Obama Condemns All Acts Of Barbarism Due To Perversion Of Faith – Fox News Freaks Out

In a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama acknowledged the “sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith,” and broadly condemned the use of religion to justify barbaric acts of terrorism. So leave it to Fox News to surgically extract a fragment of the speech in order to disparage the President.

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The portion of the address that ruffled Fox’s fur was a snippet wherein Obama referenced the Crusades to remind the audience that “people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.” Fox News latched unto that phrase and, for much of the day, used it to distort the President’s meaning in order to denigrate him as anti-Christian. But the President’s remarks were much more inclusive of the evil done by all perpetrators of violence in the name of religion. Here are some more extended excerpts of what he actually had to say:

“From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are betraying it. We see ISIL, a brutal, vicious death cult that, in the name of religion, carries out unspeakable acts of barbarism. […] We see sectarian war in Syria, the murder of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, religious war in the Central African Republic, a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of religion. […]

“And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

Any reasonable person would have to agree with what was expressed in the whole of the speech. But, as usual, reasonableness was not in attendance at Fox News. As a representative example of the departure from reason and fair discourse, Fox’s Neil Cavuto brought in Catholic League extremist Bill Donohue to rant feverishly about Obama’s alleged insult to the world’s Christians (video below):

Donohue: Had he said just said that, that people have killed in the name of their God and it’s not unique to one religion, who could argue with that? But he didn’t do that, did he? He spoke with specificity. he singled out the Crusades and the Inquisition.

Actually, Obama did not single out anyone. Quite the opposite. He specifically identified numerous religions that have all had issues with violent extremism. But the only thing that Donohue heard was the bit about the Crusades. The same is true for Cavuto who later demonstrated the essence of a loaded question by asking “Do you think [Obama] is dismissive of religion in the aggregate?” Huh? Did Cavuto even bother to listen to the speech which was dripping with piety and deference to God? The ludicrous question gave Donohue the opportunity to further slander Obama’s commitment to faith by excitedly responding that Obama is “a thoroughgoing secularist. I don’t think he believe’s in anything.”

This is typical of the Fox News editorial mission to cherry-pick Obama’s remarks and present them in the most negative way possible. It furthers their criticism of the President for his reluctance to associate the terrorists of ISIL with Islam. In that regard, he got some support today from Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who said that “If there was any doubt that this is an organization that has anything to do with any religion on the face of this planet, that doubt is gone.”

Judeh’s comments are additional proof that the world’s Muslims are united in rejecting the violence of terrorism and the false accusation that it is inherently connected to the Muslim faith. In fact, the only people who are determined to make that link are the terrorists themselves and Fox News, which has the disturbing effect of putting Fox squarely on the side of the terrorists.

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To top it off, the following morning Fox’s Gregg Jarrett made the wholly delusional statement that “It struck some people in an odd way that the President was justifying ISIS.” Really? Which people? Jarrett doesn’t say. And how could these imaginary people reach that insane conclusion? Jarrett doesn’t say. But just to keep things fair and balanced, Joe Scarborough on MSNBC also took up the criticism of Obama for telling the truth about religion’s bad actors.

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14 thoughts on “Obama Condemns All Acts Of Barbarism Due To Perversion Of Faith – Fox News Freaks Out

  1. Faux News will never acknowledge the truth that wars, hate crimes, and violence have been carried out in the name of most, if not all, religions. The flaw in their logic is their trying to defend Xtianity while not the other religions President Obama mentioned.

  2. Fear and hate makes small-minded bigots lose all sense of decency… especially when they’ve built a successful business out of lying for political gain.

    FoxFakeNewz has used this technique many times on their brain-dead viewers with great success. Remember when they clipped that little “you didn’t build that” bit from an Obama speech in 2011? Despite being very obviously out of context, the Foxtards flogged it relentlessly, until finally the GOP actually used “We Built This” as an official theme for one day of their 2012 convention! That was a truly breathtaking example of just how committed right-wingers are to using outright, blatant dishonesty as propaganda. And yet they were so shameless that they actually squawked about the “liberal media” not picking up the big “story” they invented out of nothing. The “respectable” media do often get bullied into covering some FauxNews nonsense, but even those corporate drones know there are certain lines of strained credibility that should not be crossed. AP Fact Check, PolitiFact.com, FactCheck.org, Washington Post Fact Checker (etc) all stated that FoxNutz, Mittens Rmoney and the whole Repugnican party had seriously distorted Obama’s comments… but by then, the damage was done.

    The Nazis modeled this approach during the Golden Age of Right Wing Aggression: Don’t tell little lies – lie big! And when they catch you in a lie – double down!

  3. “…the Crusades…the Inquisition…”

    Bringing up something that happened hundreds of years ago? Really, Mr. President??

    As for slavery and Jim Crow – While some “Christians” used the Bible to condone slavery and segregation, a huge swath of the Christian movement ran the Underground Railroad and spearheaded the Civil Rights movement. Looks like the President failed to mention that.

    President Obama’s false equivalency argument fell apart immediately.

    • Now aren’t you something else. How about you at least attempt to stick to the subject. It wasn’t about slavery, Jim Crow or any of those atrocities you folks are so fond of.

      You’re is a typical tea party response, deflect from the message because you can’t argue for it. As usual, you’re a failure and it’s there for all to see. You need to find another outlet. We’re all way too smart for the likes of you.

      • You are really embarrassing yourself. What I said was correct.

    • Youf conflation is based on the straw man that Obama blamed ALL Christians and Christianity for Jim Crow, a straw man that misses the point of the speech entirely, that every religion has those who resort to heinous acts, and all who do should be condemned.

      In terms of using religion as an excuse, those who cited it as justification for thing like Jim Crow, are no different those who started the crusades.

      You really insist on showing your stupid every time you post don’t you?

      • I am smarter than you will ever hope to be in your pathetic little life. It was President Obama who was using the straw man argument.

        • The more you write the more you prove you aren’t “smarter than you will ever hope to be in your pathetic little life.” Quite the opposite. A smart person would reply by explaining why Delu’s comment was wrong. You chose instead to make an ad hominem attack. Your reply was something that is normally heard on a grade-school playground at recess.

      • You would be right but the big issue is, “Why is religion being brought up?” Why don’t we blame descendents of Germany or perhaps graduates of University of Princeton for Jim Crow? They are represented in those who backed it also. Religion was more the end of Jim Crow than the cause.

        • Well, Moe, you better not mention that to the Klan.

    • Scott, thanks for admitting that “…some “Christians” used the Bible to condone slavery and segregation…” and helping to make President Obama’s point. Religions in and of themselves are not meant to be cause for violence and hatred. It is how certain sect members that interpret the tenets of their religion to hate, discriminate, and kill. History is full of stories of people who have done courageous and brave things because of how they interpret their religion. But at the same time there are those that interpret that they can kill doctors, hate and kill those they deem different, and claim their evil exploits are all in the name of their religion. What I came away from the President’s words was that we have to stop these evil doers, not the religions themselves.

    • Hey Goober, here’s what you said:

      ” While some “Christians” used the Bible to condone slavery and segregation, a huge swath of the Christian movement ran the Underground Railroad and spearheaded the Civil Rights movement. ”

      Sounds like you agree with the President because that’s EXACTLY the point he was making.

    • Those are not even your words, sir. You cribbed your reply almost verbatim from Victor Hanson writing for National Review.

    • The KKK did many, many, terrible things in the name of Christianity, not to mention many anonymous people who struck out after 9/11 at American citizens who happen to be Muslim. Please demonstrate some sense of reality, here…

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