by Jesse Galef -
Obama once again graced the annual National Prayer Breakfast with his presence, and once more we in the nontheistic community were given a brief mention. Yes, I’m bothered that Obama’s presence at the meeting lends credibility to the shady group known as “The Family.” They’re the group of politicians who (when they weren’t busy being caught in sex scandals) pushed extreme legislation including the recent Ugandan anti-homosexual atrocity. But at the meeting, Obama – as he has a tendency to do – inserted a nice phrase or two into the otherwise overwhelmingly religious speech.
The American Humanist Association issued a press release applauding this statement about the relief efforts in particular: “The compassion and decency of the American people is expressed… by Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.”
This is a great line which embodies one of the AHA’s principles – whether or not you belief in a god, “Just be good for goodness’ sake.” There are common, secular concerns/purposes which everyone can understand and support. It’s great for Obama to emphasize that the charitable efforts in Haiti are not solely religious.
Of course, the recognition is surrounded by religious context (read the speech transcript here):
God’s grace, and the compassion and decency of the American people is expressed through the men and women like Corpsman Brossard. It’s expressed through the efforts of our Armed Forces, through the efforts of our entire government, through similar efforts from Spain and other countries around the world. It’s also, as Secretary Clinton said, expressed through multiple faith-based efforts. By evangelicals at World Relief. By the American Jewish World Service. By Hindu temples, and mainline Protestants, Catholic Relief Services, African American churches, the United Sikhs. By Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.
It’s inspiring. This is what we do, as Americans, in times of trouble. We unite, recognizing that such crises call on all of us to act, recognizing that there but for the grace of God go I, recognizing that life’s most sacred responsibility — one affirmed, as Hillary said, by all of the world’s great religions — is to sacrifice something of ourselves for a person in need.
We’ve come a long way from President George H.W. Bush saying that he didn’t consider atheists citizens or patriots. But it’s sad that the bar was set so low when it comes to public appreciation of nonreligious Americans.
Back when I worked for the Secular Coalition for America, I was asked about Obama’s standing with nontheists. Six months later, my sentiments haven’t changed:
Secularists say they’re not asking for heaven here on earth, and they realize that much has improved. “This is a better administration than the one we had. It’s not perfect; politics is never perfect.” …
And Obama’s poll numbers remain much stronger with the unaffiliated than with regular churchgoers. But nonbelievers won’t keep the faith forever. “We’re glad he [Obama] is taking steps forward. But he could still do more to make us happier,” Galef concluded. “Lip service is better than no service. But at a certain point we’ll stop being happy with just the lip service.”
Obama’s inclusive statements do a lot – it’s so important that we be recognized as moral citizens who belong as part of the country. But when can we expect more?
I’d be a lot happier if he said “of every religious faith, and no religious faith” – I have lots of faith in lots of things, just none in religion.
You know, that poor bastard can’t catch a break. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. See this little “highlight” from Fox “News”.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/02/04/se-cupp-obama-prayer-breakfast-faith-god-jesus/
“….While today’s speech was perhaps the president’s most muscular discussion of faith to date, it was rife with incongruities and contradictions that reveal just how incomplete his understanding of American faith actually is, regardless of what Ms. Kornblut tells us an unnamed adviser said.
The worst misstep of today’s speech? When the president said that “God’s grace” is expressed “by Americans of every faith, and no faith, uniting around a common purpose, a higher purpose.”
Uh, no it isn’t — unless my definition of atheism is different than his. Most atheists insist that God’s grace most certainly is not expressed through them, and that there are no “higher” purposes. While we may all come together for “a purpose” – like relief work in Haiti, poverty, AIDS, or world hunger – no atheist I know would consider this God’s work.
It’s time the president end this hooey, and give up on his obsessive need to equate belief and non-belief. They are apples and oranges, and every time he does this he sounds less like the scholar he’s supposed to be and more like a petulant child…..”
Well, mentioning atheists in front of a fox “news” commentators is like dangling a piece of meat in front of a rabid dog. They can’t help it but to start frothing at the mouth.
I agree; the guy can’t get a break and is going to get picked on no matter WHAT he does or doesn’t do. Frustrates the hell out of me.
Wow, no prime minister (we don’t have a president) would ever get away with such a bullshit-ty religious-supporting speech over here (Sweden). This sounds like another world to me — insane.
“But when can we expect more?”
From this president? Never.
He’s a theist to the core, and had made it clear from the outset that his christian religious beliefs are at the center of who he is. He has had no qualms about mixing politics/government and religion. (For instance expanding the Bush faith based initiative.) He throws the smallest bones to non-believers (like this statement) to try to placate us, but he knows that most of us are unlikely to jump over to the only other major party because it is so clearly aligned with batshit crazy evangelicals.
The whole thing just depresses me.
I have to agree, Bill. He is a super-xian and a big govt lefty liberal. I can’t f-ing stand him. But I really shouldn’t get into politics on this site, thats not what we’re here for.
Wasn’t his mother an atheist by the way? Or am I mistaken in this? He just seems like he talks out of both sides of his mouth to appease everyone for ‘likability’. In the end, it all just frustrates me at how religion has somehow poisoned so many minds of this supposedly free country.
Bottom line, I have to call BS on this one…it’s nice to be recongnized somewhat but I don’t see it as genuine.
If you think this guy is anywhere near the left you need to step away from the talk-radio.
Christian? I think you mean Secret-Muslim!
Personally I don’t think Obama has come across as significantly theistic in his own attitudes or policies. He’s not telling us god told him to do things, for a start. But of course he will talk about god and Jesus a lot, because unfortunately in the US that is the nature of the beast. You can’t get very far without paying a lot of lipservice to ‘faith’. A fairly large portion of the population cannot even conceive of the idea of no religious faith and equate it with chaotic savagery from the time of cavemen (except, of course, there were no cavemen since we all came from Adam and Eve… right?).
This is not to say I think he’s a lefty liberal, far from it. He’s probably a smidge right of centre but the US political system is so heavily slanted in the right’s favour that he looks positively Bolshevik by comparison to the Tea Party. Still, his religious beliefs do not really shine through to me. He seems centrist in that regard as well.
He’s not a lefty. I’m a lefty, and he’s not even close to my politics. In my view he’s right of center.
And then what? Vote for a superstitious, fear-mongering, anti-science candidate? Or not vote at all, which amounts to the same thing.
i suppose North Americans could hope for a completely secular — and, therefore, all-inclusive — address in the future.
I don’t see it happening for quite a while. Definitely not with President Obama. I love that he is including us, but 1/4 of the nation hates him for being an atheist or muslim. He is just screwed. This is better then the Bush family and it is a step-forward, but until we can start getting Senators and Representatives who are openly non-religious, we will continue to be where we are, just a mention.
Kucinich was non-religious, not?
But… but… I thought the Christian’s were the oppressed minority? I mean, they say so all the time.
Now, Ty, that wasn’t a sarcastic inferrence to some kind of persecution complex, was it?
“The Family” is a Dominionist Mafia. They want to replace the constitutional law with biblical law. They also believe there are two set of rules, one for the rulers and one for the governed.
By creating and hosting the National Prayer Breakfast, The Family has been given power and influence they do not deserve. I wish the President had skipped this prayer breakfast and stated the reason why was because he opposes what The Family believes.
I always wonder if Obama is an athiest. I think he might be, but that he can’t come out and say it because it would be political suicide in the US.
I have wondered that too. He doesn’t seem particularly passionate about his beliefs, or to really talk about HIS beliefs, he is usually much more abstract and general. I have read that Lincoln had little interest in religion (though he did in spiritualism) and only went to church so he was not thought of as a godless heathen. Then, as now, much of the country could not fathom the idea of deriving morality from anything other than biblical law.
Eh, I think that might be overly strong. While there are louder elements of religion, most of my life is and has been spent around people who never mention it, or only rarely do when it seems appropriate. I don’t think that many people are secretly atheists just trying to fit in. At least in the various places I’ve spent my life, religious people seem relatively reasonable and adjusted to a secular society (while I still had the impression they feared atheism). It seems on the surface, so’s our president (except for the fear). He doesn’t have to purposely set about to change everyone’s views of atheism right away – he has to be diplomatic, after all, and not incite riots.
While I’ve had overall a very similar experience as you re: not many people around me giving much of a damn about religion or getting bent out of shape about it in public, it is very much a regional cultural phenomenon (most common in the very religious but extremely uptight and proper northeast, and the very irreligious northwest). Since POTUS is a national public office, his public persona has to be “good for all timezones) so to speak, and so there is more than a little pressure on such a person to be more outwardly religious, perhaps more than you or I are personally familiar with in our lives.
Change is difficult, especially in America where people are still clinging to their guns and religion. He’s socializing the idea without pushing it too hard in order not to get push-back from the religious folks. I think it’s a great start.
I never owned a gun until I was no longer religious.
Yay, I am a statistical anomaly!
Hey, me neither! Now there’s change we can believe in! ;)
My dad was a Vietnam ‘atheist in a foxhole’ vet. He brought me up on secularism, science and self preservation. We always had guns in our house, and I have a gun safe full of toys that would make Nancy Pelosi cry.
/runs away giggling before Custador comes.
Apparently, US media did not cover other spanish speaker in the event. My country’s president, Zapatero, was also invited. Zapatero is a mayor issue for catholics. During his presidency gay marriage and expanded abortion rights were granted and still more laicist reforms are on the way.
Accepting the invitation to attend was a major blunder but I was curious to hear his speech. He read a quote from the Deuteronomy 24 “Do not exploit the poor needy labourer as he is one of your fellow men or a foreigner that lives in one of the cities in your country. Pay the labourer before the sun sets because he is needed and your life depends on his day’s work” which lambasts liberalism and racism. (On the other hand he also shortened the quote, which is probably an heresy) After that he spoke about the freedom of marrying the one you love and the importance of tolerance remembering the catholic, jewish and muslim cohabitation and supposed tolerance in medieval Spain.
Well… he spoke in Spanish so I suppose that that most guest didn´t pay attention at all. I wish I had the chance the address such a audience branding gay marriage, tolerance and emigrant rights.
This is the only accurate translation I could find but it covers most of it.
http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/2010/02/zapatero-in-usa.html
By the way, during the prayer there is a moment where people actually pray, that is they lower their heads and close their eyes. Mr. Zapatero was just standing, again, as everybody was lowering their heads no one noticed.
I do not really know if some fundamentalist are lobbying to make this issue know, until they do and try to harm Zapatero image I would like to share it. In my point of view the situation was so odd it came to be hysterically funny.
Funny, but also pretty cool.
Obama’s speech had a specific context. That he included people of no faith at all is actually quite remarkable, isn’t it?
Obama’s a chameleon; he caters to his audiences — it’s one of the reasons he’s so successful as a politician. When he’s in blue collar, USA, he rolls his sleeves up and speaks simply; when he’s among the social elite, he dons the tuxedo and waxes eloquently. Similarly, when he’s with religious people, he appeals to them on their terms.
I think if you look at the context — the National Prayer Breakfast — the fact that he included secular people at all is quite remarkable and speaks to his legitimate concern for all citizens of the country. So to your question, “When can we expect more?” I think it’s important to consider context.
I mean, what do you expect out of a politician? He did include you in an environment that is clearly hostile, but why would you look in a speech that was obviously directed toward religious people for “public appreciate of nonreligious people?” He is, first and last, a politician after all.
I wish America wasn’t so hell bent on religion.I mean the some of the brightest and innovative minds of our generation have no chance of ever being president because they’re atheists. It’s very frustrating, were passing up the people who would probably do the job a hundred times better than most of the current politicians just because they’re rationale thinkers and refuse to abide by religion.But my dream will have to wait, it will be a long time before America accepts atheism.Maybe one day, but it will be way past my lifetime.Oh to dream…………