Obama's Easter Sermon.

Why Religion and Politics don't Mix.

President Obama seems to find himself in limelight of controversy when it comes to whom he picks as his Pastor(s).The Easter sermon President Barack Obama and his family heard Sunday, delivered at a church near the White House, took to task the "religious right" for backward-looking policies. It disgusts me every time I hear endorsements of any political party, candidate, or politics being preached in the pulpit; that is certainly not the place for it.The Rev. Luis Leon, speaking at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, based his sermon on the Gospel of John.The criticism of conservative Christians was worked into an Easter sermon on the resurrection. Before the critique, León was telling his audience to move forward and not dwell on the past. Jesus told Mary, he said, not to hold on to the past: "you cannot go back." He said this: "It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back ... for blacks to be back in the back of the bus ... for women to be back in the kitchen ... for immigrants to be back on their side of the border," Leon said.According to a press pool report of Leon’s sermon, the minister criticized what he called ”the captains of the religious right.” People often want things to go back to the way things used to be, before “work got difficult and faith got confused, and life got more confusing,” Leon said, according to the pool report. The church is just blocks away from the White House and is sometimes referred to as the "church of the presidents." Obama was sitting in the pews with his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Sasha and Malia. They do not attend services at St. John's on a regular basis, but they have attended the church on many occasions. But if by the "right" Rev. Leon means Republicans, he needs to learn his history. The people who sent African Americans  to the back of the bus were Democrats, not Republicans.  Democrats passed discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws. It was the Democrats who, just a few years ago elected former Klansmen, Sen. Robert Byrd president of the Senate. It was Alabama's Democratic Governor, George Wallace who stood in front of the doors of the University of Alabama, blocking blacks from entering the school. And now it's Democrats in Alabama who are, ironically, fighting to keep poor black kids in failing schools. Even the Democrat's own party website isdevoid of specific examples of the "advances" they claim to have made for "civil rights." The Democratic Party of slavery and segregation can't hold a candle to the Republican's history on civil rights.  **No, the law upholds the legal right to "debate the issue," for the church, on any political issue, or any other issue. It is freedom of speech and freedom of religious worship.Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy, criticized León for using his Easter sermon to deliver “cheap shots” and a political message. “It’s sad when clergy egregiously politicize worship, especially on an important holy day at an historic church that used to symbolize non partisan unity,” Tooley wrote.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** What is Amazing   Pres. Obama "reflected"  , or at least rolled out , and sounded like a religious leader of the sorts. His weekly address to the nation . What  bothers me that any American President has to sound like he is really religious of sorts when the Commander in Chief  is not supposed to be. Keep in mind this is what Obama said :

In his weekly address to the nation, Obama noted the Christian and Jewish holidays afford people an opportunity to take a break from their “busy and noisy lives” and “slow down and spend some quiet moments in prayer and reflection.”

“This week, Jewish families gathered around the Seder table, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the triumph of faith over oppression,” Obama said. “And this weekend, Michelle, Malia, Sasha and I will join Christians around the world to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hopeful promise of Easter.

“As Christians, my family and I remember the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for each and every one of us — how he took on the sins of the world and extended the gift of salvation. And we recommit ourselves tofollowing his example here on Earth.

“To loving our lord and savior. To loving our neighbors. And to seeing in everyone, especially ‘the least of these,’ as a child of God.”

The president noted “those values are at the heart not just of the Christian faith; but of all faiths. From Judaism to Islam; Hinduism to Sikhism; there echoes a powerful call to serve our brothers and sisters. To keep in our hearts a deep and abiding compassion for all. And to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves.”

He called it “the common humanity that binds us together.”