Obama And The ‘Real’ Catholics-The President Inserts Himself Into A Religious Debate.

National Review ^ | May 18th 2009

[Steelfish]

May 18, 2009

Obama and the ‘Real’ Catholics The president inserts himself into a religious debate.

By George Weigel

Passionate debates over doctrine, identity, and the boundaries of “communion” have been a staple of the American religious landscape for centuries: Trinitarians vs. Unitarians in 19th-century New England; Modernists vs. Fundamentalists in early-20th-century Presbyterianism; Missouri Synod Lutherans vs. Wisconsin Synod Lutherans vs. Other Sorts of Lutherans down to today.

Yet never in our history has a president of the United States, in the exercise of his public office, intervened in such disputes in order to secure a political advantage.

Until yesterday, at the University of Notre Dame.

The principal themes of President Obama’s Notre Dame commencement address were entirely predictable; indeed, in some offices I know, betting pools were forming last week on how many of the Catholic Left hot buttons Obama would hit.

In the event, he hit for the cycle several times over, mentioning “common ground”; tolerance and reconciliation amid diversity; Father Hesburgh; respect for those with whose moral judgments we disagree; problem-solving over ideology; Father Hesburgh; saving God’s creation from climate change; pulling together; Father Hesburgh; open hearts; open minds; fair-minded words; Father Hesburgh. None of this was surprising, and most of it was said with the president’s usual smooth eloquence.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

OK.....everybody pony up ten bucks and let’s get this FReepathon over....

Thanks.

[wastedyears]

The principal themes

This guy could use an editor.

[El Cid]

OK.....everybody pony up ten bucks and let’s get this FReepathon over....

I'm game. Let's do it.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Thank you!!

[the invisib1e hand]

yeah, weigel’s so sloppy..../snark

[campaignPete R-CT]

this White House is beyond the pale. And so are the clergy that are complicit in all this.

[SuziQ]

He, President Obama, would settle the decades-long intra-Catholic culture war in favor of one faction — the faction that had supported his candidacy and that had spent the first months of his administration defending his policies.

The hubris of That One truly knows no bounds. Now that he's laid down the gauntlet, I hope the Bishops will come out swinging. This is not an election year, so their opinions need not be couched in the language of 'some politicians'. I hope they go after him, and his liberal Catholic buddies, hammer and tong. We need to do the same, and especially NOT let the Democrats and liberal Catholics get away with their moral equivalence arguments about Capital Punishment and Abortion.

The Catholic Church has NEVER denounced participation in Capital Punishment as being a mortal sin, even though the USCCB stated their own opinion against it. But the Catholic Church has consistently, for almost two thousand years, without wavering, taught that procuring or helping someone to procure and abortion is a most grievous sin.

There is NO moral equivalence between the two issues, so the argument being made that conservatives are hypocrites because we didn't protest George W. Bush speaking at ND, and being offered an Honorary Degree, is simply being made to throw us off. DON'T be fooled by it, and argue against it with anyone who tries to bring it up to defend That One or Notre Dame.

[Tenniel2]

Later in the article Mr. Weigel makes these points: "... the president of the United States decided that he would define what it means to be a real Catholic in 21st-century America" and "... He, President Obama, would settle the decades-long intra-Catholic culture war in favor of one faction — the faction that had supported his candidacy and that had spent the first months of his administration defending his policies."

Which raises the interesting question of who first called whom about that honorary degree...

[Prokopton]

Which raises the interesting question of who first called whom about that honorary degree...

It doesn't make any difference. The conversation was between allies.

[Lorianne]

Obama failed to address religious people who oppose abortion on NON-religious grounds and atheists and agnostics who oppose abortion. But so did the Notre Dame dissenters and the pro-abortion lobby.

By making the issue completely about religion a great deal of ‘common ground’ was lost by all sides.

[BIGLOOK]

The University of Hawaii at Hilo will feature one of the biggest names of the Internet era when Yahoo! Inc. co-founder and part-time Hawaii resident Jerry Yang delivers the keynote address at spring commencement, scheduled for Saturday, May 16, at 9:00 a.m. at Edith Kanaka`ole Stadium

I only heard parts of Jerry Yang's keynote address to the graduating class but what I heard was uplifting, challenging and positive.....and not one bit of it concerned abortion, political or religious divides or any of the bs that I'd heard from Obama Saturday at Notre Dame.

Yang urged the grads to use their education and talents to create new solutions to succeed, that all things are possible even in times of recession and that creativity would win the day. He offered inspiration and unity of purpose at a small college while Obama speechified on diversity of opinions over a subject that never should have been material for a graduation keynote speech, of community service to pay a debt for the privilege of higher education as if the achievers owed their success to those who never tried.

It's a sad day when a foreign born entrepreneur lauds achievement at a small university and the president ignores it.

The students who sat out their own graduation ceremony at Notre Dame in protest did so righteously.

[Iron Munro]

Obama saw a chance to use liberal “Catholics” as a way to divide the Catholic vote and to claim the support of some Catholic clergy for his phony “common ground” appeal on the abortion issue and he took advantage of the opportunity.

He was smart enough to let these “willing idiots” give him false credibility in the eyes of those looking for a way to rationalize their pro-abortion stance in violation of Catholic doctrine.

Who would have thought that even highly placed Catholic clergy would turn out to be nothing more than slobbering Obamabots?
They can use lofty sounding arguments to fool themselves but those who haven’t been drinking the Obama Kool-Aid see them cleary for the fools that they are.

[Running On Empty]

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