Holy crap!!  Talking like that is going to get him assassinated.  There’s nothing like telling everyone they have to get along to bring out the fanatic in the religious right.

If he keeps up with this kind of crazy talk, I might have to vote for him, and that’s saying a lot.

Wow.  That was outstanding.

Yea, I’ve got my reasons for voting for him…

Fuck, that is courageous! When did he say that???

Can I get to the US and become a citizen fast enough to vote for him?

Sheesh, he even mentioned non-believers, when he could have easily passed that over, and all us Atheists would have “understood”. Wow. Just wow.

Can you put up McCains video next to this?

Or maybe not. No need to sully that beautiful speech.

If he keeps half of that sincerity into office and pulls off a quarter of the promise he is showing here, then he would be one of the better presidents the US could ever get.

I am Catholic, and I agree with 99.9% of what Obama said. I may vote for him.

At the risk of being scorned for my ignorance, can anyone tell me what was so amazing about that speech? I can tell it was something special from everyone elses comments but to me it sounds like some eloquent common sence, although I supose that is unusual, can anyone enlighten me please?

At the risk of being scorned for my ignorance, can anyone tell me what was so amazing about that speech? I can tell it was something special from everyone elses comments but to me it sounds like some eloquent common sence, although I supose that is unusual, can anyone enlighten me please?

Because that kind of common sense isn’t all that common in the US, I am afraid, though I probably should let the “natives” comment on that.

As it stands, few major politicos in the US even acknowledge non-believers at all, save to demonise them (see Bush senior). And for someone who is already being attacked as being a crypto-Muslim to state such a tolerant and free-thinking attitude to religion or non-religion - it is pretty stunning to me. Depending on where you stand, it is daring courage or unnecessary risk.

Just did a little backtracking on the blog chain, and then to Obama’s website. It’s one of the videos on the “faith” section of his page, and it was delivered in 2006 at a religious conference. The above seems only an outtake part.

Yeah, he probably wouldn’t give QUITE the same speech today. Then again, he keeps it on his own campaign page, so he’s not too abashed of it either. Roll on!

Given what some of the Faithful do with science, I wonder when that is going to turn up heavily edited “Don’t vote for him- he wants America to be an atheist country”

At the risk of being scorned for my ignorance, can anyone tell me what was so amazing about that speech? I can tell it was something special from everyone elses comments but to me it sounds like some eloquent common sence, although I supose that is unusual, can anyone enlighten me please?

I wish I lived someplace where “eloquent common sense” was unremarkable.  All you have to do is watch McCain’s talk on the same topic a few posts back, and realize that probably half of America is salivating over the chance to vote for him.

Gelta, what DOF and Ingolfson said. That kind of common sense has been in very short supply for the past eight years. Hell, for longer than that even, but it’s been particularly bad the last eight years.

Religiosity has never enjoyed a greater acceptance than it does in modern day America and the Evangelists and Fundamentalists have been working for decades to spread the myths that America was founded as a Christian Nation and other such nonsense. They’ve largely succeeded in convincing a large portion of our citizens that those myths are true and as a result you get politicians like McCain repeating those myths to pander for votes.

He is still half black.

...but Goddamnit, that speech almost makes me want to overlook his negroness and vote for him.

He is still half black.

You’re right as usual, Moloch. It WOULD be better if he COULD be all black (though then he’d be playing rugby if you know what I mean).

But then the US is still grappling with the fact that a future president may NOT be retroreflective at night. So, small steps.

What is amazing about the speech is only slightly its common sense.  The truly amazing thing is that it took place in a church and was not pandering.  It was the speech of a thinker and a leader rather than of someone trying to convince an electorate that he is exactly like them, has never thought or believed something that every one of them does not already think and believe, and that they will never have to compromise a principle or meet someone they do not like half-way.  From what i know of British politics (though my knowledge is probably as distorted by my news sources as most European people’s view’s of American politics is distorted by their media), reminding people that they must compromise and that their most deeply held beliefs might be in error is not a great way to get elected there any more than it is in the US and my adopted country of Mexico.

Billdave:
Unfortunately, what people need to hear and what they want to hear are two very different things.  It IS going to hurt his chances for election because the faithful don’t want to hear that this nation isn’t theirs alone, but he wasn’t condescending or antagonistic and that counts for a lot.  I’m interested to see how the Republicans re-edit that to make him sound like the bad guy, but this isn’t a new clip.  You’d think they’d have already done it.  I’m sure they’ll get around to it in the general election.

This is the video that loses the election for Obama, because the Shitheads who want to run the country will show it to the Shitheads who think their nasty shithead way of thinking is some how ‘moral’ and ‘Christian’.

(Apologies- I’ve had the best part of a bottle of Prosecco, so all the usual social filters that block the tructh are turned off)

No need to apologize, “Retards” is a better description for them than “Shitheads”.

it was delivered in 2006 at a religious conference.

from ingolfson. Wow, he really does have bigger huevos than Hillary! Like Moloch, I may actually vote for him.

i don’t quite understand this speech. he’s relating the radicalsm in books of the old testiment, or the torah (jewish bible. not christian bible.)to christian foundation. the descriptions in deuteronomy and leviticus have nothing to do with the religious belief system of christianity. although published in the christian bible (in the old testiment) to show history leading to christianity and to contrast how the religion was before jesus’ teachings. these things are taught against in christianity. he really doesn’t make a valid connection or point to me. not that i’m against obama, i just didn’t get the speech.

tom bears:
It’s not all that hard to understand.  The people who are trying to make the US into a “Christian” nation are the fundies, the one’s who use New Testament values, but want to enforce through Old Testament methods.  The problem with the Bible has always been that a lot of people use the things they like and don’t use the things they don’t like, and when people question what they do, they respond “It’s in the Bible, so we have to do it.” And they honestly look at you like you’re some kind of idiot if you call them on it.

Obama’s basically saying that we’re one nation of a lot of faiths, and he even includes Atheists as equals (or at least includes them, which is more than anyone else does).  He’s talking to religious folks, Christians.  That takes guts, especially given the sporadic applause he was getting.  I wonder if he’ll give a similar speech during the General election.

I wonder if he’ll give a similar speech during the General election.

As I said - don’t bet on it. But he keeps it on his campaign website, which is courageous enough.

Re: Christian heritage of The United States.

Please refer to “The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of The United States” written by Benjamin F. Morris (1892)

Excerpts:

Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
John Jay-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York (1777)

“Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary.” (Daniel Webster)

Don’t listen to me, pick up some historical documents and learn for yourselves. You may not believe in God, but you cannot deny history or its documents regarding our christian heritage.