{"id":2372,"date":"2012-02-15T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-15T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/02\/what-secular-tyranny.html"},"modified":"2012-02-15T10:08:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T10:08:00","slug":"what-secular-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/02\/what-secular-tyranny.html","title":{"rendered":"What Secular Tyranny?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In his column in The Crimson last week, Derek Bekebrede wrote that the Obama administration \u201chas decreed that religion and religious values are no longer welcome in civil society.\u201d Leading a vehemently anti-secular chorus of Republican presidential candidates, Rick Perry promised in a much-parodied television spot to \u201cend Obama\u2019s war on religion\u201d which has supposedly made it impossible for \u201ckids to openly celebrate Christmas and pray in school.\u201d Even the ostensibly sane current Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, is convinced that the current administration is leading \u201can assault on the conviction and the religious beliefs of members of our society.\u201d Given the rudimentary outline of the story\u2014a president of purportedly non-Christian origin, a wave of outrage from leading intellectuals like Newt Gingrich\u2014it would be possible for a visitor from Mars to conclude that President Obama is at war with religion.<\/p>\n

Except, of course, that he is not. Despite how well most liberal secularists remember the outsize role of religion in policy from 2001 to 2009, they proudly elected a president in 2008 who promised to maintain it, allowing some minor adjustments. Inspired by his predecessor\u2019s example, Obama kept open the White House\u2019s office for faith-based initiatives, \u201cgiv[ing] religious figures a bigger role in influencing White House decisions\u201d and consecrating a new level of intimacy between church and the highest levels of state. Presaging a national political career that would justify social policy ideas with themes from the New Testament, Obama proclaimed in his 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, \u201cWe worship an awesome God in the blue states.\u201d
Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his column in The Crimson last week, Derek Bekebrede wrote that the Obama administration \u201chas decreed that religion and religious values are no longer welcome in civil society.\u201d Leading a vehemently anti-secular chorus of Republican presidential candidates, Rick Perry promised in a much-parodied television spot to \u201cend Obama\u2019s war on religion\u201d which has supposedly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Secular Tyranny?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his column in The Crimson last week, Derek Bekebrede wrote that the Obama administration \u201chas decreed that religion and religious values are no longer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/02\/what-secular-tyranny.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Secular Tyranny?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his column in The Crimson last week, Derek Bekebrede wrote that the Obama administration \u201chas decreed that religion and religious values are no longer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/02\/what-secular-tyranny.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-15T10:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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