In the past few weeks, news reports have revealed that that Evangelical Christians would be one bloc of voters that may not be exclusive to the GOP this year. For a very long time, the GOP has enjoyed strong backing and support from the Evangelical Christian voting bloc. These voters had even also made up a good part of the GOP’s conservative voting bloc.
It has been explained that Conservative Christians have made up a core part of the Republican Party. However, presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona has yet to get the support from Conservative Republicans. As I have written in past reports, McCain has several balancing acts to juggle.
Back in May, there was a report that the Evangelical Christian voting bloc could be split this year. Like many others, there are Evangelical Christians looking for “change.” Presumed Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama of Illinois could get some support from this voting bloc.
However, this may look easier said than done. Of course the possibility of Obama getting such support is already difficult. Now, Obama has been blasted for a speech he made to the liberal Christian organization called Call to Renewal. So far, it has brought backlash from James Dobson, founder for Focus on the Family.
The speech was given back in June of 2006. Obama when giving the speech gave off the indication that it would not be practical to govern a country based only on text from the Bible. Obama pointed out things in the Bible such as the allowance of slavery and how eating shellfish was unacceptable.
In dietary laws of certain faiths, it is forbidden to eat shellfish. But, that is a whole different story for a whole different time. Shellfish are considered “unclean.”
In the speech, Obama talked about Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Obama said that the United States Defense Department would not be likely to last with the “Sermon on the Mount” passage by Jesus Christ.
Dobson blasted Obama on his radio show. He added that Obama should not be citing references that are no longer relevant. Keep in mind, there are several versions of the Bible. There is the Old Testament, the New Testament, the King James Bible, and so forth. I myself am not that familiar with the different versions of the Bibles.
He accused Obama of manipulating the Bible for his own view on the world. In a nutshell, Dobson had all sorts of interesting things to say about Obama.
The Obama campaign’s reaction should be interesting. It had already given an offer to meet the group. No further details have been given out yet in the matter.
But, this could potentially wind up as powerful ammunitions in the hands of the McCain campaign.
Be prepared, it will be a very interesting political brawl between Obama and McCain. Race is inevitably a factor that will be in play. Also, do not discount religion as another possible factor.
If McCain does use this as ammunition, will it help him court Evangelical Christians?
In the case for Obama, it could be the Reverend Jeremiah Wright incident all over again.
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