What If a Republican Called, Like Obama, for God's 'Kingdom on Earth'?

Photo of Mark Finkelstein.
  • Bookmark and Share

"This is Anne Jones, reporting live from the headquarters of the ACLU, where the organization has issued a 'DEFCON 1 Threat-to-the-Constitution Alert' in the wake of a Republican presidential candidate's call for the creation of God's 'kingdom on earth.' We're speaking with ACLU representative Amanda Rogers. Ms. Rogers, now that a Republican candidate has brought the wall that separates church and state crashing to the ground, can our constitutional system be saved?"

"Anne, I'm afraid the answer is a resounding 'no,' at least, not if someone who thinks like this, and who sadly reflects the thinking of his entire party, is elected president. Fortunately, there are candidates from another party who respect the constitutionally decreed separaration of church and state."

"Thank you, Amanda; very frightening stuff. Now back to our studio, where we'll be breaking into our regularly-scheduled programming throughout the day to bring you updates on this unfolding crisis. I'll be back a little later with an interview with the pro-Constitution group 'People for the American Way,' which has called the Republican candidate's statement 'the gravest threat to America since the presidency of Ronald Reagan.'"

OK, perhaps I exaggerate just a tad with this apocryphal dialogue, but you get the point. The MSM would surely be in full threat-to-the-Constitution cry if ever a Republican presidential candidate had said exactly what Barack Obama did yesterday:

Story Continues Below Ad ↓

"Sometimes this is a difficult road being in politics. Sometimes you can become fearful, sometimes you can become vain, sometimes you can seek power just for power’s sake instead of because you want to do service to God. I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God . . . We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

I can report that there was no mention of Obama's comments during the crucial first half-hour of "Today." Over at MSNBC, Joe Scarborough praised Obama's words in the first half-hour of "Morning Joe," and Mika Brzezinski later chimed in, suggesting that Obama's statement was a good political move.

Check back later for updates to this item with quotes and video.

We'll make it a point to monitor the MSM over the coming days to see what the reaction might be. In the meantime, the very absence of an overwhelming -- and overwhelmingly negative -- response to Obama's statement speaks volumes about the MSM double-standard when it comes to Republicans and Democrats discussing their faith.

Update 10 AM | MSNBC agrees: statement was a good move by Obama.

View video here.

Appearing on "Morning Joe" at 7:32 A.M. EDT this morning, NBC's Norah O'Donnell reported on Obama's statement and cast it as a good strategic move.

NORAH O'DONNELL: They're trying to make that distinction [with Hillary Clinton], and Barack Obama was over the weekend in South Carolina at a church service and he talked very much about faith and how it fits into this race. And as you know, values and church-going voters are a big part of who actually turns out on the caucus and primary days.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: No doubt.

Discussing the matter, Joe and Mika Brzezinski agreed Obama had made a good move.

MIKA BREZINSKI: But you wonder why Barack Obama doesn't more, and others have been asking [note how Mika realized she had expressed an opinion, then backtracked and put it in the mouth of "others"] have been asking why he doesn't more clinically go after Hillary Clinton. Maybe his sort of really channeling religion this weekend was a sort of way to differentiate himself from her without going after her. He won't do it! You can ask him directly.

SCARBOROUGH: This will certainly help him humanize himself.

BREZINSKI: Yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: It will help him in South Carolina.

BREZINSKI: I think so.

What are the odds O'Donnell and Brzezinski would be congratulating a Republican who had made such a statement? Note also how Mika frames her description of Obama's discussion of his Christianity in New Age-y language: "channeling religion."

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.


Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

how right CNN is

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Ding: what do you mean? Are

Ding: what do you mean? Are you saying Obama never made the statement? MSNBC also reported it on Morning Joe.

Mark

Where oh where would you be if the traditional media actually reported that a Democrat wasn't a "godless communist"?  

 

 

Three bags full

Three bags full

Ding: CNN link working now.

Ding: CNN link working now. Check it out:

http://politicaltick...

 

.

thanks

Obama needs to be careful what he pray's for.

Judas was an "instrument of GOD"... Herod and Pilate were "instruments of GOD"...

 



The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Fred08.com

...as is Barack

...as is Barack Obama:) 

A service of the new NB respect police

Sorry but....

I don't think Judas or Pilate where ""instruments of GOD." God allowed Satan to use them in order that His plan would come to pass.  O.K. I know it's just a "technical detail". God Allowed Satan to use them knowing what he (Satan) would do would fullfil His plan. So in that sense they where indirectly "instruments of God."

The Magic Man

If one of the Republicans had said this, the ACLU would have gone into vapor lock. But since the Magic Man said it, he's "appealing to a more conservative base." WTF? Did the article really say that? So, here's the new face of the Democrat party appealing to the Conservative Wing of the Democrats? Oxymoron anyone? Or are they so desperate as to openly leaning more right to improve the poll numbers? Take it as you wish, but I call it pandering.

Sounds like Obama is

Sounds like Obama is channeling Jerry Falwell again - I guess Oprah was a big fan

A service of the new NB respect police

Sorry O'bama

The only kingdom that man will bring to this earth is the kingdom of evil which is already here. 

Southern by birth, Tarheel by the grace of God!

Mark - did you see the picture that Drudge has up?

That one really shows how he's actually preaching at church. It looks like the African American version of Jesus Camp that was so upsetting to liberals. It's curious why this doesn't bother them. If you can get that picture you should put it up.

On the DNC plantation

...it gets a begrudging pass - as long as they pick the cotton and vote Democrat:)

A service of the new NB respect police

Some of us commented

on this in the Open Thread yesterday. This was my comment:

Didn't the Democrats always say it was "spooky" that George Bush prayed
for guidance before decisions and believed that God helped him? They
thought he was a fanatic who thought he was "God's instrument."

Now Obama is out there asking people to pray that he can be an instrument of God!

I guess a Democrat instrument is OK???

Is this how the Democrats plan to "take back God"(as Donna Brazile once said)?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next day or two; who comments on it and what is said.

I also asked: Where is Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and
State? And where is the ACLU, and Where, for heaven's sake, is the
FEC????????

 

Please!

Everyone knows that God is a liberal democRAT!

(Disclaimer: Sarcasm, not blasphemy) 

Indoctrinate-U 

Our Education. Their Politics.

liberals "taking back God"

liberals "taking back God" - says it ALL for me:) God does the taking around here...libs could try giving for a change - God would like that:)

A service of the new NB respect police

Not after this story!

Air America gets religion

and doing this:

http://www.airamericaminnesota.com/node/306/

with friendly production input from your neighborhood TM:) 

A service of the new NB respect police

True, TM, they want to be

True, TM, they want to be the ones who decide what role "religion" should play in government, namely: "social justice" (income redistribution).

When Bible Scholar Michael Moore was on "The View" he claimed that Jesus said we should take care of each other "collectively." I guess I missed that verse....

 

A good test of discernment

A good test of discernment is that one should feel CHALLENGED by the Bible more often then not. But libs seem to complain more about what the Bible says then about their own sinful nature - and if you can't grasp that then the rest of the Bible won't make much sense either...

In that respect I know that Jesus challenges me to be my brother's keeper, not via the government per se - but I am still willing to support social programs done well - and it took a Republican governor to turn Wisconsin's failed welfare system into a success...

I wonder what Moore thinks of Bush's faith-based initiative:)? Didn't seem very supportive to me...

A service of the new NB respect police

Just yesterday, David

Just yesterday, David Horowitz, on his 3 hour C_SPAN special, explained how this statement by Obama is the classic, dead-on mindset of totalitarian leftists.

As David knows these people better than anyone, I wish he would comment, on a national level, about Obama’s horrid sentiment.

Rochester, Minnesota: A Fem_Leftist City!

Washington Post, July 1,

Washington Post, July 1, 2004: "I think it is sinful of them to encourage pastors and churches to engage in partisan political activity and run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status," said Steve Rosenthal, chief executive officer of America Coming Together, a group working to defeat Bush.

...The IRS letter noted that religious organizations are allowed to sponsor debates, distribute voter guides and conduct voter registration drives. But if those efforts show "a preference for or against a certain candidate or party . . . it becomes a prohibited activity," the letter said.

Mark, are we sure that

Mark, are we sure that Obama is not a muslim implant? Like "The One", sent to take over the US? He sure talks like one of those mullas(?).

Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!

Barack Obama

I read incredulous comments about Baracks political naivete and how
misguided his positions are. In my opinion that is a serious
miscalculation. This man is very cunning and he purposely deceives
everyone trying to figure him out . He has the earmarks of a
stealth candidate . He speaks about God and everyone assumes it
is the Christian god. A Muslim political technique is to
disguise and deceive your motives when necessary.

I
would like to hear him say," Jesus Christ is the son of God. He
was crucified and after 3 days he rose from the dead". I
don't think I have heard him state that publicly.

 

dang it

meant to post a reply, instead posted a comment.  newbie :).  splendid point, Jonas. 

The reason that you do not

The reason that you do not hear the MSM or the ACLU screaming about the threat to the Constitution or the blurring of the line between church and state is because they BOTH know that this speech, and any other by a liberal to a church group, is just pandering to the group. In other words, they know it is hypocrisy.

He gets a pass....

....because the MSM sees it merely as a campaign tactic.  They don't think he REALLY believes what he's saying. 

He was speaking in South Carolina after all and we all know that that state, as well as all the other states in the South, are full of ignorant, poor white trailer park trash who eat this religion stuff up, right?  And when you can't get to them on terrorism and supporting the military, you just hit them in the pulpit.

So you see, there's nothing to worry about.

Gee, almost sounds like

Gee, almost sounds like Obama hired A-jad's speech writer.

 

Happened to catch a special report on ESPN yesterday morning about Jim Jones's grandson who now is being courted heavily by college recruiters to play roundball for them. (BTW, THIS was a great story about Jim Jones two sons and their youth basketball team that had, by divine intervention, left the compound a couple days before the murder/suicides in order to play in a basketball tournament in Guyana ... and how they have been able to build great and strong lives and families for themselves.)

Anyhow, the report showed clips of the infamous Jim Jones "preaching" to his congregations ... I saw a full-sized picture of Obama yesterday where a woman was hailing him from behind as he had his hand up in preacher-mode ... Was hauntingly like the Jim Jones clips of the blind faithful.  Now I'm not comparing Obama with Jim Jones.  I'm just saying, THIS IS NOT a personna our nation's political leaders should be portraying. 

For all the bashing Pres. Bush has taken for his expressions of faith, I have yet to see him strike the hand to the Heavens pose or use the pulpit voice (unlike the Clintons, Gores, Edwards ... dems in general).  Hell, I don't believe, in the last 6+ years (outside a memorial or somesuch) I have seen Pres. Bush actively addressing a church congregation.

good point

first comment, 700th article read.  That would be a shocking day in the sun for us all. 

Tax exempt status?

This church should loose it's tax exempt status.  The Dems are for "Separation of Church and State" unless it is a liberal black church.  I suspect we will see more open campaigning by the Democrats at Mosques in the coming years, also. 

One report I saw last night claimed this Church service had "hip hop dancers".  What kind of church has "hip hop dancers?"

Bumpin' n' Grindin' in the

Bumpin' n' Grindin' in the pulpit!

I thought that was odd, too. Solid Gold Dancers, perhaps?

What separation of church and state?

“……Ms. Rogers, now that a Republican candidate has brought the wall that separates church and state crashing to the ground, can our constitutional system be saved?"

"Anne, I'm afraid the answer is a resounding 'no,' at least, not if someone who thinks like this, and who sadly reflects the thinking of his entire party, is elected president. Fortunately, there are candidates from another party who respect the constitutionally decreed separation of church and state".

"Question:  Were in the Constitution does it say anything about the ‘separation of church and state’?  

The 1st Amendment  states:  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

From the Find Law web site: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/01.html#4 the following can be found:

“In 1802, President Jefferson wrote a letter to a group of Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, in which he declared that it was the purpose of the First Amendment to build ''a wall of separation between Church and State.'' 15 In Reynolds v. United States, 16 Chief Justice Waite for the Court characterized the phrase as ''almost an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment.'' In its first encounters with religion-based challenges to state programs, the Court looked to Jefferson's metaphor for substantial guidance. 17 But a metaphor may obscure as well as illuminate, and the Court soon began to emphasize neutrality and voluntarism as the standard of restraint on governmental action……”

 The ACLU, The People for the American Way, and liberal judges have been using, not the Constitution, but the Jefferson statement to justify their contentions of separation. 

However, in cases brought before the Supreme Court, they have decided that the governments role must be one of neutrality. And nowhere in their voluminous decisions does the phrase ‘separation of church and state’ appear.

From the

From the "How-dare-you-say-this-oh-all right!-our-guy's-saying-it-now-so-take-that!" book of hypocricy...

Just what does Mr. Obama

Just what does Mr. Obama mean by the statement, "I am confident we can create a Kingdom here on earth"? Is he talking about the Kingdom of Barack? Jesus will return one day and establish His kingdom on earth.  We don't need a politician with delusions of grandeur.  Mr. Obama can talk the talk alright, as can most politicians, but until I see the fruits of the Spirit in him, there's not a chance in, well, you know, that I will be voting for him.

probably won't work obama

"Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.'Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.' And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" Luke 4:5-8 (NKJ) 
 

A service of the new NB respect police

Not amazed, just

Not amazed, just disgusted.

Hell's Kingdom on Earth is

Hell's Kingdom on Earth is more like it.

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

Instruments of God should read the Bible

If politicians won't read their Bible, I wish they would at least hire consultants who knew the views of Christianity.

Obama says: " ...we can create a Kingdom..."

No we can't. When Adam disobeyed God, he corrupted all of mankind. We can't create anything, God had to create it for us. And we don't need to create anything, Jesus brought God's Kingdom to Earth.

Obama says: " I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God"

If he truly wants to be an instrument of God, then how about addressing the abortion issue. God has made clear in the Bible that abortion is wrong.

 

these Dem politicians

these Dem politicians truly are instruments of God - just not the ones they that think they are... 

A service of the new NB respect police

The Kingdom of which God?

Jihad is a war to bring about the kingdom of God.

The Christians who were applauding him had better ask him for a little more clarification.

You can't sanctify the work of the devil by performing in a church.

Sharia by executive order is still a barbaric system.

Mark F.

 

"... has issued a 'DefCon IV Threat to the Constitution Alert'...

DEFCON 4  This refers to normal, increased intelligence and the heightening of national security measures. Readiness remained at this level throughout most of the Cold War.

Mark, did you mean a higher level of readiness than normal at the ACLU? Maybe DEFCON 2 or even 1?

Picky picky:) Where is

Picky picky:) Where is DEFCON at right now...?

A service of the new NB respect police

I took a look at the World

I took a look at the World Church and their faith and mission statement looks good and biblical.  I wonder why they would invite this abortion worshipper to speak there?

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

Obama's "religion".

Mr Finkelstein, you are absolutely right about how a Conservative would be treated had he uttered the same words as Obama, but you fail to understand the reason why, in my humble opinion. THEY KNOW HE DOESN'T MEAN IT! He's already pledged the lives of babies who survive abortions on their satanic altar! He's already pledged to enlarge SODOMY's TENT in the military, by eliminating "don't ask, don't tell".  They know he doesn't mean anything by his religion, and in fact is on record OPPOSING JESUS CHRIST on every relevant moral and social issue, which is just peachy keen with the MSM! When Bill Clinton walked around on Sunday's with his bible, did you think it meant ANYTHING? Not because of his personal moral failings mind you but because of his lifelong public support for everything that Christ is AGAINST! Obama is NOT guided by his faith and only an idiot would believe that he really was! Like that poor woman standing behind him in the photo, who seems to be having a "religious experience" upon listening to Obama lie about his faith. She wouldn't know the bibles position on ANYTHING much less be able to discern an apostate speaker in her prescence. And as such, his lies are dangerous. The biblical "knowledge" of most so called Christians is a joke, much less, those who are in, shall we say, evangelical but NOT "fundamental" churches. This lukewarm pablum will sway many who are not guided by Scripture for their "christianity".