Reply #78: I mentioned this in another thread - there is a VERY SIMPLE "test" here.

[trotsky]

Just put those words in the mouth of a Republican candidate speaking in a church.

"I am confident we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

If it would be inappropriate, or make us cringe if a right-winger says it, then it should be equally off-limits for our candidates.

The political reality here is that Obama is struggling to keep up with the Clinton juggernaut. He & his campaign are too good to go negative, and so I think he's playing up the religious angle because it's what supposedly sets him apart. (Though all the Dem candidates are Christian, are they not?)

What I hear lots of liberal Christians saying is that we whiny atheists (and other non-Christians) need to get over it, that Obama would never abolish the Constitution and set up a theocracy. I understand that and I don't think he would either. But the more he plays up his religion, the more uncomfortable it makes me - just as it would if any Republican candidate did it. I call that consistency.