Intro: "President Barack Obama on Thursday tied his proposal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to his faith, telling leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus's teachings have shaped that conclusion."
'The rich paying more in taxes 'coincides with Jesus' teaching,' Obama said. (photo: AP)
Obama: Jesus Would Tax the Rich
02 February 12
resident Barack Obama on Thursday tied his proposal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to his faith, telling leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus's teachings have shaped that conclusion.
The rich should pay more not only because "I actually think that is going to make economic sense, but for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus's teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,'" Obama said at the Washington Hilton, delivering remarks at an annual event that every president has attended since Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"We can all benefit from turning to our Creator, listening to him," Obama said. "Avoiding phony religiosity. … This is especially important right now when we're facing some big challenges as a nation."
Obama infused his remarks on spirituality with a populist message of economic fairness, echoing rhetoric he unveiled in December in Osawatomie, Kan., and returned to in his State of the Union address last week.
"When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on Main Street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren't discriminating against those who are already sick or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us," Obama said, "I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody, but I also do it because I know far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years. And I believe in God's command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.'"
He also invoked religious teachings - and the Golden Rule - about aiding the less fortunate.
"I talk about shared responsibility … because I genuinely believe in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone," Obama said.
This year's breakfast came as Obama faces backlash from the Catholic Church and other Christian groups. In January, the administration announced that religious employers, including hospitals and universities, would not be exempted from the health care law's requirement that employer health plans eliminate out-of-pocket fees for contraceptives.
Though Obama didn't speak about that decision, he emphasized that his decisions on policy issues are driven by his faith. He said he does not limit his values to "personal moments of prayer or private conversations with pastors or friends" but instead tries "imperfectly … to make sure those values motivate me as one leader of this great nation."
The president paid tribute to Rev. Billy Graham, the 93-year-old evangelical leader who has advised presidents since Harry Truman. Before Obama left a meeting with Graham a few years ago, the preacher prayed for him. When Graham finished, Obama said, "I felt the urge to pray for him. I didn't really know what to say. What do you pray for when it comes to the man who has prayed for so many? But like that verse in Romans, the Holy Spirit interceded when I didn't know quite what to say."
"And so I prayed - briefly, but I prayed from the heart. I don't have the intellectual capacity or the lung capacity of some of my great preacher friends here that have prayed for a long time," he said to laughter. "But I prayed. And we ended with an embrace and a warm goodbye." Since then, Obama added, "I have fallen on my knees with great regularity … asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong."
Obama first attended the breakfast, which is led by members of the House and Senate, when he was serving as Illinois's junior senator. He said Thursday that it "is always an opportunity I've cherished," a chance to step back from being "caught up in the noise and rancor that often passes as politics today."
"It is God who is infallible and not us," Obama said later. "Michelle reminds me of this often."
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Comments
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Take a peak at the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Then think about it.
Where is Obama with all this? Last month, he signed a detention detainment without due process bill into law. This month he's using the same "religiosity rhetoric" of the Tea Party candidates.
"What would Jesus do?", Obama asks the voters with the pseudo-piety of Rick Santorium. Does anyone really care what Jesus would do (metaphorically speaking) about fracking, taxes, global warming, etc.? I don't think so! We want our candidates to tell us what they intend to do & how & when they intend to do it.
I have two questions for the DNC:
Why is Obama "dumbing down" his constituents to the level of
Tea Party members?
What happened to our two party system?
hypocritical religiosity being use by Republicans shows how far
Obama will go with his hypocricy.
No, BOBBYLIP, Jesus, the Buddah & Yeshiva would NOT condone "drone
attacks" or the fascist bill BO
signed and not much else that's
going on in Washington.
And then there is the Jesus from the book of Revalation.
So you shut up.
Just kidding, Bro.
Eh???
Then there is the survey that showed that atheists ranked below rapists in the general public's trust. It sort of tells you what our society is like anymore.
(that's what it is)
-And the Kennedys, and MLK-and---!!!!!
For "Sanhedrin", substitute the "Corporate State" bolstered by the Military death machine and the C.I.A.
-And for Chrissake (no pun intended), what's with this "Prayer Breakfast crap anyway? What a bloody ridiculous example of nationalistic self-aggrandizement and justification for assumed American exceptionalism, much like the old anthem of the former exploitative and failed British Empire "God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet!"
Just another buffer from reality beteween us and the powerful!
I cannot understand how anyone who is not white can be a Republican -- but then in 1933 Jews (even) voted for Hitler.
Unless you are blind, deaf, and dumb - do not vote Republican -
BUT VOTE in 2012 - and make sure we get a Democratic Congress.
By 2016 there should be a third party . . .
Gadot couldn't make the speech...
Well, you do that all the time on RSN, with you presumptions that everybody left of Mussolini is a waster and leech on the system -like the military is in spades.
So why in a mass prayer setting, like a bloody mega-church? Dennis Kucinich is Bhuddist and I'd like to hear his take on this. I know, I know, MLK did what he did in "God's Name" but he wasn't in the White House.
The energy and passion was phenomenal.
Read a short story once about Jesus coming back and living with the dregs of society and when he tried to make things better for them, some nameless government law enforcement agency assassinated him.
I imagine that this statement will be picked up by the right wing as another attack by Obama and the left wing on the "true guardians of Christianity."
it boggles my mind (but proves how even npr pushes the status quo and makes people think they're so liberal) how so many still support obama when immediately after election he proved how bad he is for civil liberties-worse than bush even.
and the 'historic health care legislation' he got through is pretty nearly exactly what the insurance companies wanted.
nice so many.most here see the hypocrisy. i was reminded of bush using graham in a similar way,. can understand only how he wants to appear 'un muslim' to the fox news viewers who think he's muslim, socialist, communist and a hater of america.'
perhaps all here should also visit conservative websites to counterract that party line/share realistic views-truth with others not so astute!!
The Obama administration has released very little information about its targeted killing program. Its official position is that the program is a state secret — and some of the information it has released has been misleading. However, some officials, including President Obama, have spoken about the program. They have publicly claimed responsibility for killing al-Awlaki, and they have more generally defended the government's right to kill citizens after a secret non-judicial process.
Soon after the fall 2011 drone strikes, the ACLU submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the CIA, Department of Defense, and Department of Justice.2 Three months later,they have yet to receive a single document in response.
SEND OBAMA THE 'CHRISTIAN' A MESSAGE: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4024&autologin=true&emsrc=Nat_Appeal_AutologinEnabled&s_subsrc=120202_drones&emissue=national_security&emtype=advocacy&JServSessionIdr004=1ik23zqwg1.app225a
I think he just may have used the opportunity to point out to the right that they are hypocrits when it comes to following their religious beliefs .
I too wish there never were any Prayer Breakfast and that all religions be practiced in the privacy of our homes and churches not in our government .
Yes we could use someone with empathy and good moral values to lead us but they shouldn't have to prove a belief in christianity to become president . Good moral values don't come from religions they come from our conscience to do what is fair and right !
As far as Billy Graham goes he is just another rich televangeles who made millions if not billions off believers.
I don't consider him any more righteous than the rest of us believers and non believers . In fact because he made a pretty hefty living out of preaching to me makes him sleazy not righteous ! He is just one of many who made religion a profitable business !
IMHO !
This is Old Testament and the New Testament basically says that we don't own anything but, are mere "Stewards" over all that we have.We are asked to freely give of that which has been entrusted to us. They make us beleive that this is to the Churches that keep 99.9999% and probably get around to giving the rest to someone they feel is "worthy".
They miss this point:
ALL under the Heavens and above BELONG to the ONE who made it in the first place. Sounds reasonable.
We are to conduct our affaires by these principles. REPUBLICANS,(no bleeding hearts here as we see depicted in portraites of Jesus).
The Conservatives seriously disagree with Jesus on these issues,..Feed the hungry( no food Stamps) deliver the Poor(ship jobs over seas ans let Bain take care of the rest) and set the captives free( imprisioned by fraud derived mortgages, and trapped in poverty)...
Then they sponsor prayer breakfasts and try to be civil for the program that follows. Wonder why they pretend to follow Christ? To fool people.
By the way, these Conservatives and Right Wing Christians ought to delete the Brand Name, "Christian" so that we won't confuse them with the REAL THING.
Most Christians believe that Christ urged rich people to give to the poor so that the souls of the rich could be saved -- Christ did not go to Rome to lobby the Emperor to raise taxes to provide a safety net for the poor. The point Christ made was not to provide for the poor (who "are always with us" as Christ reminded us) but to save the souls of wealthy people. And only voluntary charity could save the souls of wealthy people -- coerced taxation would not be useful.
Worse, when Obama used that particular parable, he essentially compared himself to God, a blasphemy in any Christian sect.
I expect that Obama does subscribe to "liberation theology" as promulgated in Jeremiah Wright's church, but someone ought to clue him in that this is not the only (or even dominant) Christian vision so that, perhaps, he will stop trying to manipulate religion for secular purposes and, perhaps, even avoid blaspheming.
Lee Nason
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Which is just so laughable and tragic at the same time.
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