, observed that if you want to feed the hungry, you don’t need a Christian, you need a cook. His point being that generalized good intentions are not enough; you actually need to know something about the problem you are trying to solve.
When it comes to healthcare and energy–and, I suspect, to most other practical issues–Pres Obama doesn’t know how to cook.