No ‘Creator’ in Obama’s Declaration?
By Phil Lawler | July 04, 2012
www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=344
Phyllis Schlafly notices that when he quotes a famous line from the Declaration of Independence, President Obama regularly drops a few words from the text. It doesn’t seem to be a careless error, she remarks: “Obama has done this so often that it can’t be a slip of the tongue or a glitch of the teleprompter.”
Here’s the way President Obama renders the line:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Notice anything missing? Here’s the actual text, with the missing words in bold.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
As the Fortnight for Freedom concludes, Schlafly’s observation underlines the importance of restoring a proper appreciation for the role of natural law. The Declaration, you will recall, invokes “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Obama seems reluctant to recognize that Authority.
If our natural rights do not come from the Creator, where do they come from? Does the state grant them to us? If the state grants them, they are not natural rights; they are political artifacts, which the government could take away.
If our nation’s chief executive deliberately refuses to recognize the origin of our rights—even to the point of misquoting a line that every American grammar-school student should know—our troubles may be deeper than we realize.
Is there anyone out there still naive enough to think that Obama believes in ANY God?
from an interview in 2004 with Cathleen Falsani, religion reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times:
sojo.net/blogs/2012/02/21/transcript-barack-obama-and-god-factor-interview
Cathleen Falsani: What do you believe?
Barack Obama: I am a Christian. So, I have a deep faith. So, I draw from the Christian faith. On the other hand, I was born in Hawaii where obviously there are a lot of Eastern influences. I lived in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, between the ages of six and 10. My father was from Kenya, and although he was probably most accurately labeled an agnostic, his father was Muslim. And I’d say, probably, intellectually I’ve drawn as much from Judaism as any other faith.
So, I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.
…
Falsani: Do you believe in heaven?
OBAMA: Do I believe in the harps and clouds and wings?
Falsani: A place spiritually you go to after you die?
OBAMA: What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.
When I tuck in my daughters at night and I feel like I’ve been a good father to them, and I see in them that I am transferring values that I got from my mother and that they’re kind people and that they’re honest people, and they’re curious people, that’s a little piece of heaven.
Falsani: Do you believe in sin?
OBAMA: Yes.
Falsani: What is sin?
OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.
Falsani: What happens if you have sin in your life?
OBAMA: I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment.
…
Falsani: What are you doing when you feel the most centered, the most aligned spiritually?
OBAMA: I think I already described it. It’s when I’m being true to myself. And that can happen in me making a speech or it can happen in me playing with my kids, or it can happen in a small interaction with a security guard in a building when I’m recognizing them and exchanging a good word.
“OBAMA: What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can (i.e. not “being out of alignment with my values”) that I will be rewarded.”
