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Francis Beckwith on Barack Obama

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Francis Beckwith is on the faculty of the philosophy department of Baylor University, where he is a Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies. He commented on Rod Dreher’s blog “Obama: He’s big in Germany!” His comments offer compelling insight into Barack Obama’s worldview:

Obama’s totalizing impulses are cashed out in his understanding of…

1. Church and State. The secularist tells the church the rules. See here: http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2008/06/barack_obama_religious_citizen.html
2. Marriage and Family. These are not institutions put in place as bulwarks against state hegemony. They are institutions whose definitions are completely under state control. And if you don’t agree, we will punish you. See here: http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2008/07/obama_supports_samesex_marriag_1.html
Cross reference that with: http://www.jennifer-roback-morse.com/articles/Same_Sex_Marriage.html
3. Universal health care. The state ought to be in charge. See here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/
4. Politics is the means of end of hope. See the chilling Berlin speech in which he hinges the hope of the global human future on his election.

So, that’s pretty much everything; church, state, marriage, family, health, and politics. The state ought to control them all and set its limits. For the state is your savior, your hope. That’s totalitarianism. Now, I’m not saying that some really smart people may not find it attractive, since most really smart people think that they can out-think nature and know better than ordinary people with common intuitions.

“Totalitarianism” takes root, not because it appears ugly, but because it appears hopeful and necessary.

. . . . . . . . . . .

The way you help ordinary working people is to (1) stop thinking you can help ordinary working people; (2) don’t think of their taxes as your money; (3) don’t nurture in them the vice of envy by comparing them to successful fellow citizens who should be emulated and not despised; (4) stop thinking that government “creates” jobs, for government can only make sure that the engines of the free market are in place so that jobs are created by entrepeneurs; the government no more “creates” jobs than prostitutes “make love”; (5) speak highly of the capacities of the working class and their values rather than treating them as children who need your help to get health, celebrate diversity, and “join the 21st century.”

First the Megachurch, now the Megamosque

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From the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life comes this interesting news:

Many of these “mosque chains” brand themselves as progressive, and sometimes feature gymnasiums and mixed-gender prayer areas for men and women. Some groups even host weekly services at churches or synagogues with the expressed goal of fostering interfaith goodwill.

“If they weren’t Muslim, they’d look like one of the biggest Catholic churches you’d ever seen, from an organizational standpoint,” said Marshall Medaf, president of the Beth Chaverim Reform Congregation in Ashburn, Va., which last month agreed to rent prayer space to the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society.

Memo to Rick Warren and Bill Hybels: When adherents of a false religion can take the methodolgy of today’s seeker-sensitive megachurch and apply it to their own success, the model obviously is not a biblical one.

Georgetown University tracking ‘religious rhetoric’ in presidential campaign

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From Howard Friedman at Religion Clause blog:

Earlier this month, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs launched it Faith 2008 database. The website tracks religious rhetoric in the Presidential campaign by candidate and theme. The site also gives historical and international example of religious rhetoric in politics.

Are these cartoons equally offensive?

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David Harsanyi over at the Denver Post points out the hypocrisy in the media uproar over the New Yorker cover depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Muslim extremists in the Oval Office:

It’s too bad the indignation over the cartoon is not applied evenly. When Rolling Stone published a cartoon of John McCain in a Vietnam bamboo jail being tortured by other candidates a couple of months ago, no uproar could be heard. And though George Bush is portrayed as a mentally deficient simian (for the millionth unimaginative time), there is rarely talk of a pox of “tasteless” journalism.

It seems there is an organized effort among the influencers of the comedy class in American media to rule out of bounds any comedic portrayal of Barack Obama. See Bill Carter’s New York Time’s story: Want Obama in a punch line? First, find a joke.