From the Voice of America:
President Barack Obama has asked Christian-American leaders to condemn extreme Christianity.
Spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the president “would like to see leaders in the Christian community stand up and speak out more forcefully in terms of condemning these hateful, radicalizing messages that we see from extremist organizations.”
Earnest said Christians “will be more effective if they are working in close partnership with the federal government, and with law enforcement, and with our counterterrorism professionals and with our neighbors to fight” extremists.
In a speech at the White House on Sunday, Obama said Christian terrorist groups “do not speak for Christianity.” He said there are “millions of patriotic Christian-Americans who reject their hateful ideology.”
He called on Christians to confront “without excuse” what he called the “real problem” of extremist ideology spreading within some of their communities.
John J. Myers, the leader of a Christian religious center in Newark, New Jersey, said he agreed with the president. Myers said that extremist anti-abortion groups and other terrorist groups “do not speak for or represent Christianity in any way.” He noted that many of the victims of anti-abortion terrorism are Christian.
The president spoke in answer to the recent violence in Colorado. Robert Lewis Dear killed three people in a shooting attack. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation called him “radicalized.”
One of Dear’s few friends told the Washington Post newspaper that “he became so religious, so serious and so focused on Christian teachings.”
Some of the president’s political opponents said that the speech was disappointing and offered no new plans to fight Christian extremism.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Christians entering the United States.” He said “until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Christian extremism, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”
President Obama, of course, was not talking about Christian extremism. The phrase “Christian extremism” does not even appear on the White House website. Instead, this is from a VOA article where Obama was talking about the Muslim terrorist attack in California last week, changed up to be about the Christian terrorist attack in Colorado the week before.
Notice that both Obama and Trump talk about Muslims in a way they would never talk about Christians. Why is that? Listening to them you would never know that only 6% of domestic terrorist suspects are Muslim.
People are jumping all over Trump for his Islamophobia, but they seem to forget that:
- Obama may not have a loud mouth like Trump, but his drones fly over four Muslim countries, killing indiscriminately, as if Muslims are less than human.
- Obama may not speak of quarantine like Trump, but he repeatedly calls Islamic extremism a “cancer”, one he sees as spreading to US citizens, two of whom he has already murdered, the Constitution be damned.
– Abagond, 2015.
Source: VOA.
See also:
541
Is there any politician or media mouthpiece who points this out (ie, the “racist uncle” stand by Obama)?
Thanks for this, by the way.
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“I did a post on Trump’s buffoonery:”
.
Let me know when you do (comparison) posts on the buffoonery of:
R Nixon
G Ford
R Reagan
HW Bush
B & H Clinton
A Gore
W Bush
R Cheney
S Palin
J McCain
B Obama
J Biden
B Sanders
Thanks!
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The planned Parenthood shooting has vanished from the news. That was domestic terrorism that didn’t even called out for what it was.
Today the talk is all about radicalization and about how it could be our Muslim neighbors and to remain “vigilant” . How the Muslim community is reponsible for coming forward to expose “the terrorists”.
Notice the set up ? If terrorism continues it blames the Muslim community as a whole. It is this in of thinking that leads to interment camps and genocide.
Meanwhile polls show Trump has tapped into something that crosses party lines.
His Muslim immigration ban resonates with more Americans then it does shock them.
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@ michaeljonbarker
Right, Obama is setting them up for collective guilt.
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If Christians were viewed through the same lens as Muslims in this country, white folks (Edomites) would be seen as perpetual terrorists. The only reason why whites are not seen as domestic terrorists, are primarily due to the white media’s refusal to refer to homegrown terrorists’ acts of violence committed by whites for who they truly are.
It simply boils down to a choice of words, dependent upon either the physical makeup or religious background of the perpetrator (e.g., Dylan Roof, James Holmes, Christopher Harper-Mercer and Robert Dear) amongst many, many other internal Amerikan terrorists.
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extremism aside…. I don’t think Americans understand war, because we don’t have war at our doorstep. War is messy. And people die violently. And not just soldiers die, ALL the people in the area can die because of proximity. Drones keep our people from dying. It’s misleading to complain about our use of drones. Drones save our troops
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Reblogged this on Raimanet.
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Abagond said:
People are jumping all over Trump for his Islamophobia, but they seem to forget that:
* Obama may not have a loud mouth like Trump, but his drones fly over four Muslim countries, killing indiscriminately, as if Muslims are less than human.
* Obama may not speak of quarantine like Trump, but he repeatedly calls Islamic extremism a “cancer”, one he sees as spreading to US citizens, two of whom he has already murdered, the Constitution be damned.
It’s almost 8 years ago that Obama got elected for the first time as a Black President of the USA.
I remember vividly some conversations I had at that time with friends here, in an African capital, about the meaning of that historical event not only for the USA but also for the rest of the world and especially for Black people worldwide.
One friend asked me if I was expecting him to strengthen the help of the USA for the African continent. Maybe I’m getting old and much sober and realistic about life. I retorted to him that no, I was not expecting Obama to increase the aid from USA to Africa, and, I argued that if one compared the performance of American Presidents since Reagan until now, it was often the case that Republican Presidents had done more in that regard than Democratic ones. The last Republican President at that time – George Bush – had many initiatives which really impacted positively African nations: AIDS relief efforts and the establishment of the Millennium Challenge Corporation to cite only two. On the other hand, Democratic Presidents were apparently more inward looking and more concerned with domestic policies in the USA.
The value of an Obama presidency, in my view, was merely to show White people, with a very concrete example, that indeed Blacks too, were able to perform such a role like Whites, because, certainly many of them did not believe that until then. Therefore I was not expecting something special from that Presidency: the same quarrels in the external policy (certainly with an Obama personal touch – the use of drones, for example), the same disputes in the domestic arena (the push for Obama care, for example), etc.
I was not expecting either that he could do something decisive to solve the American racial dilemmas. Basically, Obama got elected as a President of a society that, in many ways – and this blog shows this clearly – holds racist beliefs and behaves accordingly. How can you be the President of a racist crowd and operate as an anti-racist? Is it realistic to expect Obama to wake up one morning and, for example, terminate all racist behaviors of police officers countrywide by decree? If even a mild attempt to improve the health care of the poor was received with a fierce opposition! Unfortunately I think that many of the positive changes that American citizens want will come slowly. Even Republican Presidents are doing their part in that. I hope not to anger people in this blog but I remember clearly when Bush senior put, for the first time in USA history, a Black individual as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I remember because, even not being an American citizen myself, I could feel the impact of that choice in helping the needed change of perceptions of the role of Black people in American society. And later, under George Bush, he was even chosen – also a first for a Black individual – as a Secretary of State of the USA!
I noticed that George Bush is sometimes referred in this blog as racist because of the way he handled the Katrina crisis, but I ask myself if that was not more a case of incompetence than malice from his part.
I’m not trying to defend anybody here but to see them in all aspects, not just the negatives or only the positives.
Back to Obama:
– I do not subscribe to the use of the expression killing indiscriminately to describe the use of drones by American military in the Middle East (and also partially, in Africa). The options available are:
* to put ground troops in conventional battles with the enemy;
* to make aviation raids against enemy‘s positions; or
* to use drone to selectively take out some of the enemy‘s troops and command structure.
I think that the use of drones minimizes the causalities of both American troops and civilians. But surely there is no way to reduce that number to zero.
Another, more radical option would be to pull out of those places completely! But maybe this would require that you didn’t run to be President of the USA in the first place! Certainly not in this moment of history…
– Regarding the use of the word “cancer” to describe Islamic extremism I agree with Abagond that it is unfortunate. The next step to that characterization will be some kind of collective punishment of the target group. And that is unacceptable!
P.S.:
I cited some positive deeds of George Bush regarding Africa, but I’m aware that Republicans are not viewed, in general, with much sympathy by Black Americans, and I think that rightly so. I argued in another thread that Black citizens should not opt to distance themselves from the Presidential elections next year, but instead, try their best, through the elections, to maximize gains for their community and minimize damages. And this means now clearly to put a vote for a Democratic candidate. Otherwise, the coming times could turn into a very rough road for them (Black Americans). Is not the American external policy that should concern you most, but instead, how the next Presidency will impact directly you and your community.
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depends on who ya ask
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The terrorists obama killed weren’t real Americans.
Even if they may have held a U.S. passport,
They didn’t have American Names
They weren’t culturally American
They didn’t follow an American religion
American on paper only
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There is a key difference…most Christians agree with Robert Dear.
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@Solesearch, where is your evidence to support this statement???
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@ munubantu
“Indiscriminate” is the UN’s word, not just mine.
The trouble is that they go after militants (or people they ASSUME are militants) in civilian settings, like schools, markets, funerals and houses. They also bomb first responders, The percentage of civilian death is high, so high they have to play games like counting boys as “militants”.
It is no different than, say, trying to kill Hollande at a sports stadium.
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@ HooDoo Honey
Drones, in the way they have been used, showing little regard for civilian lives, save Western lives only in the short run. In the long run it increases anti-Western terrorism.
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totally uncorroborated
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not to go sideways but…
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@ Bobby M
I disagree. Part of what made Anwar al-Awlaki so dangerous in the government’s eyes was that he was bicultural. He understood both US and Arab culture, having grown up in both Yemen and his native US. If you listen to his videos, you will find he speaks with an American accent.
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Bobby M said: “The terrorists obama killed weren’t real Americans.”
Oh really, … so, what is your definition of a real Amerikan??
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Recommended: Arun Kundnani on the Real News, making the point that Trump merely makes explicit what is already implicit in US government policy and US media reporting: the Scary Muslim narrative:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6aeZOJ4x7k)
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@ jefe
Not that I know of, not anyone in the mainstream. They would have to be able to step outside of their own Islamophobia to see it. Trump helps them to remain blind to it.
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In the US, there have been yet more attacks on Planned Parenthood and a surge in hate crimes against Muslims and anyone who “looks” Muslim.
Yet no one is talking about “radicalization” and how Christians spread their hate online.
I do not hear politicians talking about the threat of Christian extremism.
I do not hear Christian leaders condemning any of it.
I do not hear calls for a ban on letting Christians into the country.
I do not hear calls for Christians to work with the FBI to help end the violence.
I do not hear calls for carpet bombing the Vatican.
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Domestics terrorists today are described as being from the right and some hold to white supremist views. The media prefers to characterize them that way even in some cases it’s their religion, Chistianity, that motivates them.
Their are two religious strains within white supremecy. Christian identity religion that draws it’s roots from Christianity and Northern European paganism, which some supremist have turned into race conscious heathnery.
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it was originally this mata hari vibe they were seeming to send?
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Reblogged this on Mbeti's Blog.
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