Evangelical 'Paranoia' over Obamaspeak: e.g. ‘Worship’ (bad) vs. Religion (good)

WebToday ^ | 8-1-10 | WebToday

[geraldmcg]

At first glance, it would seem like senseless bickering over semantics. But when President Obama recently gave his speech at the memorial service for those killed at Ft. Hood, his choice of words caused serious concern among leaders of many human rights organizations including Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, who works tirelessly to serve and call attention to Christians suffering religious persecution around the world.

His organization is already fighting an uphill climb to light a fire under the international community regarding the incredibly underestimated volume of Christian persecution of all degrees, from murder in the Middle East, to intimidation in Asia, to political double standards in America.

So, when Obama gave his speech in which he made an executive decision to replace “freedom of religion” with “freedom of worship” in his administration’s official vocabulary, Jacobson took notice, and immediately began forging a statement expressing why this seemingly innocuous linguistic change is destined to have dangerous policy implications.

A recent post at CFI’s website reads:

“In contrast to freedom of worship, which simply guarantees the right to pray or have a private belief system, . . . eliminating freedom of religion will mean a lack of freedom for families to raise their children within a particular faith, the right to obtain religious training, or even the right to evangelize.

While the Obama administration has attempted to address the controversy by claiming that the language is nothing to be worried about and that the two terms have been used interchangeably in the past, individuals and organizations like CFI still question such a critical change, particularly at a time in U.S. history when the country has seemed to drift from what was once an unwavering stance in the defense of religious freedom worldwide.”

The full article is posted at: http://www.888webtoday.com

[casuist]

“In contrast to freedom of worship, which simply guarantees the right to pray or have a private belief system, . . . eliminating freedom of religion will mean a lack of freedom for families to raise their children within a particular faith, the right to obtain religious training, or even the right to evangelize.

Word.

[RitaOK]

“Nothing to worry about.” So, why the turn of the phrase? Something is likely up. The phrase had enough importance with the administration to press the point when it was passed right on over to the State Department for Hillary Clinton, the abortion queen, to include in her remarks. These people are chilling, because they know exactly what they are doing. Nothing to worry about.

[Biggirl]

The problem is that the two words become one and the same.