Obama Accused of 'Distorting' Bible
By ERIC GORSKI,AP


COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 24) - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, left, says Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama "is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."




The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

"Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?" Obama said. "Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy - chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application."

"Folks haven't been reading their Bibles," Obama said.

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus' teachings in the New Testament.



"I think he's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology," Dobson said.

", He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

Joshua DuBois, director of religious affairs for Obama's campaign, said in a statement that a full reading of Obama's speech shows he is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for families. "Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together," DuBois said.

Dobson reserved some of his harshest criticism for Obama's argument that the religiously motivated must frame debates over issues like abortion not just in their own religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all people.

He said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

"Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?" Dobson said. "What he's trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe."

The program was paid for by a Focus on the Family affiliate whose donations are taxed, Dobson said, so it's legal for that group to get more involved in politics.

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Obama is a christian. If he is not, Let God be the judge of him.

Let God be the Judge, even some who claim to be Christians don't live a christian life, so who are we to judge, let Jesus be seen in you, not religion

@POST
DOES IT REALLY MATTER? AT LEAST I HAVNT HEARD OF A SINGLE BALLOT BOX SNATCHED YET AND IN FACT THE GUY HAS WON THE ELECTION, THE REST IS SENTIMENTS IN HISTORY!!

whatever.he did it.so all this doesnt matter.you know the election is over so people can stop digging out upsets now.thank you.

@poster

so what are u insinuating ?

I have read most of Dr Dobson books and I respect him a lot. But I think , HE IS WRONG. Obama is a politician not a theologian. Dobson and his Evangelical pals hates abortion but supports the war in Iraq. They defend the unborn but wants the living to be killed! They should read the Bible again!

Most White religious far-right leaders can't help the racist instincts in them. James Dobson is a clown!

rotimy:

I have read most of Dr Dobson books and I respect him a lot. But I think , HE IS WRONG. Obama is a politician not a theologian. Dobson and his Evangelical pals hates abortion but supports the war in Iraq. They defend the unborn but wants the living to be killed! They should read the Bible again!

What a way to reason Too bad.

Wasnt Teddy Haggard one of them? I thought he understood the bible better than Obama and yet was a hypocrite. Sleeping with a fellow man while openly against gays.
Maybe Bob Jones who founded a "Christian" university- Bob Jones University- that did not allow for inter racial dating would interpret the bible better than Obama.