You know it is campaign season when the left starts quoting the Bible, and the Obama campaign is in full Bible-thumping swing. Gone are the unguarded references to those bitter people who cling to their guns and religion. Instead, the stump speech is now adorned with references to being our brother’s keeper, and we are reminded that much is required of those to whom much is given. The Obama we see on the campaign trail sounds more like a preacher and less like a community organizer.
People familiar with orthodox Christian teaching -- as opposed to liberation theology -- will instantly note that the scriptures in question convey the exact opposite message from that which Obama intends. In the Christian worldview, caring for our neighbors and giving from what we have is a result of an inner conviction and conversion. Those actions represent submission to God, not to government. Consequently, charitable attitudes and actions are voluntary and not coerced. Jesus told the rich young man to sell his riches to give to the poor, not to redistribute what his neighbor has earned.
But the most interesting facet of Obama’s religious references is not his leftist interpretation of the message; it is the left’s sudden tolerance for mentioning scripture in public. Liberals who constantly warn the rest of us to keep our deepest religious values out of the voting booth seem strangely happy with the daily devotional coming from the White House. Where is the ACLU? Where are those who decry any public suggestion of a power higher than government as establishing a state religion? Though it is tempting to interpret their silence as yet another example of liberal double standards, it is more likely that the left sees Obama’s religious appeals as purely tactical, as less about saving souls and more about saving Obamacare. In that light, we can see Obama’s scriptural references as more in line with Alinsky’s classic Rules for Radicals than with orthodox Christianity.
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