General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJust one more in the long line of insults.
Donnie McClurkin wasn't enough. Rick Warren wasn't enough. Comparing our relationships to incest and pedophilia wasn't enough. Elena "No Right to Marriage" and Chuck "Openly, Aggressively" Hagel wasn't enough.
Now he's hanging out with the people who are trying to kill us.
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/obama-to-attend-religious-event-sponsored-by-group-tied-to-uganda-kill-the-gays-bill/politics/2013/02/06/60000
Members of The Family, past and present, include current and former Republican Senators Chuck Grassley, Jim Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, John Thune, John Ensign, and Strom Thurmond. Other members of The Family include Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, the late Chuck Colson (of Watergate and Manhattan Declaration fame,) disgraced former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, and disgraced former Congressman Chip Pickering.
redqueen
(115,096 posts)Doug Coe, the longtime National Prayer Breakfast organizer, is a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship to God."
Hillary Clinton
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)honest broker, a good man. He calls them fellow Christians as well. Each year they do this hate meeting and each year it is disgusting. One year the Family had the actual author of the 'Kill the Gays' bill flying in from Uganda to attend, and the President was going. Activists managed to get that halted.
Jesus forbade all public prayers, by the way, and pointedly said only hypocrites take part in such displays. In this regard, Jesus speaks for me.
Breakfast Of Hypocrites
Just editing to add a link from a story about the 2011 Prayer Breakfast as this is an ongoing and yearly repeated issue:
"Last year's protests were fueled by a proposed law in Uganda calling for life sentences for people convicted of homosexual activity; up to three years in jail for failure to report homosexual activity to police; and the death penalty for convicted homosexuals who are HIV-positive.
The bill -- still viable but on less prominent -- was drafted by David Bahati, a Ugandan lawmaker who's also an outspoken participant in The Fellowship (or The Family), the shadowy evangelical network that sponsors the venerable breakfast.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/01/the-god-factor-national-p_n_817151.html
redqueen
(115,096 posts)It is sickening that this group in particular holds so much power. I'd be very interested to know why this annual observance of hypocrisy goes on. Just one of the many reasons religion sickens me... the cloak of legitimacy it offers.
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)Doesn't constant manufactured outrage get exhausting?
But I'm sure sychophancy does.
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)Can you point to an example?
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)And if you look at this administration's policies, you will find the most pro-LGBT administration in history. That has to count for something.
Pab Sungenis
(9,612 posts)And his hand was forced on that one. A lot of the "accomplishments" people tout are mere eyewash.
Lending legitimacy to a group calling for the death penalty for homosexuals trumps all the eyewash in the world.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes law, ending the defense of DOMA in court, signing the UN treaty on gay rights.
Pab Sungenis
(9,612 posts)was only signed after James Byrd Jr., whose case wouldn't even have been affected by the law, was tacked onto it to dilute the fact it was about gay bashing. One more insult.
If you take an honest look at the President's "achievements" you'll find they're much ado about very little.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)And that bill was bottlenecked during the 2000's by Republicans in Congress and Bush who wouldn't have signed it anyway.
Response to Pab Sungenis (Reply #7)
Post removed
Pab Sungenis
(9,612 posts)Two of Byrd's killers were sentenced to death, and one has already been executed. The Death Penalty wasn't even considered for Shepard's killers.
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)to mention marriage equality in an inaugural address. The notion that Obama is anti-gay is just nonsensical.
And the idea that Kagen would vote against gay rights is just delusional.
Swamp Lover
(431 posts)bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)I promise never to vote for Obama again!
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)...
And I want you to just say, 'This is my commitment, before God and in front of everybody else. I'm in.' "
...
I'm looking at a stadium full of people who are saying 'whatever it takes'.
Whatever it takes, God. Time, talent, energy, money, effort, vision... God, whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes, that's what I'm going to do.
And I believe that today we are making history. We're making history that's going to start a movement that will bring a new Reformation in the church of God and a new spiritual awakening in our world. And, our world needs it.
And today, as you say 'whatever it takes,' you're saying publicly, "I'm in, God. I'm in...
...I'm in.' "
From: Follow Jesus Like Nazis Followed Hitler, Rick Warren Tells Stadium Crowd: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-wilson/follow-jesus-like-nazis-f_b_158295.html
immoderate
(20,885 posts)Last edited Thu Feb 7, 2013, 02:16 AM - Edit history (1)
I don't think Obama wants to be there any more than they want to have him. If he skips it, they will say he's not a Christian. And if he denounces their bullshit, they point to that as proof that he hates Christians!
Remains to be seen how many votes might be affected, but many Americans are sensitive and fickle -- also stupid!
He has to take all of that into account!
--imm
defacto7
(13,485 posts)I'll have to admit you have a point. I'd like to think he could toss every enemy of our cause out the window, but he can't do that. Politics is still the game and to move the pieces around the board you have to play. Damn.
forestpath
(3,102 posts)in their holier-than-though self-righteous hate fest.
redqueen
(115,096 posts)Politicians have been cowering before religious nutjobs for decades. They hold enormous power, not just the individuals involved in this particular display of stunning hypocrisy, but the many who serve the RW spin machine who would use such comments as talking point fodder to sling at thoughtless religious voters of every ideology. For far too many adults who subscribe to religious beliefs, the idea of god comes before rational thought... Else we would not see events such as these continue.
forestpath
(3,102 posts)redqueen
(115,096 posts)His bragging about his perfect attendance sure doesn't lend any credibility to the events critics.
My ire is for religion and the zealots who give it power. Not the first black president who is already dealing with more threats than his predecessors, but has also done more for LGBT rights.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)It's nauseating that he has to give these ...I can't think of a word for them....any attention whatsoever, but he has to deal in the reality we live in. He can go, be personable, even learn more about them, and not legislate what they want.
Keep your enemies close.
cali
(114,904 posts)the most influential, he has endorsed marriage equality.
Each year several guest speakers visit the various events connected with the National Prayer Breakfast. However, the main event, the Thursday morning breakfast, typically has two special guest speakers: the President of the United States and a guest whose identity is kept confidential until that morning. Every U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in the breakfast. Past keynote speakers include:
1973 Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR)
1977 (25th Annual NPB) U.S. House Majority Leader James Wright (D-TX)
1987 Elizabeth Dole, United States Secretary of Transportation
1994 (42nd Annual NPB) Mother Teresa[6] of Calcutta
2005 (53rd Annual NPB) Ambassador Tony P. Hall, U.S. Representative to the U.N. Agencies for Food and Agriculture
2006 (54th Annual NPB) Bono,[7] Irish singer/songwriter and humanitarian
2007 (55th Annual NPB) Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute
2008 (56th Annual NPB) Ward Brehm,[8] a Minnesotan who chairs the U.S.-African Development Foundation
2009 (57th Annual NPB) Tony Blair,[9] former Prime Minister of the UK
2010 (58th Annual NPB) José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,[10] Prime Minister of Spain
2011 (59th Annual NPB) Randall Wallace,[11] Academy Award-Winning Motion Picture Producer/Writer/Director
2012 (60th Annual NPB) Eric Metaxas,[12] author
That said, I'd rather no President went. And I think that it's pretty disgraceful to have it organized by the Fellowship.
I do think your high dudgeon on this is a little hysterical.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)defacto7
(13,485 posts)It bothers me a little that he will be surrounded by many who would like to see him join the eternal club whose statues are scattered across DC.
dballance
(5,756 posts)have to listen to the hyperbaric outrage of FOX, Rush and the rest of the RW pundits & politicians spew about how his not attending proves he's not a real Christian and how he hates Christians for the next 24-48 hour news cycle. A quote from the Leadership Development site: "Every sitting United States President, since Eisenhower, has attended and provided remarks at the Prayer Breakfast." It would be rather stupid for Obama to break that tradition right now with so many other important things on his plate.
I don't, for a minute, believe his attending this annual breakfast that has been going on for sometime is at all representative of his views. Nor is it meant to be an endorsement of the views of the Fellowship Foundation.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)I don't know why that devilspawn convention is a big powerbroker, but it seems to be. It's like you're required to pay obesiance.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Truth is, Obama has to meet with Republicans and various Republican groups that I consider bigoted in several dimensions. Bigoted against black people, bigoted against Hispanics , bigoted/sexist against women and definitely homophobic.
I think he has to meet with many of these groups and at least hear them out before voting against them and working against them.