“President Obama’s comments today in support of the redefinition of marriage are deeply saddening,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. “As I stated in my public letter to the President on September 20, 2011, the Catholic bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by the President and the Administration to strengthen marriage and the family. However, we cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society.”
Cardinal Dolan added:
The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better. Unfortunately, President Obama’s words today are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his Administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage. I pray for the President every day, and will continue to pray that he and his Administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. May we all work to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.In announcing his support for same-sex marriage, President Obama, a member of the United Church of Christ, invoked his Christian faith. The denomination has formally supported same-sex marriage since 2005.
President Obama said:
[Michelle and I] are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.
What does Obama mean by "practicing christian"? To me that is the most confusing part of his whole statement. And the statement is generally confusing.
ReplyDeleteJohnnyK,
ReplyDeleteRead the rest of Obama's statement.
He goes on to say: "... when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated."
Is Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the Golden Rule confusing to you, JohnnyK?
If you believe that Christ died for your sins (to save you from the Hell that He created) and you try to live a moral life, guided by the Golden Rule, doesn't that make you a practicing christian?
It's perfectly fine for you to think that Michelle and Barack Obama are bad christians (or to think that they are not even real christians) because they want to allow same-sex marriage or allow mothers to legally kill their unborn babies. They are simply wrong about those things. It doesn't mean that Obama's statement is confusing.