Obama mentions atheists in Inauguration Speech

jtsuited

Yup at the end of the whole 'christian, muslim, jewish, hindu' thing he said 'and non-believers'.

discuss....

karen3212

I was hoping the preacher that's on now might have mentioned them too, but no

Rob_l

jtsuited wrote: »

Yup at the end of the whole 'christian, muslim, jewish, hindu' thing he said 'and non-believers'.

discuss....

Whast there to discuss he is trying to be all inclusive and as far removed the good christian George bush as he can.

I still dont think we will see much "change" but thats just me.

oshead

I notice he paused before he said "and Non-Believers". No doubt to emphasize.

Glad we got a mention

Dave OS

Dades

jtsuited wrote: »

discuss....

Yes, we can.

Galvasean

CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Bout time a US president acknowledged we exist, y'know in a non "They're eating away at the moral fabric of America!" kind of way.

cavedave

I thought it was a brave thing to say in what is largely a religious country.

Galvasean

'Bout time a US president acknowledged we exist

Many U.S presidents were of no religion. The majority of the founding fathers were deists. They also owned slaves so no point beatifying them.

John Quincy Adams, according to his own letters, placed his hand on a constitutional law volume rather than a Bible to indicate where his fealty lay. Franklin Pierce "affirmed" rather than swore his oath on the Bible, reportedly because of a crisis of faith following his son's death.

pH

oshead wrote: »

I notice he paused before he said "and Non-Believers". No doubt to emphasize.

Glad we got a mention

Yea, I noticed that too, so basically only the agnostics and deists are out in the cold now.

I wonder what they did to be so rudely shunned?

philologos

karen3212 wrote: »

I was hoping the preacher that's on now might have mentioned them too, but no

The prayer by Rick Warren was one for the whole nation, he didn't even give special mention to the Christians even though it was a Christian prayer. Gene Robinson in his prayer on the day before, didn't mention Jesus or Christianity in his.

Dont be at yourself

The preacher who was on before Obama seemed like a bit of a nutter. Despite the last 8 years of Bush, it is still shocking to see such an overtly Christian message presented by the US Government. Today's inauguration was almost like a church wedding.

Seifer

Hehe so good to have a place to come to get these things off your chest.
I turned to sky news just as the preacher guy was starting his prayer and it was sickening the amount of waffling he did.
Then my eyes lit up when Obama said non-believers
On a side note, he should have that chief justice killed for messing up his historic inauguration

Dades

To be fair there didn't look like much separation between church and state.

Dades

Dades wrote: »

To be fair there didn't look like much separation between church and state.

And it's ironic because it was originally set up to be a secularist state.

Dave!

tbh I'd have been more impressed if he had managed to avoid turning the inauguration into a mass... 2 preachers like...

philologos

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

The preacher who was on before Obama seemed like a bit of a nutter. Despite the last 8 years of Bush, it is still shocking to see such an overtly Christian message presented by the US Government. Today's inauguration was almost like a church wedding.

He seemed like a nutter for saying a Christian prayer or?

Dont be at yourself

His general demeanor and delivery of the prayer struck me as odd. I thought he was going to start rolling around on the floor, screaming to us that he has seen the light.

philologos

He delivered the prayer with a bit of sincerity, and that is equated to being a nutter?

Jakkass

Jakkass wrote: »

He delivered the prayer with a bit of sincerity, and that is equated to being a nutter?

Some times there's such a thing as too much sincerity.

Seifer

Jakkass wrote: »

He delivered the prayer with a bit of sincerity, and that is equated to being a nutter?

Delivered the prayer sincerely to his imaginary sky friend? Sounds nuts to me...

Dont be at yourself

He delivered the prayer with a bit of sincerity, and that is equated to being a nutter?

Please don't put words in my mouth. I don't equate sincerity to being a nutter.

I've no doubt that he was entirely sincere in giving the prayer, but to me he came across almost as a caricature of the stereotypical evangelical preacher. He was rabidly evangelising.

philologos

How was he evangelising? I watched the whole prayer, he didn't say that he wished for every American to become a Christian. It seems however, if you invoke God's name anywhere you are seen to be a nutter or a fanatic. It's a prayer, that's the point. He was asked to pray to God for the American people by Barack Obama.

You said, that you expected him to roll on the floor screaming, that would have indicated that you thought since he was rather fervent in his prayer (or sincere), that he was a nutter. Apologies if I read into it too much but it was what you seemed to be saying.

Dont be at yourself

Apology accepted.

Sadly, I've neither the time nor the inclination to continue this merry dance. Goodnight!

lostexpectation

oh im sorry for the posters here who still can't conceive a world were people don't confess to your god or any god
rick warren superpastors speech

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans. United not by race or religion or by blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations, all people will stand accountable before You

eh no they all won't

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jan/09012003.html

philologos

lostexpectation wrote: »

oh im sorry for the posters here who still can't conceive a world were people don't confess to your god or any god
rick warren superpastors speech

I don't expect all people to believe in what I or Rick Warren say, I honour that many of my friends do not believe in God the way I do, or at all. That's irrelevant. I am living in a world right now where people don't confess to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I don't see how that affects how posters view God.

Anyhow as for Rick Warren, I think that his prayer to the nation although non-Christians may disagree with it, was a prayer with good sentiment for Obama's presidency, and I do hope that Obama will have divine guidance in the White House for the next four years, maybe even the next 8. I disagree with many of Obama's policies, but he is the leader of the US and that isn't to be disputed.

lostexpectation

Jakkass wrote: »

How was he evangelising?

[rick warren]And may we never forget that one day, all nations, all people will stand accountable before You

Jakkass wrote: »

I watched the whole prayer, he didn't say that he wished for every American to become a Christian. It seems however, if you invoke God's name anywhere you are seen to be a nutter or a fanatic. It's a prayer, that's the point. He was asked to pray to God for the American people by Barack Obama.

[rick warren] And may we never forget that one day, all nations, all people will stand accountable before You

Fanny Cradock

For a moment there I thought you had located the shift key on your keyboard. Then I realised it was pasted

UU

Yeah fair play to him indeed! Although it still sort of annoyed me the way he put his hand of the Bible and stuff but what do we expect well I hope he'll be better than Bush anyway!

lostexpectation

interesting how its the chief justice? who says 'so help you god!?' and he repeats it... so help me god.

their judges are so wrong and still unable to challenge faith in america

lostexpectation

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

For a moment there I thought you had located the shift key on your keyboard. Then I realised it was pasted

do you have any comment on the issues?

eoin5

Well non-believers get mentioned in mass every so often so its not that strange, although usually its something about saving them from eternal damnation or some such drama. Still, its nice to have your existence recognised sometimes even if the reasons for it arent all that great.

ZuStar

I don't think this matter is being treated with the significance that it deserves.

Think about it: the chief officer of a nation that is and has been marked by fanatical religiosity and was originally born of the staunch pious oppression of Puritans actually made mention of non-believers as a legitimate portion of the population! Not as sad, misguided souls, not as god-less heathens - as PEOPLE. As people with a legitimate view! We live in a nation where being atheist can engender more prejudice than being homosexual. People have more sympathy for criminals than they do for atheists. And the freakin' PRESIDENT actually acknowledged non-believers in his INAUGURAL SPEECH!!

I think that says a whole lot about what we can expect from this administration. And it says a whole lot about the way that this country is beginning to view religion and the lack thereof. I nearly choked on my carrot juice when I heard Obama say that.