Obama Emphasizes Faith at Q, Easter Events
According to a White House aide, the 150 guests included mainline, evangelical, Orthodox, and Catholic leaders. Attendees included pastor Joel Hunter, National Association of Evangelicals president Leith Anderson, Christianity Today editor-in-chief David Neff, and artist Sara Groves.
The President also spoke in explicitly religious language during his weekly address Saturday. "For me, and for countless other Christians, Easter weekend is a time to reflect and rejoice," Obama said in a statement. Yesterday [Good Friday], many of us took a few quiet moments to try and fathom the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made for all of us. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the resurrection of a savior who died so that we might live."
As the election approaches, Pew also offered breakdowns of how groups view political parties. White evangelicals also differ in their views of the political parties. When asked if "religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party," 38 percent of evangelicals agreed. Just over half of all Americans, however, were more likely to see religious conservatives as too influential in the GOP (51 percent agreed).
The results flipped when Pew also asked about secular liberals in the Democratic Party, where 58 percent of evangelicals agreed that "liberals who are not religious have too much control over the Democratic Party." About 40 percent of Americans agreed with this statement.
Both Republican and Democratic Parties are increasingly seen as friendlier toward religion. Just over a third of Americans said the Democratic Party is "friendly" toward religion, up from 26 percent in 2010. A majority of Americans (54 percent) view the GOP as friendly toward religion, an 11-point increase from a year ago.
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F. Christopher Anderson
Why wasn't one of the following headlines used instead of the one we have above? "OBAMA AFFIRMS CHRIST DIED FOR US" or "OBAMA AFFIRMS THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST" or "OBAMA BELIEVES THAT CHRIST WAS A SACRIFICE FOR US" or "OBAMA BELIEVES OUR NEW LIFE COMES FROM CHRIST'S RESURRECTION" "Faith" is a pretty nebulous concept when it is not tied to what the creeds see as "objects of faith." Discuss among yourselves.
Welby Warner
If this is a christian magazine, then it should have a special relationship to truth and the desire not to make misleading statements. The headline gives the false impression that a majority of people see the administration as unfriendly to religion. It is a greeat surprise to see in the article that the poll being referred to cites 71 per cent as thinking that the administration is friendly to religion. I would not have guessed that from the headline. This reminds me of the efforts of some political activists to provide a distorted view of reality for political purposes. I would never have expected that from a christian magazine.
Abrfaham Yeshuratnam
When one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular. So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nation
LLOYD OMDAHL
This constant pressure on politicians to make some profession of faith just contributes to the secular civic religion that is slowly eroding genuine Christianity in America. People will believe what they want to believe, regardless of what is professed.
Wendy Holland
What a repulsively deceptive headline: "More Americans say the administration is unfriendly to religion as the President hosts annual Easter prayer breakfast." It's clear that the word "more" implies a majority, while real numbers don't come anywhere near a majority. Must be a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that the president keeps giving his Christian testimony and talking unabashedly about the power and place of faith--in spite of those who wish he would just shut up about it and instead comply with the false portrayal of him as a president without a Savior or Biblical morals. Good luck with that.