Pa. Voters Divided Over Obama Remarks

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 15, 2008

SHENANDOAH, Pa. (AP) -- Yes, some Democrats in Pennsylvania's Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama's suggestion that voters there ''cling to guns or religion'' because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal -- and if there's a problem it's with the political slapfest that has followed.

Obama's comment, which the Illinois senator made during a San Francisco fundraiser last week, set off an exchange of insults between the final contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination as they vie for blue-collar support in the state's April 22 primary. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized the comment as ''elitist,'' while Obama has mocked the New York senator's own recent emphasis on support for gun owners' rights. the rest

Albert Mohler: The Real Issue with Sen. Obama's Comments
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Excerpt:I will let the political pundits have their day with this. My interest is theological, for Sen. Obama has given us a near-perfect expression of a functional view of religious belief. In other words, Sen. Obama said that "religion" is a coping mechanism for hard times -- lumping religion with other issues his audience members were presumably to find strange and alien.

A functional view of belief assumes or "brackets" the question of whether the beliefs are true. One who holds to a purely functionalist view of religious conviction is not concerned with the truthfulness of these beliefs, but only with the effects the beliefs have on the believer, both privately and in social contexts.

No one but God knows Sen. Obama's heart, but we are left with his words. In this case, the words are very similar to what is so often heard from political figures. When speaking of their own faith they often speak of how it functions. Sen. Clinton spoke this way at the "Compassion Forum" at Messiah College on Sunday night, but we must note that Republicans often speak the same way -- valuing "faith" as if faith has no object. the rest

Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House

Faith in Spotlight, Candidates Battle for Catholic Votes

Clinton and Obama talk faith on CNN.