President Obama Taking the Christ Out of Easter?

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President Obama literally edited Christ out of his “holiday greeting” today when he excerpted a sermon given by a military chaplain on Iwo Jima on Easter Sunday 1945.

Below is the relevant paragraph from Obama’s holiday greeting today:

The rites of Passover, and the traditions of Easter, have been marked by people in every corner of the planet for thousands of years. They have been marked in times of peace, in times of upheaval, in times of war.

One such war-time service was held on the black sands of Iwo Jima more than sixty years ago. There, in the wake of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, a chaplain rose to deliver an Easter sermon, consecrating the memory, he said “of American dead – Catholic, Protestant, Jew. Together,” he said, “they huddled in foxholes or crouched in the bloody sands…Together they practiced virtue, patriotism, love of country, love of you and of me.” The chaplain continued, “The heritage they have left us, the vision of a new world, [was] made possible by the common bond that united them…their only hope that this unity will endure.”

Their only hope that this unity will endure.

Now read below the same paragraph again, but this time note the additional bolded language that comes from the original audio of the 1945 sermon and its context, but which President Obama decided not to include:

There, in the wake of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, a chaplain rose to deliver an Easter sermon, consecrating the memory, he said:

He has risen. With all due reverence, we apply these words to our beloved dead.

There are too many air call wings encrusted with the stain of their owners’ life blood, too many marine trousers upon the graves, too many symbols of American dead – Catholic, Protestant, Jew. Together,” he said, “they huddled in foxholes or crouched in the bloody sands under the fury of enemy guns here on Iwo Jima. Together they practiced virtue, patriotism, love of country, love of you and of me. Together they stand before the greatest soldier of them all – Jesus Christ, to receive the token of our triumph. For Christ has said: “Greater love than this no man hath then that he lay down his life for his friends.”

And so our beloved dead have gone from the world of hate to the world of eternal love.

The chaplain continued, “The heritage they have left us, the vision of a new world, [was] made possible by the common bond that united them in the drudgery of recruit training or here in the chaos of bursting shouts. Their only hope: that this unity will endure.”

And so our dead have risen to glory.

Greg Hengler, cites Vince Haley, who puts it all in perspective:

The American President is president of all the people, believers and non-believers alike. So when presidential messages are delivered to mark the special observances of major religious groups, it is understandable that a president will strive to provide some measure of explanation of how a particular religious observance honors values that all Americans can share.

But there are limits. A president cannot possibly hope to be a grand synthesizer of all religious traditions in the United States. Despite his skills, it is above President Obama’s pay grade to construct some kind of civic religion that stands above traditional religions and which should guide Americans going forward.

Instead of providing separate messages to Jews and Christians on the observance of Passover and Easter, President Obama said in this holiday greeting that “while we worship in different ways, we also remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all – Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus, believers and nonbelievers alike.

Obama then went on to say that “on this Easter weekend, let us hold fast to those aspirations we hold in common as brothers and sisters, as members of the same family – the family of man.”

The problem is that when you start to water down what people actually believe in an attempt to construct a religion of the “family of man”, you start to misrepresent fundamentally the nature of the hope that is at the center of lives of believers.

In the case of Christians, Christ is our hope. Our hope is in the risen Christ, which we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

But if a president wants to water down religious beliefs in an attempt to find a synthesized religion of the ‘family of man’, you end up removing Christ from Easter, which is, strangely, exactly what President Obama did today in his Easter message.

If there are Americans out there who are hypersensitive to Easter being a national holiday tradition, that’s their problem. As a non-Christian, I don’t feel excluded, offended, put-off, by religious holidays like this one. In fact, the commercialized aspects of it (Easter Bunny, egg hunts, etc.) like Christmas (Santa Claus, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, gift-giving, etc.), makes it nationally and universally accessible and all-inclusive to anyone who wants to be a part of the festivities. There is no good reason to segregate yourself off from what’s been an American tradition.

Vince Haley concludes with this question:

Is this the first American president to dechristianize Easter?

My guess is, “yes“.

In regards to Iwo Jima, an excellent history lesson over at Mudville Gazette.

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And had he taken all references to Mohamed out of his Ramadan message last year, and included Jews and Christians in it would the Moslem leadership stayed quiet?

No. In fact he made sure he sugar-coated the hell out of THAT message…In fact, putting “Islam” above his watered-down “family of man”, (and all known evidence)

These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings.

Yeah. Justice, tolerance and dignity. Per Islam….Uh huh.

But he has no trouble lumping the 2 most important celebrations of the planet’s 2 other major religions together, even though they have nothing to do with eachother, and throws Hindi (What, no Buddhism?) into the mess, as well.

To include Islam is nothing more than him kissing ass, while knowing how little Americans know about Islam vis a vis it’s teaching’s concerning Jews, Christians, and all other “unbelievers”.

Yeah Bamster…right back attcha.

Obama is a man of the people. Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly which people yet!

This is reprehensible, why choose the sermon of heroes and bastardize it with your own politically correct and self-promoting message? This is an insult to those men who risked and often gave everything in one of the most courageous chapters of American military history. Now Obama has to steal from the valor of heroes and disgrace it with his pathetic message that only serves to expose his narcissistic personality; this man is a disgrace who continually brings dishonor to the American tradition.

Have we forgotten the original meaning of Easter?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre

Wake up people……

Do not forget Obama’s freudian slip “My Muslim Religion”
Do not overlook, that now that he has achieved the highest office in the land, he feels no need to attend church services.
Do not forget his comment “I am one of them”
Do not forget his name change from “Barry S.” to Barak Hussein Obama
Do not forget his deep bow to the King of Saudi Arabia
Do not forget his disgraceful treatment of the Israeli Prime Minister
and now… His removal of Christ from Easter.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, you may just find it facing east 5 times a day with its feathered ass in the air.

Yes Guffa, we ALL KNOW THAT THE HORRIBLE CATHOLICS STOLE A PERFECTLY WONDERFUL PAGAN HOLIDAY AND CO-OPTED IT FOR THEMSELVES. -And by doing so, set themselves up as no longer having ANY legitimacy whatsoever with those who have deemed themselves more “enlightened” than the rest of us believers-of-ghosts, thus it’s OK for Obama to do whatever he wishes with the day, and get a pass.

-Repeat ad nauseam.

Regardless of the origins of the name ‘Easter’, we are not celebrating anything remotely associated with any wood nymph or goddess of the dawn and/or fertility (see Ishtar).

At Easter Christians celebrate the bodily resurrection of Christ, this is the crux of what we believe. He suffered and died for our sins and on top of that he rose from the dead, overcame death. If there is no risen Christ there is nothing after life, when we die we are just dead. Without the risen Christ there is No Christianity– period. This is the holiest of our celebrations, so if any President is uncomfortable acknowledging that Christians believe in the risen Christ and that is what we celebrate at Easter, then do not offer the nation an ‘Easter Greeting’.

@Donald Bly: I do not believe President Obama is a closet-Muslim. Just that he is cram-filled with multicultural nonsense and political correctness-desire not to offend anyone and be all-inclusive that he is blind to not only the insensitivity of this toward Christians, but to a reworking of an American traditional holiday and presidential deliverance of the Easter message; and to the rewriting of history- shameful!

I’d prefer to not believe that Obama is a closet Muslim because it makes me look like a loon, but I keep coming back to that damn duck.

Donald,

If he were Muslim, he’d say so. And quite frankly, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

WORDSMITH i see that you’r right,because if he would say it or have said ,he would have not been elected at firstspecialy in a war like this one,bye 🙄

Don

Obama is first and foremost a narcissist. He is “above” any and all religion, or faith. If he wears the trappings of a religion, it is only to further his own means. In Chicago, he joined the most influential “church” only after being shown the political influence it wielded. Black-liberation Theology has little to do with Christianity.

His present deference toward Islam is exactly the same. He refers “nicely” to it, in order to avoid an overt political/foreign policy stance, as that would take actual courage and conviction, neither of which he is familiar with. He wants them placated long enough for him to turn America into a permanent state-controlled entity, controlled by the Left, and beholden to the Left. It’s not a vision of “utopia” he seeks, it’s power, and legacy.

He is of no faith, other than what he views unto himself, and in my opinion, to think otherwise is time spent away from looking at what’s he’s really up to. It also plays into his hands as a diversion, just as the birth-cert does.

PATVANN,i just read that COLLIN POWEL is concern about the big spending the governmemt is doing that there is no money to back it up and the way they neglet the whish of the AMERICANS,ect,bye onCNN 🙄

O is a “Muslim” for sure in this way:
His grandparents who mostly reared him were atheists. His mother probably had no particular beliefs except secular ones. But when she married an Indonesian, she had to adopt the state religion, Islam. I’ve mentioned before that Islam is a great religion for atheists. No belief or profession of belief necessary, just go through the motions.
So here is little Barry, and the only religious influence on him during his most impressionable years of childhood is living in an Islamic mileau with his parents practicing a superficial Islam and him going to an Islamic school. This is his religious basis! And unlike most born-again converts who get a big religious urge as adults, he certainly hasn’t let anyone know. I don’t think he has ever looked on religion as anything but a social convention or he’d be on his knees puking.

2 Thessalonians 2 – it is a must read for the One – or Obama….

Without religion, the Bible is just a bunch of words, toldyaso, nothing exceptional. I think it would take something very traumatic to give The Won religion. But who knows, maybe an angel will slap him upside the head.

PATTER hi,also that EASTER is a christian hollyday so why not mentionning it?so to not offend others religions?it make no sense to me,and next thing they will ban the name of JESUS in classes,and more teaching on the BIBLE, 🙄 bye

ilovebeeswarzone, it is as I said above: His earliest, deepest, longest, most complex religious experiences were with Islam, and in a country where Christians are not so respected recently: they can’t refer to “Allah” for instance, “Allah” is reserved for Muslims only. This sort of thinking alone should tell you that there is no room in their minds for anything other than their own religion. The Muslims deny that Christ died on the cross, they say it was an illusion or trick or something. And they definitely do not believe that he came back from the dead two days later. Nor do they think that he is essential to their salvation. All those Christian beliefs are what make Easter, not Christmas, the greatest Christian holy day. But they are the antithesis of Islamic thought. For him to say anything meaningful about Easter, he would have to understand those basic tenets of Christianity, and know it was important to mention them. Failed all around, another indication of his “Muslim Faith.”
Beyond that, you’re right that Christian expressions in public have been very put down in recent years. This year I decided what I could do about that was send religious cards, and put up religious decorations, and throw away all the secular ones.

& Mer

I celebrate Easter by eating chocolate eggs. Yum:)

Still I least I don’t believe in the Easter bunny…

I celebrate Easter by squeezing bunnies till they crap chocolate eggs

I celebrate Easter by not belittling or insulting active and faithful Christians. Then I thank God for the inspiration the Easter story has given mankind… resulting in, and reflected in, our present Enlightened Judeo-Christian culture.

PATVANN hi will you ask them if they are christrian before you decide not to insult them?… 🙄 i celabrate EASTER by taking advantage of a 2nd beautifull day outside cleaning the garden ecetera,bye

@ Bees
I have no need to ask, because I will not insult, nor take insult if tidings are given to me. (It was to GuffaUK’s first comment, that I made my sarcastic comment.)

-It’s been raining for a week here. Very cold.

-And here’s one of the cute little tools the Marines in Afghanistan use against the IED’s:

Wordsmith,

I agree there are limits to political correctness. There’s no reason to leave out Christ if it’s a quote about Easter. And I’m sure that the knowledge this greeting was celebrating both Passover and Easter informed his choice of words. My quibble is that he didn’t quote the entire sermon, only several lines, and the way I initially read this, before a more careful re-reading, was that he had literally edited out only references to the word “Christ”. Certainly I have only myself to blame for my initial hasty reading, but the title of the post could be construed as leading one in that direction. People quote lines from sermons, speeches, songs, stories, plays, poems, etc. all the time. Only when the expectation of a comprehensive quote has been established, do I think leaving out lines (in this case, more than 50% of the lines) can be construed as changing the text, rather than quoting from it. Obama didn’t clarify that there was more that he was leaving out, but it’s reasonable to assume the sermon was longer than the part he quoted.

@Petard #21

As a Christian I’m sure you will forgive me.

Anyway – I’ll promise to stop poking fun/making points at Christianity when the believers of that religion stop criticising other beliefs and non-believers.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/02/2863269.htm?section=justin

Meanwhile it’s a shame the Pope didn’t use his Easter address and speak about the scandalous & hypocritical child sex abuse caused and covered up by Catholic priests in many countries around the world…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7087269.ece

WWJD?

Makes Easter Unitarian and doesnt mention the man its about (tho its about christ rising.) Refuses to wear a yamaka (hope i spelled that right) at the Sayter he want to. But, will wear and observe all the rights when he visited that mosc.

Today he declaw’d the lion saying that if we are Bio-warfare’d that he wont use nukes in reply.

Karl Marx said it: religion is the opiate of the people.
One must destroy religion. In only that way can the proletariat be forced to place their faith in government.
Take children away from their parents. Indoctrinate them thoroughly.
Close all religious schools.
Abolish the right of parents to instruct their children.
Remember “it takes a village” to educate a child.
In their inordinate need for funds to provide for their grandiose plans, Congress will soon find it necessary to seize all religious property, and expropriate all those properties for public use.
Churches are not needed anyway, since no one believes anything.
And churches are just part of the dead past, which we need to discard.
That is change we can believe in.

I’m trying to figure out if Mathman is engaged in sarcasm, or he believes in what he posted. I’m certainly hoping it is sarcasm.

@Donald

Obviously sarcasm.

What a nation should do is not give money to churches – particularly faith schools.

When it comes to education…. the gov should just provide vouchers to parents and they should be able to use them at any school they choose. That would introduce some competition but the government should be moot on the point of religion, one way or the other.

Neither the Fed, nor State governments should have anything to do with the K-12 schools, public or private. No money, no regulations. It should be 100% local, until criminal laws come into play, ie: your errant molester and such.

@Patvann… of course you are right… I was a victim of the “Overton Window”. I need to pay more attention.

That particular “pane” is the Progressives favorite weapon. (Pun-check 😉 )