You say you're "not sure what we can read into this, frankly" and "was he REALLY an atheist." Yet the title of your thread reads as if you are certain he was an atheist.
Cmon, this is stretching it. He's describing a life path that many people will relate to, and is not uncommon. Born into one faith, disilusioned with it, gave up on faith, then found a faith that called to him. Sounds like a pretty reasonable life path to me. I have no problem with that. As for the black church thing, I'm pretty sure this church saw a need in the community then adopted the mission statement to help it. The fact that its a black church does not make it bad in my view. Heck, it shows that churches are able to adapt to the communities around them. The church that I have grown up in was originally mostly white, now its very mixed in culture in race. They've also embraced the hispanic community by giving services in Spanish. I'd say my church is upwards of 25% black now and its a good thing. Different influences, different points of view, all with a center on Christ. This church has done the same thing, yet instead of a mixed area, they serve a black area, so they've adjusted the church to help that specific community. I really, really doubt that if you were white and visited that church they would see it as bad, I bet they would welcome you.
Does it really matter if he was an athiest? Some of the biggest crimes on humanity were claimed in the name of religion.
I'm glad he was. People who never think for themselves scare me. No, that is not to say all religious people are incapable of thinking for themsleves. Just that growing up in a collectivist system lends one to fear breaking from the group, and the group's views/morals/ideology.
Are you sure that your opposition to this has nothing to do with Obama's Church's unwillingness to minister beyond their planet? I'm just wondering.
It shouldn't but in this country there is the perception that being religious some how makes you better, when in fact it all depend on the person. There are countries without major religious influence which have just as good moral ethical standards as countries with heavy religious influences. Ethics and Morality are not the product of religion only.
The problem with Obama if he runs for president, there's a lot of potential issues/questions/doubts against him on race, religion.. etc. but most importantly, I won't be surprised if the republicans would use dirty propaganda like linking him to terrorism. It's very easy for chicken americans to change their minds when it comes to this matter. GWB has succeeded in using this kind of tactics in the past to raise his approval rating. The only way for the republicans to stay in the whitehouse is when Obama wins the primary. Keep that in mind people who want change, BIG changes.
Do you do so excluding anybody who isn't of that race? Yes, there are Catholic churches that cater to Hispanics or Asians, but their community outreach programs and assistance are open to all. I ultimately do NOT think this is a big deal regarding Barak Obama, but it is curious on a larger scale.
if the GOP tries to do that in an general election, I guarantee some evangelicals (including myself) will support Obama in that.
Couple things here... 1. He IS running for President. 2. If he was going to somehow be linked to terrorism, it would have happened already. It's way too easy a target. "OMG! His name is Obama! That is so close to Osama! He's a terrorist! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" This is an argument that is so 2006. That's not to say that T_J and texxx and their friends won't still try to use it. It will just be more out of sad desperation.
Since you brought it up: <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3YaRpx3LphI&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3YaRpx3LphI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> I thought for a while that it needed to be posted in every thread about Obama or Kennedy, but now there's just too many of them.
The way GWB murdered McCain's war records, nothing is impossible in this business. A short article something like " Terrorist bank account linked to Obama's father or dog... republicans will do anything, especially if godfather rudy is the chosen one.
as far as reaching out to the black race (and this is off the topic obama, just the church in general) I've seen some of you same guys criticize the black community for these problems. so if you think some of these problems are unique to the black community, how are you going to turn around and criticize a freakin CHURCH for addressing them. if you think the church is in the wrong, the next time there is a thread on black crime, or black education, or some topic like that, I'm going to remember this thread. you can't have it both ways.
LOL. I don't like to see in the future news headlines like: Obama hunts Osama or, Obama makes peace with Osama or worse, Osama assasinated Obama.
You know, I don't really like ramen noodles much, but I love hot sauce - the end result is that I eat a lot of ramen noodles because hot sauce works really well with them.
Well I guess we will have to see TJ and Bigtexx, Basso etc. spreading their daily Swiftboat emails everyday against Obama or Hillary. Oh, I forgot Basso is "open" wrt to Obama.
