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WASHINGTON -- Significantly more monthly churchgoers are supporting the Democratic nominee -- Sen. Barack Obama -- in this year's presidential election than in the 2004 election cycle, according to a new poll.

Obama’s Statement on the Black Church Posted on October 9, 2008 by kmorrison33 According to the East St. Louis Action Research Project of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Barack Obama stated, “Black church is a slumbering giant on political and economical landscape of a city, possessing tremendous financial resources, membership, and, most importantly values and biblical traditions that call for empowerment and liberation.” This quote is within an article that describes community organizing, “Alinsky is said to be the godfather of community organizing as well as the founder of the Political Activist Approach. The Alinsky model of community organizing is based...

Will the Church Split Along Red and Blue Lines? by Deal W. Hudson 10/09/08 An Obama victory on November 4 is far from certain, but the momentum behind his campaign prompts me to wonder: What impact could an Obama administration have on the Catholic Church? The Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 brought a flood of commentary on the so-called red and blue states. If Obama wins in 2008, I would not be surprised to see the emergence of a similar division among Catholics. Many will finally realize, and admit to, the power of the political Left in their Church....

Tape Discovered of Obama Listening to Rev. Wright Sermon Here. Okay...I use the word "discovered" a bit loosely--the way one might "discover" a Big Mac at McDonald's. But now that I have your attention, the point is that most voters don't have a clue that Obama writes in his memoir that the very first time he attended Trinity United Church, he heard Rev. Wright rant that "white folks' greed runs a world in need." As you may recall, Obama said, following Rev. Wright's infamous press club appearance in April, that "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that...

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents detailing earmarks submitted by Barack Obama on behalf of his family and political supporters during his time in the Illinois State Senate. The documents were obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Among the projects detailed in the documents uncovered by Judicial Watch: · Blue Gargoyle: Barack Obama helped secure a $25,000 grant for the Blue Gargoyle in August 2000, an organization that was headed by Capers C. Funnye, Jr., Michelle Obama’s first cousin once removed. · Garden to Nowhere:...

A new study suggests that young, white Christian voters have warmed toward big government while cooling toward social litmus tests. "Younger Americans, including younger Americans of faith, are not the culture war generation," said Robert Jones, president of Public Religion Research, which did the survey. "Young Catholics, mainline Protestants and evangelicals are bridging the divides that entrenched the older generation." The study also suggests that while Sen. John McCain maintains the loyalty of weekly church attendees, Sen. Barack Obama has captured those who attend once or twice a month -- a group that split between President Bush and Sen. John...

As the Roman Catholic Church observes its annual “respect life” Sunday in this heated presidential election season, the unusually pitched competition for Catholic voters is setting off a round of skirmishes over how to apply the church’s teachings not only on abortion but also on the war in Iraq, immigration and racism. ... “Being ‘right’ on taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life,” the bishop wrote. “It is a tragic irony that ‘pro-choice’ candidates have come to support homicide — the gravest injustice a...

As the Roman Catholic Church observes its annual “respect life” Sunday in this heated presidential election season, the unusually pitched competition for Catholic voters is setting off a round of skirmishes over how to apply the church’s teachings not only on abortion but also on the war in Iraq, immigration and racism. ... The escalating efforts by more-liberal Catholics are provoking a vigorous backlash from some bishops and the right. In Scranton, Pa., every Catholic attending Mass this weekend will hear a special homily about the election next month: Bishop Joseph Martino has ordered every priest in the diocese to...

A group of Christian supporters of Barack Obama – who has a 100 percent pro-abortion Senate voting record – have created a website touting the Democratic presidential candidate as the most pro-life choice in November's election. The Pro-Life Pro-Obama website argues that Obama's economic and health care plans and support of programs for the poor will do more for reducing abortions in the U.S. than the positions of his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Content of "disappeared" Trinity United Church of Christ bulletins could cost Obama the election. Napoleon's general Antoine Charles Louis Lasalle once told an associate, “My friend, any hussar who does not die by thirty is a blackguard.” We would not have appointed someone with this attitude to a command during the horse and musket era of warfare, because cavalry was too expensive an instrument to throw away in swashbuckling, glorious, but suicidal enterprises. Our ideal commanders would have instead had enough common sense to stay well away from intact infantry formations that presented solid hedges of fixed bayonets, but enough...

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has voted to leave the Episcopal Church and join a more conservative province of the Anglican Church. The vote was taken today at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Monroeville. The results were greeted with silence. Immediately after the results were announced, the Rev. Harold Lewis from Calvary Church in East Liberty announced that his church would stay with the Episcoal Church and not follow the lead of the diocese. --snip-- Those who supported the split say it has been decades in coming. They point to Episcopalians who doubt the divinity of Jesus, blessing dogs as...

I believe that abortion is an unspeakable evil, yet I support Sen. Barack Obama, who is pro-choice. I do not support him because he is pro-choice, but in spite of it. Is that a proper moral choice for a committed Catholic? As one of the inaugural members of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board on clergy sexual abuse, and as a canon lawyer, I answer with a resounding yes. Despite what some Republicans would like Catholics to believe, the list of what the church calls "intrinsically evil acts" does not begin and end with abortion. In fact, there are many...

Guess Who's Coming for Dinner By Kayvan Kaboli and Hassan Daoleslam FrontPageMagazine.com September 24, 2008 On September 25th 2008, five American religious groups will host the Iranian president Mahmood Ahmadinejad, as they did last year during his 2007 visit to the UN.[1] It is safe to assume that the purpose of the dinner won’t be a group interfaith prayer session. This event follows a series of trips by some American religious groups to Tehran. In fact, when these groups are not busy hosting Ahmadinejad here, they are hosted by him in Tehran. The "American Friends Service Committee" and "the Mennonite...

(Editor’s Note: For the complete text of the bishop’s speech, see related story in today’s edition, “It is sinful.”) When two Catholics from Southern California learned that Sacramento Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto was to be the keynote speaker at the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries conference in Long Beach on Sept. 18, they decided to attend themselves to see and hear the talk in person. They say what they witnessed was a bishop who “courageously but gently” gave a clear presentation of Church teaching on sexuality. After California Catholic Daily reported on Bishop Soto’s plans to...

With apostasy (falling away) running rampant in the church and PC’s impassioned call for diversity and tolerance in religion what are the implications for America? Let’s see. When Jesus asked a crowd of people who felt their religion justified them about what he would find at his second coming he said “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) No one in the crowd answered him because the answer is understood. The answer is of course; no! So what replaces faith, what could possibly pre-empt faith in the gospel. The answer is...

A pro-life Catholic group called Catholics United will begin running a cable television ad in Catholic sections of Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton on Friday that criticizes Sen. John McCain's support for the Iraq war and his August 2007 vote against a bill to provide health care for uninsured children. "Senator McCain, when will you start defending all human life, without exception?" asks the woman in the ad, who identifies herself as a pro-life mother of three children. The Cleveland-area ads will run for a week on the CNN, Fox News, Headline News, Home & Garden and AMC networks. The ads...

Obama's Faltering Religious Outreach Revs Up by Deal W. Hudson 9/22/08 This week the Obama campaign attempts to restart its religious outreach with a month-long tour of its religious surrogates, titled "Barack Obama: Faith, Family, and Values." The stars of the tour will be Catholic law professor Doug Kmiec, ex-Congressman Tim Roemer (also a Catholic), Methodist theologian Shaun Casey, and Evangelical author Donald Miller. Obama's religious outreach program has been on the rocks, not yet producing its expected results. Support for Obama among both Evangelical and Catholic voters has dwindled: 57.2 percent favor McCain, versus 19.9 percent for Obama. These...

Here's a sad monument to the sleaziness of this U.S. presidential campaign: Almost one-third of voters "know" that Barack Obama is a Muslim or believe that he could be. In short, the political campaign to transform Obama into a Muslim is succeeding. The real loser as that happens isn't just Obama, but America's entire political process. A Pew Research Center survey released a few days ago found that only half of Americans correctly know that Obama is a Christian. Meanwhile, 13 percent of registered voters say that he is a Muslim, compared with 12 percent in June and 10 percent...

Religious Liberals used to be chronic optimists who assumed that Providence at any moment was about to establish the Millennium. War, poverty, sickness and fear would all be banished from the earth, if only all God’s children would come together to build a righteous kingdom for everyone. As recently as the 1960’s, liberal religious icons such as Martin Luther King, William Sloane Coffin, and the Berrigan Brothers, even as they condemned American injustice, still assumed that justice would prevail.

Consider this post pure speculation. But Dome noticed this recent report on CBN, a Christian news outlet, about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's upcoming "Faith, Family and Values" tour. The Brody File is told that top faith surrogates will hit the trail for Obama. Some of those high profile figures include Former Indiana Congressman and pro-life Democrat Tim Roemer, Catholic legal scholar Doug Kmiec, and author Donald Miller. You can also expect a soon to be named Evangelical North Carolina (red state) Congressman to travel the country as well. Now, we can't confirm this report, so take it with a...

Here’s a sad monument to the sleaziness of this presidential campaign: Almost one-third of voters “know” that Barack Obama is a Muslim or believe that he could be. In short, the political campaign to transform Mr. Obama into a Muslim is succeeding. The real loser as that happens isn’t just Mr. Obama, but our entire political process. A Pew Research Center survey released a few days ago found that only half of Americans correctly know that Mr. Obama is a Christian. Meanwhile, 13 percent of registered voters say that he is a Muslim, compared with 12 percent in June and...

Barack Obama is not giving up on faith-based voters. While polls seem to show voters stuck in same pattern as 2004, despite the Democrat's persistent outreach and God talk, the campaign is redoubling its efforts and rejecting suggestions that the Palin Effect has caused them to bail on the religious community. Obama's two top lieutenants in faith outreach came out to address dozens of reporters at the annual Religion Newswriters Association conference in Washington late this afternoon to pitch the campaign's new Faith, Family and Values Tour, which will launch next week with aides and representatives for the campaign (including...

On Wednesday I received a personal copy of my friend Doug Kmiec’s latest book entitled “Can a Catholic Support Him?” The book is subtitled “Asking the Big Question about Barrack Obama”. I appreciate being mentioned in his Acknowledgement of the book with these words “Deacon Keith Fournier’s writing and editing of Catholic Online is courageous and wise”. So, I write this review to be faithful, to a friendship I value, to the claim in the acknowledgment of this book and to the truth. Doug asks the wrong question. The proper question is not “can” but “should”. The word “can” addresses...

John C. Green, the University of Akron political scientist who is the nation's most prominent scholar of how religious affiliation affects voting behavior, is just releasing new survey data showing that, even before John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, Barack Obama was failing to move evangelicals into his camp. Green, releasing initial results of his quadrennial survey of religion and politics at the annual convention of the Religion Newswriters Association, said the most surprising result of his survey was how little had changed since 2004. "The divisions based on religious affiliation are very deep-seated in the United...

Washington, DC -- A so-called Catholic group that supports Barack Obama is running a new television ad in battleground states claiming Sen. John McCain is not pro-life on abortion. The ad doesn't mention any abortion-related votes but claims McCain voted against supporting pregnant women and supports troops in Iraq.

Allegedly manipulative conservative religious voter guides often get lots of media play. But Religious Left groups publish their own guidance, although for a much smaller potential constituency. The 1.2 million member United Church of Christ (UCC), whose elites are probably the most left-leaning of all major U.S. denominations, has helpfully composed “Our Faith, Our Hope” guides to direct how liberal Christians should think in politically correct terms about climate controversies, socialized medicine, the U.S. presence in Iraq, immigration and the Welfare State.

The Obama campaign is preparing rolling out a new line of “faith merchandise” – the latest move in an ambitious effort to win over religious voters.

Younger evangelicals split over Palin choice as VP Sun Sep 14, 12:50 PM EDT When Jessica Stollings learned on Facebook that John McCain had named Sarah Palin as his running mate, the 26-year-old from Bristol, Tenn., took the day off and picked up some campaign yard signs. Just like that, she went from "just a voter" to a McCain evangelist. "He's a lot more visionary than I thought," said Stollings, a blooming evangelical activist for her generation who believes God has raised up Palin "for such a time as this."Similar excitement built on the Virginia campus of conservative Christian Patrick...

ATLANTA - The United Church of Christ’s rule-making body voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a resolution that endorses same-sex marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so. Roughly 80 percent of the members of the church’s General Synod voted to approve the resolution. They debated for about an hour before voting. Traditionally strong in New England, the liberal denomination of 1.3 million members has long been supportive of gays and lesbians. In the early 1970s, the UCC became the first major Christian body to ordain an openly gay minister. Twenty years ago, it declared itself to be “open...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has agreed to meet with San Francisco's archbishop to clarify remarks she made during an interview with Tom Brokaw. In a recent interview on Meet the Press, Representative Pelosi (D-California) told Brokaw that the issue of when life begins remains controversial within the Catholic Church. Her comments angered many Catholic leaders who are now questioning whether Pelosi should be able to continue receiving communion. Steve Dillard is a member of the Catholics for McCain steering committee. Pelosi, he says, is "fundamentally wrong." "There is no controversy [about abortion] within the [Catholic] Church. The church's...

RUSH: Now, here's Susan Sarandon, and we're going to keep it going: 12, 13, and 14 coming up here. This is Susan Sarandon. Last night on Entertainment Tonight, a reporter asked her what she thought of Sarah Palin.SARANDON: Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor. That's all I have to say![snip] BRAZILE: Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor, and perhaps they should understand the role of a -- a community organizer to help people in distress.[snip] The real comparison here, if you want to start talking about Jesus was a community organizer,...

Recently the Obama campaign and its surrogates have been putting forth the preposterous proposition that Jesus Christ was a "community organizer", and that Pontius Pilate was a "governor". The obvious connection they want us to make is that Barack Obama is like Jesus Christ, and Sarah Palin is like Pontius Pilate. I guess one could possibly draw those conclusions if they knew nothing about Jesus Christ or community organizing. However, when one examines the facts, one could very well come up with the exact opposite conclusion. First let us begin with a working definition of "community organizer" and see if...

Redstate.com reports that Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) had this to say in the House of Representatives. I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, um, that the parties have differences, but if you want Change, but if you want change, you want the Democratic party, uh, Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus who our, uh, minister prayed about, uh, Pontius Pilate was a governor. Perhaps Rep. Cohen believes that Obama is the Jewish Messiah (whom Christians would probably call the Second Coming of Jesus). After all, the National "Jewish" Democratic Council proclaims with a straight face that the Messiah is...

Radio host rips Dems' comparing Barack to Messiah, Palin to Pilate. In the wake of repeated comments from Democrats comparing Sen. Barack Obama to Jesus and Gov. Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate, radio host Rush Limbaugh today blasted the Democrats' strategy as "pathological" and "insane." "I know Jesus Christ. I pray to Jesus Christ all the time," said Limbaugh." I study what Jesus Christ did and said all the time, and let me tell you something, Barack Obama, you are no Jesus Christ." Democrats, including party strategist Donna Brazile and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., made nearly identical biblical comparisons of...

Sen. Barack Obama was likened to Jesus Christ on the floor of the U.S. House today, while Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was compared to the Roman governor responsible for ordering Jesus' crucifixion. Both comparisons came from Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., a supporter of Obama for president. "If you want change, you want the Democratic Party," Cohen said during his one-minute speech. "Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor." Cohen was referring to comments Palin aimed at Obama during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota last...

A Washington Post "On Faith" religion blogger, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is so affected by PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome) that she has launched a hate-filled screed against Palin's religion. This might seem an uncharacteristic thing for an ordained minister to do but not when you find out a bit more about Our Miss Brooks. Her bio on the Washington Post site describes Thistlethwaite's area of expertise as "contextual theologies of liberation." Liberation theology which is another way of saying Marxism wrapped in a phony religious wrapper to make it seem more palatable. Thistlethwaite launches a distinctly un-Christian snarky attack upon Palin...

Religious Left theologian Susan Thistlewaite at the Center for American Progress, writing for The Washington Post’s religion blog, has formulated the ultimate reason why Sarah Palin must not become Vice President. Belonging to an evangelical denomination, Palin must believe in the biblical injunction: “Wives be subject to your husbands, as unto the Lord.” How can she serve in office while submitting to her husband, the Rev Thistlewaite querulously wondered. Must not Mr. Palin also be politically vetted, since clearly he is the master of his submissive wife?

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn): "Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor."

<p>Democrats are asking Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin: What would Jesus do?</p> <p>The Alaska governor, a Christian, has come under fire for criticizing community organizers, but according to labor leader Cecil Roberts, Jesus was a community organizer.</p> <p>“I used to be a community organizer and I’m in good company,” Roberts said as he introduced Barack Obama at a town hall event here Tuesday night. “Martin Luther King was a community organizer. Listen, Sarah, Moses was a community organizer and yes, Jesus was a community organizer.”</p>

“Emergent” church guru Brian McLaren is urging fellow emergent Christians to see the U.S. as “others see us.” As part of this Christian enlightenment, he shares on his blog a music video in which two Iranian sisters, posing as broadcast journalists hosting an Iranian news broadcast, sing an anti-American diddy about “demoKracy,” while American bombs cascade on innocent civilians. “An Iranian-born friend sent me the link,” McLaren chimed. “And I can’t help but feel it would do my fellow USAmericans a lot of good to let this video/song sink in …” No doubt.

The Episcopal Church in California is taking up arms against Proposition 8, an amendment that would change the California constitution to preserve the integrity of marriage as being between one man and one woman. In the process the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion is clashing with a huge interfaith coalition, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Hindus and Sikhs, which is simultaneously launching a campaign to promote the proposition. Voters will have an opportunity on the 2008 California General Election ballot in November to support Proposition 8, which will reinforce the wishes of 61% of California voters who supported true...

(This is from an email forwarded to me that allegedly came from a local pastor. I have followed up with the pastor personally, and he confirmed that the email was indeed originally sent by him, and accurately represents his experience. Even though he did not specifically ask me to do this, I have redacted the most easily identifying information - but I will provide it to folks who FReepmail me with a specific request for it.) Gentlemen, I never write mass emails and am repulsed by hyped up causes that are emailed to me. But I am writing to you...

Senator Barack Obama took (D-Ill.) umbrage at the denigration of his reputed meager executive experience by speakers at the Republican National Convention and enumerated on the uncredited executive experience he has had. “Let me first point out that I am the executive in charge of my own presidential campaign,” Obama said. “I’ve got 19 months of that under my belt. This is 80 times the one week of campaign experience Governor Palin has. And she isn’t even going for the top spot.” “I was a community organizer for three years,” Obama added. “I was director of that operation. There were...

Update - Anyone wondering if I have lost it or the dems really are running amok in a craze can now go to CNN and see the transcript for the show: BRAZILE: First of all, I don’t think they understand the role of a community organizer, often to help people who are in distress, they’ve lost their jobs, they’ve lost their homes, they’ve lost their health care. And for many of us, it’s a time honored tradition to give back, especially those who have been rewarded with so much. The Bible says to whom much is given much is required...

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Sen. Barack Obama's foes seized Sunday upon a brief slip of the tongue, when the Democratic presidential nominee was outlining his Christianity but accidentally said, "my Muslim faith." The three words - immediately corrected - were during an exchange with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on This Week, when he was trying to criticize the quiet smear campaign suggesting he is a Muslim. But illustrating the difficulty of preventing false rumors about his faith from spreading, anti-Obama groups within one hour of the interview had sliced it out of context and were sending it around via email. They...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver: "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a gifted public servant of strong convictions and many professional skills. Regrettably, knowledge of Catholic history and teaching does not seem to be one of them. . . . Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it – whether they're famous or not – fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith." Speaker Pelosi...

Maybe NJDC’s real problem with Sarah Palin is that she believes that Jesus is her Savior, even though Barack Obama shares this belief–but left-wing Democrats get a pass from NJDC. To: watchdog and info “at” barackobama.com cc: IsraPundit, Grizzly Groundswell, The Husaria: For Our Freedom and Yours, and Free Republic Subject: National “Jewish” Democratic Council’s promotion of anti-Christian hateThere is no place in modern politics for any organization that uses racial, ethnic, religious, or misogynist hate to advance its agenda. We therefore call upon the Obama campaign to reject the support of the National Jewish Democratic Council, whose “Bubbie versus...

Obama presidency would be a good fit for Catholics Saturday, September 6, 2008 While the agents of division seek to deceive Catholic voters with single issues and stories of Communion denials, there is much for Catholics to look forward to with a Barack Obama presidency. With families struggling to survive, as both parents work jobs under threats of layoffs, America needs new leadership. With health-care costs soaring and millions of Americans without health insurance, America needs a new plan. With our country at war and relations with other countries strained, America needs a new strategy. With our educational systems failing...

Barack Obama’s connections to Oprah Winfrey and her New Age guru, Eckhart Tolle, are the least examined, yet most revealing, and by far the most potentially ruinous of the senator’s controversial associations. Obama claims to be a “committed Christian,” yet appears to support Oprah in the worldwide dissemination of Tolle’s and her virulent anti-Christian doctrine. The closeness of the connection may now be paying off. Oprah has rejected the idea of having Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin as a guest on her show before the election. Palin would seem a natural. Did Oprah put Palin aside because of...

DENVER – When Valerie Wilson saw Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on TV delivering the keynote address four years ago at the Democratic National Convention, she knew he was someone to follow.  And follow him she did. Over the last four years she has avidly watched his media appearances and she has been following his campaign closely, sharing information on Obama with friends and relatives and registering everyone she knows to vote as the election approaches.On Wednesday, Wilson, 59, a Paterson native, and her daughter, Aisha Wilson, 31, arrived in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Their aim was to...