Fallen and Flawed

President Obama: Wrong on the Role of Religion

**This is a guest post by my buddy and favorite political firebrand, Benjamin Cook.**  

After a campaign speech on the issue of race relations, it became clear that Obama wasn’t one to shy away from potentially explosive topics.

And true to form, the new President dove head first, Thursday morning, into one of the most controversial issues in history: religion.

Obama Wrong on Unity

Despite talking about helping the poor, loving your neighbor as yourself and reaching out to your fellow man (all good things by the way) the President’s speech on faith was wrapped around a common, and in fact dangerous, misconception about Christianity.

President Obama’s central assertion was that “far too often, we have seen religion wielded as a tool to divide us from one another” and that “instead, of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together.”

In fact, he goes so far as to say that there is “one law that binds all great religions together.”

While the pluralists among us would prefer that this sentiment were true. . .the Bible disagrees.

Obama, the Bible and Division

In Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus says this:

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s quite the same message as the one of faith-based unity President Obama delivered. In fact, I would argue that like a sword, Christ’s purpose is to divide.

For example, loook at Matthew 25:31-33:

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of his glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And He shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Furthermore, 1 John 2:15 urges us “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Division Essential for Salvation

You see, it is that very division that allows followers of Jesus Christ to be saved from their sins and have eternal life.

So, while Christians are indeed called to love our neighbor as ourselves, there is still only one way into heaven and that fact will always create division among Christians and the world.

In fact in John 15:19 Jesus tells us “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”

No matter how much President Obama wishes otherwise, Christianity and religion will always be used “as a tool to divide us from one another”.

And that’s exactly how God intended it.

Your Turn

Go ahead: Pile on the comments and concerns. We’re interested in whether you agree or disagree. And feel freet to add anything I missed. Looking forward to hearing from you.    

About the Author: Ben Cook has more websites than he can count so it’s probably best if you just follow him on Twitter. If you simply must read more of his work, he can also be found on Flipping Easy  or MLB Rumor Blog.

Tags: Faith, Obama