Last week at the White House, President Obama hosted a roundtable with members of the Catholic media at in an attempt to reach out to Catholics in advance of his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI later this month. Obama will meet with Pope Benedict XVI while he is in Italy for the annual G8 summit, which takes place this week.
Both The Advocate and U.S. News and World Report are reporting that there were six surprises that came from Obama during the roundtable, including this:
For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it’s clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they’re often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally. And as a Christian, I’m constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.
Yeah.
I understand that, with a statement like this, Obama is attempting to appeal to and probably change the thoughts and emotions of people who use religion as an excuse for anti-LGBT bigotry. by creating a religious path for them to align themselves with him, he can guide them to a better understanding of equality. Got it.
The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer thinks that by invoking a struggle between his faith and our civil rights, Obama is replicating Lincoln’s methods of believing one thing privately and another publicly in order to, ultimately, expand rights.
But there is nothing to struggle with, and there is nothing to reconcile. There is no argument outside of one narrow interpretation of a religious text that makes homosexuality wrong.
Homophobia is wrong. Real plain. Real Simple. And instead of trying to appease the outdated notions of a fading minority and an evaporating religiosity, Obama should have been a leader and said, “I see no contradiction between my faith and my understanding the LGBT people deserve full civil rights because there is no contradiction.”
July 7th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
can we please go back and vote for Hilary? thanks.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
OH and i’m having a hard time reconciling the his faith and his sanity. he does believe in MAGIC after all. WTF.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
This is just inexcusable. I voted for Obama and I’m glad I did, but he doesn’t own my vote. And if he doesn’t start helping the people-ALL the people-who put him in office, I’ll be voting for someone else next time around.