American News Commentary

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WAKE UP, AMERICA: OUR NATION FACES
SERIOUS PROBLEMS, MANY OF WHICH
PARTICULARLY AFFECT CHRISTIANS

The primary news event of the past week has been
"the Speech" delivered by President Obama in Cairo
-- the teleprompted utterance apparently ranked by
the fawning elite media as worthy of being assigned
a place in history alongside Jesus' Sermon on the
Mount. It is not our intent or purpose to analyze that
speech. Enough analyses have already been made,
pro and con, to enable anyone employing the formula
"we report, you decide" to form their own opinion.

But considering the overall situation, there is much to
concern the American people in general, and American
Christians in particular. Just three reflections from the
not-too-distant past are helpful in making any such
consideration. During the 2008 election campaign, Mr.
Obama forbade any reference to his middle name
"Hussein." It was obviously his fear that it would remind
voters of his Muslim heritage. (Today "Hussein" is very
much in use by the president, and "BHO" have become
the politically correct initials of choice.)

Then there was the speech last month in Turkey to a
Muslim audience where he declared that America is no
longer a Christian nation, but is a Christian, Jewish and
Muslim nation. (This erroneous statement was offered
despite the fact that a very recent poll reports that
America is 82% Christian, and that all the Muslims and
Jews combined account for less than 5% of our nation's
population, and ignores our long Christian heritage.)

And then on the eve of his trip to Egypt last week, to a
French TV audience he said: “If you actually took the
number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the
largest Muslim countries in the world.” (Who creates
these false statements he keeps making?) By comparing
at least 4 different sources of world population statistics,
America ranks between 19th and 33rd among nations
of the world in Muslim populations.

And then it should be noted that only once did he refer
to the Bible, while quoting from what he termed "the
Holy Koran" again and again. Once he made the brief
statement, "I am a Christian." If that is true, would
it not have been appropriate to rely more upon the
Bible than upon the Koran, if he is trying to create a
bridge of understanding between the two cultures?

One could also question the method employed in this
this supposedly history-making communication. He
said he wanted to reach the Muslims of the world,
and so he spoke from an Arab nation to Arab nations.
This despite the fact that only 20% of the world's
Muslims live in Arab countries. 30% live in the India
subcontinent, and 15.6% live in Indonesia -- and those
are obviously not "Arab nations."

One of the president's main points was expressed in
these exact words: "America and Islam are not
exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead,
they overlap and share common principles..." By
any standard, that is a strange comparison. "America"
is a nation ..."Islam" is a religious faith held by Muslims.
And one could ask, "What common principles?" The
teaching of Islam is that all non-Islamists are "infidels,"
and it is the purpose of Islamists to kill infidels. Since
the teaching of the predominant religious faith in America
-- Christianity -- is not to kill Islamists, it is difficult to
grasp the "common principles" he claims are shared by
America and Islam.

The president's accolades to the accomplishments
of Muslims through the years was dizzying... creating
the Renaissance in Europe ... inventing printing ...
composing great music ... erecting major architectures
of the world ... and finally the statement that Islam has
always been part of America's history. The facts do
not support that assertion. There were 56 signers of
the Declaration of Independence; 32 were Episcopal/
Anglican, 13 were Congregationalists, 12 were
Presbyterians -- not one Islamist among them. There
were 55 signers of the Constitution; 31 were Episcopal/
Anglican and 16 were Presbyterian -- not one Islamist
among them. (Again, one wonders who creates the
information that appears on the "TOPUS" -- the
Teleprompter of the President of the United States?"

One further comment -- Mr. Obama cited a quote
from John Adams, which spoke favorably of Muslims.
As of this moment, that quote has not been located in
any of the speeches or writings of John Adams. But
here is a quote most definitely written by him: "I insist
that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men
than any other nation . . . they are the most glorious
nation that ever inhabited this earth … They have
given religion to three-quarters of the globe, and
have influenced the affairs of mankind more, and
more happily, than any other nation, ancient or
modern." (1808) Given the Muslims' announced
intent of eradicating Israel from the face of the earth,
that isn't the sort of statement from one of America's
Founding Fathers Obama would choose to quote.

But these quotes from our nation's Founding Fathers
are also applicable to this point: from John Jay, the first
Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court: "Providence
has given our people the choice of their rulers, and
it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a
Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for
their rulers." (1816) "Whether our religion permits
Christians to vote for infidel rulers is a question
which merits more consideration than it seems yet
to have generally received either from the clergy or
the laity. It appears to me that what the prophet
said to Jehoshaphat about his attachment to Ahab
'Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them
that hate the Lord?"' (2 Chronicles 19:2) affords
a salutary lesson." (1794)

And from Samuel Johnson, one of the signers of
the US Constitution: “It is apprehended that Jews,
Mahometans (Muslims), pagans, etc., may be elected
to high offices under the government of the United
States. Those who are Mahometans, or any others
who are not professors of the Christian religion, can
never be elected to the office of President or other
high office, unless first the people of America lay
aside the Christian religion altogether." (1788)

But where do we go now? It may be correct to
describe "the Speech" as eloquent, idealistic and
to a certain extent, entertaining. It was flawlessly
delivered as is any teleprompted speech. The New
York Times, essentially a voice of the Obama
administration, reported that it combined "idealism
and cunning," and included "historical distortions,
eloquent appeals and strained moral equivalences."

So the main remaining question with respect to our
dealings with the Muslim world is where do we go
now? And this perplexing condition is still with us,
that while it may be true that all Muslims are not
terrorists, it is true that to date, all terrorists have
been Muslims. "Common ground ... equal footing"
are nice to talk about, but difficult, or even impossible,
to achieve. There is a serious element of concern for
American Christians -- our president denies that this
is a Christian nation and a few days later (using
erroneous statistics) tries to establish America as
one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

"The Sound of Silence" -- the story of two murders.
45 years ago (some of us can still remember) the duo
of Simon and Garfunkel had a top-of-the-chart hit song
by that title. Today it is appropriate to remember that
song, because it so accurately describes the reaction of
President Obama and his administration to one of those
two murders which occurred less than two weeks ago.
The first, on May 31, took place in a church in Wichita,
Kansas, when Dr. George Tiller, a leading proponent of
late-term abortions, was shot and killed. The second
murder, a day later, took place outside a US Army
recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Private
William Long was gunned down by a convert to Islam,
Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad.

Within 7 hours President Obama said he was "shocked
and outraged" by Dr. Tiller's murder. Within a day his
Justice Department had dispatched federal marshals to
guard abortion clinics, but has not sent anyone to guard
our military recruitment offices, even though more than
100 of those offices have been attacked in recent years.
Mr. Obama has remained silent on the murder of Private
Long by an Islamist, even though Muhammad had been
under investigation by the U.S. Federal Task Force on
Terrorism. (Probably now the Task Force on "man
caused disasters," the new politically correct term.)
He had additional weapons in his car; one wonders
how he was able to acquire them, while he was "under
investigation"?

A quote from a Founding Father, which we have
cited before, and which is very definitely a goal to
be sought for in our day and time: "The aim of every
political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain
for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern,
and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the
society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual
precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they
continue to hold their public trust." -- James Madison,
1788


Some Random Afterthoughts . . .


Our readers seem to enjoy the "one liners"
wecome across in our research. Here are a few from
this week's work:

"For Israel and the United States, the days of wine
and roses are over. As Rick Wagoner of GM can tell
Bibi, you take the king's shilling, you play the king's
tune." (Pat Buchanan)

"Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But
don't worry; God never blinks." (Regina Brett,
Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist)

"The administration is determined to prop up GM
as a jobs program for the UAW..." (George Will)

"Sorry, Barack Hussein, but there were no Muslims
among the passengers on the Mayflower or the settlers
at Jamestown." (Paul L. Williams, writing in thelast -
crusade.org.)

Your tax dollars at work: a headlined news story
in last Sunday's paper put it quite clearly: "Obamas
have date night in a cozy Paris bistro." Earlier
the president and his wife had declined an invitation
to dinner with the President of France, Nicolas
Sarkozy, which would seem to have been appropriate
for our chief executive visiting in one of our friendly
nations. The story went on to recount the security
cost of the Obamas' "date night," as well as the
security cost for the sight-seeing tour of Paris
by them and their children.

This "date night" event is a function which other
of our presidents have never performed, and which
doesn't seem to be in the president's job description.
In line with all the other presidential Czars who will
be regulating so many aspects of our national life,
perhaps there should be a "Date Czar" to oversee
this activity, making a cost-benefit analysis, etc.

Judge Roy Moore heard from again: 6 years ago
the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was
thrown out of office fore refusing to remove a granite
monument of the Ten Commandments from the state's
court house. Now Roy Moore is planning to run for
governor on the Republican ticket. He failed to win the
Republican primary or a similar attempt in 2006. He is
critical of the government's view that America is not a
Christian nation, and is still firm in his stand for the
recognition of God.

Is the "Evangelical" cause failing in America?
The answer is "Yes" if you accept the findings of an
internal poll of 100 members of the Board of the NAE,
the National Association of Evangelicals. The conclusion
of these participants in this month's "Evangelical Leaders
Survey" is that 94% think that for the next ten years the
number of Christians will increase on a world-wide basis,
but most of them feel that here in America the number of
Christians will possibly remain about the same,but are more
likely to decrease. Dr. Al Mohler, President of Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, whom we often quote, made
this comment: "The survey results represent at best a
misunderstanding of the Gospel, and at worst a repudiation
of the Gospel." Another truly Evangelical spokesperson
asked this question: "Who is out there totally committed
to just preaching the saving gospel of Jesus Christ and not
how to control greenhouse gases?" The NAE is not what it
used to be, nor is it what it was founded to be; example:
Barack Hussein Obama will be a featured speaker at their
convention later this year. But more about all that in another
issue.

One Founding Father's expression of his faith:
"If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind,
the mission of the Son of God into all the world would
have been unnecessary. The perfect morality of the Gospel
rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted
has never been refuted: I mean the vicarious life and death
of the Son of God."

-- Benjamin Rush, 1798, signer of the Declaration of
Independence