Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible - Yahoo! News

News Type: Event — Seeded on Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:59 PM EDT

Article Source: Yahoo! News

politics, barack-obama, election, campaign, james-dobson, focus-on-the-family

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.
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The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

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{"commentId":2035130,"authorDomain":"isaacs"}

Scott Isaacs

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people.

He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

He's trying to tell this fool that if he had an argument against abortion that wasn't based solely on religion he might succeed at what he is trying to do which is to outlaw abortion. What a thick skull...

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1 vote

#1 - Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:02 AM EDT

{"commentId":2035396,"authorDomain":"gabby3239"}

renard

Jesus said he came not to destroy the law (OLD TESTAMENT) but to fulfill it (NEW TESTAMENT)

the bible also says dont add nothing to the scriptures and not to take anything away from the scriptures

the bible also says you should never put new wine (NEW TESTAMENT) in old bottles (OLD TESTAMENT)

the bible also says let him that hath an ear hear

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#2 - Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:42 AM EDT

{"commentId":2035488,"authorDomain":"cpaul44"}

cecil paul

We Christians need to go deeper into the teachings of the Bible. All the prophets were agents of Change. They fought against the established system to create Change. Two examples:(1) Moses struggle was to end slavery and free his people from the Egyptian ruling class (2) Jesus fought against Roman colonial rule of his country and the oppression of the Jews. Christ in his struggle had to confront his own Jewish Leaders who aided the Roman Empire in exploiting their own people. Obama is correct, these prophets preached radical change. Further Obama is right when he said that in many other countries, many other prophets rallied their people for Change. This is happening continuously. History informs us of great change agents as Buddha,Gandhi,MLK,JFK,RFK, Mandela and others. Not all of our good men were Christians. There were men of other faiths but shared a common principle of goodness and improvement of peoples lives and a belief in spiritual and moral values endowed to us by a supreme being.We have seen in Christians and Non Christians alike - some of the best and worst values of human beings.

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2 votes

#3 - Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:01 AM EDT

{"commentId":2043005,"authorDomain":"danish"}

Captain Nemo

It's hard to believe a Christian is really that concerned about the lives of unborn, if indifferent to the suffering of the living, namely 100.000 dead civilians in Iraq as a result of the "higher calling" of their candidate in two elections, and men subjected to drowning experiences, electric shock, sleep deprivation and sodomizing with police batons in Gitmo.

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#4 - Wed Jun 25, 2008 12:28 AM EDT

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SCOTT ISAACS

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Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible - Yahoo! News

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