Blog #1

Obama’s speech is about the connection of faith and government. He wants to add religious values to the government in order to help bring religious America and secular America together. He wants to do this in order to end the “mutual suspicion” between these two groups. Obama wants to bring every religion together, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc., and non-believers together. He states, “Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Williams Jennings Bryant, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King - indeed, the majority of great reformers in American history - were not only motivated by faith, but repeatedly used religious language to argue for their cause. So to say that men and women should not inject their "personal morality" into public policy debates is a practical absurdity.” With this he shows great successful leaders that used religion to help persuade crowds, but do it by not saying My religion believes this or their religion believes that, but by showing certain morality found in each religion that bring every one together to act a greater good. Also, he does not believe religion should be used as a reason or example, he states, “I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.” Lastly, he says this in order to show you can’t bring religion in to be intertwined with government, but be side to side with it, only taking out certain moralities and beliefs that everyone agrees with.