Posted by Lee Stranahan Feb 25th 2012 at 12:30 pm in Democrats/progressives, GOP, Mainstream Media, Obama, Religion, elections 2012, media bias The religion and religious views of Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are all widely known.
They are reported on, discussed, and insulted regularly in the press. On the other hand, discussing President Obama’s religious views is apparently not in the realm of permitted discussion. That’s because Obama’s religious philosophy seems to have a lot more to do with politics than spirituality – and the press doesn’t want you to know anything about it.
Imagine if during the Presidental debates some brave journalist asked:
“President Obama; you spent around twenty years as an active, contributing member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which is considered to be the most preeminent church in the country preaching they refer to as “Black Liberation Theology”. Since most Americans aren’t familiar with the tenants of Black Liberation Theology, can you briefly explain what it is and broadly explain how it fits your own personal belief structure and where, if at all, you disagree with its teachings.”This is a perfectly fair question. There is no hidden “gotcha” and it’s based on facts that are not in dispute.
However, there is almost no possibility the press will ever ask it.
Note that the question was not the softball, “President Obama, are you a Christian?” The question of whether or not Barack Obama is a “true Christian” is an unanswerable sideshow, which is exactly why the press loves to focus on it. It deflects from the real issue, which is Obama’s two decades of association with Black Liberation Theology.
Actually, discussing Black Liberation Theology even might lay to rest some of the (silly, in my opinion) discussion about whether Obama is a “secret Muslim,” because one of the motivating factors behind both Black Liberation Theology and Trinity United Church of Christ is a reaction against Muslims (such as Malcolm X) who said that black people should not be Christians; hence Trinity’s use of the slogan “Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian.”
Doesn’t matter though; the press will never ask it. While his association with Trinity United may debatably help establish Barack Obama’s bona fides as a Christian, it also strengthens the claim that Barack Obama is some variant of a Marxist because there’s a clear connection between the ideas of Black Liberation Theology and Marxism.
Note that I said the ideas, not a particular person, such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Candidate Obama, with the help of a willing press corps, was able to pull an Alinsky on Rev. Wright – freeze him, focus on one person, make them the issue, then throw them under the bus and let your defenders scream that you’re being attacked for guilt by association. Wright is another sideshow that avoids the real question.
No, the issue is allowing the President to explain in his own words what Black Liberation Theology is and to give a broad sense of his agreement or disagreement with it. We don’t need hours of theological minutia but the public deserves to hear as much as the philosophy of the church Obama attended, since we already have been deluged with the stories about the religion of the Republican candidates.
Will it ever happen? I don’t see how – but we can always pray for a miracle.
Big Journalism
