Barack Obama: The Man Who Would be God?

By Selwyn Duke

When writing about Barack Obama’s religious orientation recently, I pointed out that while I do believe he favors Muslim over Western culture, bowing before another — even God — is above his humility grade.  I further mentioned that in keeping with this self-centeredness, Obama is (like all leftists) someone who denies moral reality.

Ironically, after penning my piece, I became aware of an interview Obama once gave — one quite relevant to the topic at hand.  It was conducted in 2004 by Chicago Sun Times religion reporter Cathleen Falsani while Obama was running for the U.S. Senate, and it offers great insight into the nature of Obama’s “faith.”  I think you’ll be interested to hear what he had to say. 

The whole interview is infused with typical leftist philoso-babble.  Obama says he’s “a big believer in tolerance” and thus looks askance at “certainty” and believes in the necessity of “doubt” (an attitude mysteriously absent when pushing health care), bringing to mind G.K. Chesterton’s observation, “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”  Yet Obama also told Falsani that he had “deep faith.”  This might cause some to wonder “In what?”  And this brings us to the part of the interview in which he was asked “What is sin?”  Here was his answer:

“Being out of alignment with my values.”

Perhaps this question was also above Obama’s pay grade, or maybe he studied divinity with Al Gore.  Whatever the case, this is not the definition of sin.  Rather, sin is when you violate God’s laws, or, to put it in more modernistic terms, it’s being out of alignment with God’s values (which are the Truth).  So it was an interesting answer.  Some might conclude that if you define sin as being out of alignment with your values, you believe you are God. 

An even stranger answer came earlier in the interview.  In response to Falsani’s query about whether he prayed often, Obama said, “Uh, yeah, I guess I do.  It’s not formal, me getting on my knees.  I think I have an ongoing conversation with God.  I think throughout the day, I'm constantly asking myself questions about what I'm doing, why am I doing it [emphasis mine].”

Did everyone catch that?  If I pray to God, I may ask Him questions.  I won’t say that I have “an ongoing conversation with God” and then reflexively follow up with “I’m constantly asking myself questions . . . .”

That is, unless I believe I am God.

Now, do I say that Obama thinks he is a supreme being who created the Universe?  Unless it’s a universe of programs, laws, regulations and debt, no.  But I am certain (if it’s still legal to be so) that Obama is a typical leftist: self-centered and solipsistic.  He has deified himself, in the sense that he believes he is above everyone else.  This is why he, showing no doubt whatsoever, feels so sure about reshaping our world in his own image.

His comments also vindicate my assessment of him as a moral relativist.  Whenever you hear “my values,” know that it’s the language of relativism.  It’s the belief that, hey, you have your values, I have mine — you say “potato” and I say “potahto” — and it’s all just a matter of perspective.  This is contrary to any absolutist faith, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.  They teach that God has determined right and wrong and that it is something eternal and unchanging, encapsulated in a word leftists avoid: Truth. 

Understand that “values” itself is a term of relativism.  Mother Teresa had values, but so did Adolf Hitler; values aren’t good by definition — virtues are.  This is why the latter term is hardly uttered in today’s if-it-feels-good-do-it culture; instead, people may boast about how they have values, which is much like a street pusher defending his trade by saying that he provides drugs (which can cure or kill).  A value can be sinful as well as sublime.   

But in the leftists’ universe there is no sin.  After all, they believe as ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras did that “Man is the measure of all things.”  However, if this is so, what is what we call right and wrong?  It then can be nothing but opinion.  But think about the implications of this: If that unchanging and eternal thing called Truth didn’t exist, “morality” couldn’t have any basis in reality.  And this would mean that right and wrong doesn’t exist at all.  Ergo, no sin.     

Unfortunately for Obama’s opponents, however, this insight into his un-faith won’t lose him many votes.  This is because he has a lot of company, as moral relativism is the characteristic spiritual disease of our time.  And this is why I will use this opportunity as, to quote our relativist-in-chief, a “teachable” moment.

A poll in recent years found that, strikingly, 62 percent of those identifying as Christians didn’t believe in Absolute Truth.  I’ll also note that we have seen a great number of articles lately about how Christian youth leave the Church as they move through college.  These two factors are not unrelated.

On a simple level, if there’s no Truth — if virtues are just values and values are just opinion — why pick up your cross and carry it?  Why embrace a faith that places moral constraints upon you (especially the sexual variety, which interferes with moderns’ favorite recreation)?  “If it feels good, do it” then makes more sense. 

Delving a bit deeper, relativism strikes at the foundational act of Christianity: the sacrifice at Calvary.  After all, if right and wrong are just opinion and there is thus no sin, there was no reason for Jesus to die on the cross, was there?  (But He never said that His blood would be shed for you and for all so that opinions may be forgiven.)  So if you haven’t instilled your children with a belief in Truth, don’t be surprised when they leave the Church.  If they don’t believe in sin, they cannot believe in a savior. 

But this doesn’t mean they won’t desire salvation — that is, at least the worldly variety.  And this is one reason why millions of Americans, especially the ever-more-relativistic young, voted for The One.  A people who believed in Truth would never cast such a vote — and those who do believe in it generally didn’t — but when man doesn’t believe in God, he makes man God.  As to why, I explored the reasons in The New American magazine in 2009, writing:

Among other things, people find a belief in God comforting.  It involves the ideas that God, or good, will always triumph in the end; that someone is watching over them, cares for them, will help them, and will be there for them in the end.  Now, since this human need doesn’t disappear along with faith, it follows that people will replace God with something else when they lose faith in Him.  Thus did millions of Germans cheer Hitler believing he represented security, triumph, economic resurrection, hope, and change.  And it isn’t surprising that he rose during the desperate days of the Weimar Republic, with its hyper-inflation and hypo-industriousness.  It is when people are desperate that they search for a savior; when they are brought to their lowest, they have nowhere to look but up.  It is then that they find either the Deity or a demagogue.  And when you mistake the latter for the former, the danger is profound.  For you don’t disobey a god, you don’t question him; a god is infallible.  A prostrate people will follow a messianic leader to the ends of the Earth even if it takes them to the edges of Hell.

. . . Someone who would accept any degree of deification is not only unfit to be worshipped as a god, he is unfit to be followed as a leader.  As G.K. Chesterton said in his classic work The Everlasting Man, “A great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it.... Nobody can imagine Aristotle claiming to be the father of gods and men, come down from the sky; though we might imagine some insane Roman Emperor like Caligula claiming it for him, or more probably for himself.”  It is also correct to say that truly great people know that their leaders aren’t God, and the greater they are, the better they know it.

So, ultimately, the warning here isn’t about Barack Obama.  It is about us.  Our tendency to make man into God will always be directly proportional to our tendency to make God into myth.

Thank God, the myth of Obama has finally been punctured in the minds of many.  As with the Daniel Dravot character (played by Sean Connery) in “The Man Who Would be King,” the natives have now seen Obama bleed, and they’re not happy.  He is bleeding America, and he won’t stop until somebody (hopefully the Republicans starting January) stops him.  After all, why would he listen to the people or compromise with anyone?  Despite his extolling of uncertainty, when he has his “ongoing conversation with God” and is asking himself questions, I tend to think he views the answers as most infallible, indeed.

       This article first appeared at American Thinker

              © 2010 Selwyn Duke — Selwyn Duke

Comments

[Robert Berger]

There you go again Selwyn,making idiotic comparisons of Obama with Hitler by innuendo. This is typical of arrogant and presumptuous social conservatives like you who think they have a monopoly on truth and virtue,and that any one who doesn't share your rigidly moralistic and intolerant views must be a "moral relativist" and a wicked,hedonistic and atheistic monster. What a load of crap.
Narrow-minded,intolerant and self-righteous people like you frighten me and other liberals. You're so insufferably sanctimonious and rigidly dogmatic in your thinking.
And I'm sick and tired of the idiotically disingenuous way in which you keep demonizing Obama and imputing all manner of evil motives to him.In fact, compared to a lot of other Washington politicians,including republicans, he's in fact one of the most decent and honorable in that sleezy town.
He's not a sanctimonious hypocrite like a lot of other piously conservative and religious blowhard republicans who are always talking about family values,traditional values and God and country while being absolute sleezeballs in their private lives.
Your descriptions of Obama are nothing but infantile name-calling. There's not a shred of truth in any of your accusations against him.

[Dan]

"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything."

-GK Chesterton

[Philip France]

Those who have read this article by Selwyn Duke and still fail to understand its point should read it again. And again. And again until you can, at least, acquiesce that he has a very valid point. Several, in fact.

Centuries ago, Lord Acton opined that "power tends to corrupt; but absolute power corrupts absolutely". This well-established axiom demands of us that we examine our potential political leaders most minutely and most discriminately. This CANNOT be accomplished by relying on the establishment media. This is especially true of the coronation and election of BHO - a rank and egomaniacal Marxist radical - to our highest office.

The media malfeasance in marginalizing and covering up this man's severe moral and social (not to mention experiential) deficits is unforgivable and the Constititional Republic and free-market economy that defined American greatness and exceptionalism is paying and will continue to pay a hefty price.

But hear this: Those that value our Constitiutional Rule of Law, our First Principles, our Essential Liberty and our nation's Judeo/Christian values shall prevail. Attend a Tea Party protest/rally and witness the value of my statement.

Selwyn, is there a source that collects the many brilliant quotes of G.K. Chesterson in a single volume?

[Robert Berger]

Selwyn,you just keep piling on the ****. Obama,like him or not,or whether you approve of the way his administration is running the country,is no ruthless,power-hungry,unscrupulous and evil communist dictator, and the notion that he intends to turn America into another communist totalitarian state like the former Soviet Union,China or Cuba is beyond ludicrous.
Comparing him to Hitler is idiotic.This is nothing but the most unscrupulous hysterical fear mongering.
In fact,far from being a tyrant,Obama has acted with remarkable discipline and restraint as President.He hasn't taken any one's religion freedom away,hasn't had a single person arrested,let alone executed for speaking out against him,hasn't done anything that you would expect from a ruthless dictator.
Almost everything Obama has said and done as President has been taken out of context and deliberately misconstrued and misinterpreted by fear-mongering conservative demamgogues to make him look like a sinister and dangerous figure.

[Robert Berger]

I'm getting tired of all this hysterical fear mongering about our current president supposedly being an evil Marxist and communist dictator. It's all pure ****,and nothing but ****.He isn't even a real left-winger.
As Bill Maher has pointed out,this nation as a whole has gone so far right that many are accusing Obama, who would have been a moderate republican by the standards of the past,of being a radical left-wong marxist and communist out to turn America into another communist totalitarian dictatorship.
That's right.If Obama were a politician in the 70s, he'd be considered moderate.But America as a whole has gone so far right that it makes Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan look liberal. It's so far right now it's almost in another dimension, a sort of Bizarro world where any one who has the slightest disagreement with current conservative orthodoxy about economics and social views is automatically labeled as a socialist ,marxist and communist,and a wicked,Godless hedonist out to undermine the nation's morality.
This is why a rather moderate guy like me causes a right-wing wacko like Phil France to foam at the mouth.

[Philip France]

Robert,

You are insane. For evidence I cite your very words: "As Bill Maher has pointed out". You take as a source of reference and understanding this farcical reptile? It's no wonder that you refer to me as a "right-wing wacko". Coming from you, this is a high compliment and a badge of honor. I'll give Bill Maher more credit than I do you. He is an entertainer. He gets paid to spew his lies and vomit his disinormation. You get nothing for believing him. How pitiful you are.

Let me tell you something, you sanctimonious ne'er-do-well. It is morons like YOU that allow yourselves to be manipulated and deceived by the likes of Maher. It is self-loathing and infantile cretins like YOU who need to own up to or nation's malaise and the reality that we elected a Marxist man-child with no experience and even less competance to our HIGHEST OFFICE!

One more thing. You also said this: "Comparing him to Hitler is idiotic". If you knew your head from your behind and if you have even read ONE history book in the last thirty years of your life you would know this: Only ONE public and national leader in ALL of the WORLD has had his birth and eductaion records sealed from public scrutiny. Guess who, dumbell? Yes, Adolph Hitler. By this virtue alone, every comparison between the two despots is clearly legitimate.

Better go along now. I think I here your mommy calling. It's probably time to have your diaper changed.

[Rosanne G]

He was elected by people like Robert. Those who don't see the Truth in someone like Obama are apt to be led to slaughter, much easier than those who can see the man behind the words of "hope & change". They are the big fakes & smiles that Obama hopes will win over the populace. We can only "hope" that the "change" will begin in November & end in 2012. Our nation will not survive this narcissistic, selfish man who seals his records-and rules with an underhanded approach. WHAT & HOW ARE THESE POSSIBLE?-I'm praying to the real GOD that he sends us a true leader that can right the wrongs Obama has forced upon those of us who don't agree.

[Angel]

It never ceases to amaze me how idiotic the lefties are. How many morals and values that they lack. I am a FIRM believer in God Almighty and Yeshua, who died for my sins.

In confusion, before Obama was ever elected...I went to my God and asked Him to show me about this man Obama. I got the gut feeling, when he (Obama) was debating or giving a speech on television, that when he looked into the camera, I was to look deep into his eyes, which I did and I immediately became so sick to my stomach I wanted to vomit. It came on all of a sudden and left me as soon as I turned the channel.

God will speak to those who have ears to hear and can recognize Him. I give glory to the MOST HIGH YAHWEH, that Obama got one less vote....mine! I do not fear him..(Obama). I fear my God. Obama needs to know that it is not HIM that is in control...It is Yahweh. God has a name, and it is not Obama.

[jbailey]

Obama is a classic study in abnormal psychology. The people who elected him have been sucked in by a psychopath. His true being is hidden under a framework of lies. Intellectually he is strong, but morally he is void of a conscious. In pretense he parades...in actuality he is owned, lock, stock, and barrel, by an extensive organization of folks who are bent on warping and converting this nation into something strange and unfamiliar to the principles of our founding fathers. His true being has been molded by the influence of his mother...a die hard atheistic, critical thinker, socialist. Grandparents were communist friendly and communist leaning, and pushed him into communist hands. Like all psychopaths...he hides his true identity. He twist and spins to his hearts delight. He paints whatever picture that benefits him personally. If it is a lie, so what...he is an actor. He reads from a script manufactured by others. He is supersensitive to several things...these are conditioned responses, and usually revolve around his "self"....his extreme narcissistic frame of reference. He may have an "attachment" problem, as he seems not to be able to truly appreciate the values and principles laid out by our founding fathers. They escape him. He has problems in truly being an American...turns on them, demeans them, exhibits them in a negative light to the world, and it is a chore for him to even place his hand over his heart during singing of the National Anthem. He has no problems in burning the flag or listening to a radical extremist GD the US from a pulpit. He loves it and stayed with it for twenty years. Such a person we have elected and are now experiencing the fruits of his labor.

[Logan Draper]

I just want to say thank you for bringing to light the secular society that we live in today Mr. Duke. It renews my obligation to god and to not put my faith on the back burner. The social norm "if it feels good, do it" really struck home with me. It showed me how easy it is to get distracted in our society and to do what ever you want instead of doing what you know is right. I am trying to strengthen my ties with God and to not let my faith falter in the face of a secular society. I just want to say thank you again and that I am resolved in my dedication to god.