Obama's Moral Equivalence

During his remarks at the National Prayer breakfast, President Obama made some remarks that have Christians, Conservatives, and others up in arms. He said:

"And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.  In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ." - http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast

Obama is clearly insinuating that Americans are on a "high horse" for calling out Islamic terrorism which is much too real as we saw with the execution by fire of the Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh. The president even went as far as making a moral equivalence statement by linking the Crusades and Inquisition to the evil acts being witnessed globally today.

While it is true that some Christians do things that are evil in the name of Christ, this does not mean that Christianity mandated those actions. We are all sinners and will do evil things. However, our faith does not call us to kill the "infidels" or force others to convert under threat of violence. Our faith is one of love, hope, and faith. It is spread with the love of Christ, hope in Him and Faith in Him and the one He represented 2,000 + years ago.

As for the Crusades and the Inquisition which are often brought up by anti-Catholics and atheists as an attempt to discredit the Catholics; well, Obama is clearly ignorant of history.  The Crusades was a defensive response to the Muslims who were terrorizing people in the Holy Land. Was the Christian world supposed to sit back and let Muslims kill them and destroy the Holy sites in the Holy Land?  If anyone comes to our nation and tries to destroy the White House, the Statue of Liberty and other "sacred" American locations, will we stand back and watch?  Rest assured Americans will take to arms and defend our land.  The Christians centuries ago did the same with the Crusades.  This is a far cry from going around dressed in black going around and cutting people's heads off for no reason.

Moreover, the Inquisition had nothing to do with the Catholic Church.  Secular authorities at the time took it upon themselves to arrest and kill those who they felt were guilty of treason due to their open rebellion of the Church and the authorities. Remember that at the time the Church and secular authorities had in many cases equal authority and were intertwined in society. This is why our founding fathers did not want this type of relationship in the "new experiment," the United States of America.

President Obama needs a history lesson.  He also needs to apologize to Christians and target the real criminals, ISIS and others who are terorrists killing people in Allah's name.









Source:

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/05/obama-uses-prayer-breakfast-to-call-for-curbs-on-islam-criticism/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast

http://www.eurasiareview.com/05022015-obama-insults-christians-oped/

http://www.catholic.com/blog/todd-aglialoro/terrible-deeds-and-odious-comparisons

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/5/obama-people-faith-must-confront-insults-religion/

http://www.catholicleague.org/obama-insults-christians/