Obama's Prayer Breakfast Hypocrisy

 Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: I had the privilege of attending the 62nd annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. There were several inspirational speakers, scripture readings and stirring performances.

Of course, remarks by the president of the United States are always a big moment at any event. But sitting there with thousands of people listening as Obama talked, I was stunned by the hypocrisy. Here are a few examples.

On Life
Mr. Obama talked about how "we affirm the freedoms endowed by our Creator," an obvious reference to the Declaration of Independence. The rest of the line says that we are endowed "with certain unalienable Rights," first among them being the right to life. But Obama left that out.

He quoted from Psalm 139, saying we were "wonderfully made in the image of God." But he avoided the previous verse, "You wove me in my mother's womb." The president talked about the "inherent dignity of every human being -- dignity that no earthly power can take away." Seriously, Mr. Obama? The unborn are in more danger under your administration than they have ever been in the history of our republic.

The president said a lot about religious freedom, yet he is forcing religious business owners and institutions to subsidize abortion, sterilization and other procedures they find morally objectionable.

On Religious Persecution
The main thrust of Obama's speech was religious persecution around the globe. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, Christianity is the most persecuted faith. Sadly, Obama's record on fighting Christian persecution is abysmal.

Obama told the audience that he looked forward to appointing a new ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. But the position was vacant for more than two years during Obama's first term, and has been vacant for the past three months. Clearly it is not a high priority.

He has minimized the importance of religious freedom in his foreign policy and focused instead on promoting homosexuality. Obama has aggressively criticized Russia's treatment of homosexuals, while saying relatively little about churches bombed and torched throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Even his critics concede that one advantage this president has is his oratory. Yet Obama has seldom emphasized the subject of Christian persecution in his speeches. He is too busy fomenting class warfare. When he raises the subject of religious freedom, it is often in defense of Islam, such as supporting a mosque at Ground Zero or telling a Cairo audience that one of his responsibilities as president is "to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam."

Some in the audience were happy that Obama specifically named Pastor Saeed Abedini, who was unjustly imprisoned in Iran. But unlike Presidents Reagan and Bush, who would bring up religious persecution during important negotiations with foreign leaders, Obama signed a horrible deal with Iran, while the fate of Pastor Abedini didn't even seem to be an afterthought.

Obama tickled the ears of those in the room yesterday, but would not dare offend the ears of the Iranian mullahs.

On Marriage
Even while addressing the National Prayer Breakfast, Barack Obama could not resist the opportunity to promote same-sex marriage. He did it subtly, lamenting how faith, in his view, is twisted to "justify hatred and persecution against other people just because of who they are, or how they pray or who they love."

I know such rhetoric appeals to many young people. But all healthy societies reject such sentimentality and try through law and custom to discourage certain types of "love." An adult who is sexually attracted to a child and acts on that attraction is and should be discriminated against and jailed.

A man or woman who breaks their marriage vows because he or she now "loves" someone else is condemned by all faiths. In fact, Gallup's polling finds that adultery is considered the most morally offensive behavior, more so than cloning, suicide or abortion.

Every civilization prohibits legal recognition of incest because that particular form of "love" is fraught with obvious dangers. Likewise, until the last 15 years or so, virtually every society and every major faith discouraged same-sex relationships and never considered extending it to marriage.

I suppose it is possible that throughout all of recorded history every society was wrong and that we have experienced true enlightenment only in the last decade. I don't buy it.

I do not believe we are becoming more enlightened. Instead, America is being ripped away from its Judeo-Christian worldview. Same-sex marriage is already being followed by demands for legal polygamy. The legitimization of incest won't be far behind.

Speak Up For Faith
The anti-Christian bias of Hollywood elites has been exposed for all to see. On January 16th, the song "Alone Yet Not Alone," from the movie of the same title, was nominated for an Academy Award. It is a beautiful song, sung by a truly inspirational lady, Joni Eareckson Tada.

The film is based on a true story of two young girls captured by Indians in 1775. They were reunited with their mother eight years later when they recognized a hymn she sang to them as children.

Unbelievably, the Academy withdrew the nomination of "Alone Yet Not Alone" less than two weeks after it was awarded. The official explanation for withdrawing the nomination was that composer Bruce Broughton had violated rules against lobbying when he emailed members of the Academy's Music Branch about the song.

But considering the lengths that other studios and producers go in order to promote their work, many Hollywood insiders aren't buying that excuse. In fact, one entertainment writer labeled the move "extremely rare and cringe-worthy."

Many suspect anti-Christian bias is to blame. As a Los Angeles Times writer suggested, "…the academy has never rescinded a nomination due to improper campaigning until a faith-based movie with a quadriplegic pastor came along."

Responding to the Academy's decision to rescind the nomination of her song, Joni Eareckson Tada told Breitbart News, "I can't say the reason the nomination was rescinded, but it has to be more than a few emails. But if they pulled the Oscar from all the movie people who campaigned for an Oscar, they would probably all have to give them back."

TAKE ACTION: Artists for Life has a launched a petition drive calling on the Academy Awards to reverse itself and reinstate the nomination for "Alone Yet Not Alone." Speak up for faith. Click here to sign AFL's petition.
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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