US policy and religion got muddled again: Obama links economic policies to Christian faith

I like Mr. Obama for his genuine concern about those who cannot speak for themselves, the poor and the underprivileged. Clearly, these two groups have large overlap and their fundamental political predicament comes from not having a special interest group speaking up for them. This is why the President wants to step in.

Morally his intent is noble. I agree with the President that economically, and possibly politically as well, it makes great sense to support those who are locked out from the luxurious life the rest of us lives. After all, I don’t think that much can be done about today’s poor becoming the middle class of tomorrow: if this doesn’t happen, revolution or some sort of class warfare will become unavoidable. For the first there are the French Bastille Day and the Soviet Proletarian Revolution of 1917 as hard-to-miss reminders, while for the latter the “Occupy Wall Street” is an early warning sign.

So, I think that Mr. Obama’s intent is all good.

I do however feel alerted and irritated by Mr. Obama’s willingness to mingle his religious believes with his political and economical goals as the head of the country. You don’t need to look further than the failed foreign and domestic policies of G.W. Bush to see where mixing politics and religion can lead to. Mr. Bush was famously heard saying things like these: “I am driven with a mission from God,” or “God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan',” or “God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did." – Well, not really; he ended the tyranny against the Shiites but started something very similar against the Sunnis, didn’t he? -

Obama is far more intelligent and more measured than his predecessor. Nonetheless, this time he went too far in courting the country’s religious voters:

“The president said his faith also guides some of his foreign policy decision, including supporting foreign aid or sending U.S. troops to Africa to target a notoriously violent rebel group.”

Or:

"It's also about the biblical call to care for the least of these, for the poor, for those at the margins of our society; to answer the responsibility we're given in Proverbs to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

The President here seems to suggest that his benevolent political course is coming from his particular brand of religion, namely Christianity. This, of course immediately implies that other religions, or no religion at all, do not stand up for the benevolence of his religion.

Well, Mr. President, all those things might be biblical calls for you but many people feel the same way without as much as ever having held The Bible in their hands! In order to be a compassionate, sensible, and well balanced person one doesn’t need to be a Christian. Being a Buddhist, as many of my friends are, or being an agnostic, as I am, and by all means being a Muslim, does not lessen one’s determination to stand up for the oppressed, help the powerless, or raise one’s voice against injustice.

Mr. President, please remember that your religion-driven decisions may not suit the majority of the world’s population! In fact, if one can believe the data on practicing Christians, it may not serve more than one in six of those who live today.

The President of the most powerful country today on Earth should have the integrity to stand up with a plan that is not whispered into his ear by an imagined God who had declared Hell as the final resting place for all those who don’t believe in Him!