Obama Attacks the Religous Right

by Francisco Gonzalez ~ August 28, 2008

Did Barack Obama look nervous to be at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Forum? There might be a reason he struggled to answer questions regarding when life begins, or what he believes the definition of marriage to be. It’s because his personal views are in direct contrast to traditional Christian beliefs.

Throughout his book, The Audacity of Hope, and in many of his speeches, Obama attempts to portray the “Religious Right” as an entity which simply tries to make the important social issues of family, human life, abortion, sex education, and marriage “wedge” issues between Republicans and Democrats. He claims that the “Religious Right” simply uses these issues to win votes and distract Americans from other issues.

Perhaps Obama does not understand the history of the “pro-family” movement in this country, which began in reaction to the imposition of progressive values on the traditional beliefs shared by almost all Americans. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, progressives began to use the state, mostly through the courts, to overturn historic social institutions that have upheld the moral fabric of our nation for more than two centuries.

“Social conservatives,” writes Obama in The Audacity of Hope, “want a return to a bygone era, in which sexuality outside marriage was subject to both punishment and shame, obtaining a divorce was far more difficult, and marriage offered not merely personal fulfillment but also well-defined social roles for men and women. In their view,” he writes, “any government policy that appears to reward or even express neutrality toward what they consider to be immoral behavior—whether providing birth control to young people, abortion services to women, welfare support to unwed mothers, or legal recognition of same-sex unions—inherently devalues the marital bond.”

Here, Barack Obama divulges his position on social issues with spectacular brevity. What I would like to highlight, however, is his belief that it is the proper role of the state to reward or at least express neutrality toward certain behaviors. Today, however, it seems that a motivated but radical fringe group of Americans on the far left have forgotten or rejected the definition of the word “marriage.” They argue that any type of relationship, so long as it is “adult and consensual,” ought to be considered a “marriage” by society. The ideology of relativism leads progressives to believe that they can just change the definition of words and institutions such as marriage.

2007’s “most liberal” U.S. Senator, Barack Obama, can be considered among such persons, and some of Obama’s votes and statements outlined in my chapter on “Barack Obama Versus the American Family,” provide a psychological keyhole, through which we might have a peek at the views that lie behind the candidate’s voting record.