DAVE ROSS

The President and God

Feb 10, 2015, 7:09 AM | Updated: 8:12 am

President Barack Obama speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 5,...

President Barack Obama speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. The president condemned those who seek to use religion as a rationale for carrying out violence around the world, declaring Thursday that "no god condones terror." (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

I keep reading comments about what the president said at last week’s prayer breakfast – most of the comments being about this part: “Remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, slavery and Jim Crow, all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

There are people who thought that he was pointing out the excesses of Christianity, to justify going easy on terrorists.

Read more: Obama condemns those who seek to ‘hijack religion’

A weird conclusion considering that immediately after, he probably picked up the phone and authorized a bunch of drone strikes.

But I think he was highlighting a contradiction that occurs in almost all religions.

“The profound good, operating alongside those who seek to hijack religious for their own murderous ends,” Obama said.

What I thought he was saying was that just as Christianity was hijacked to justify the Crusades and the Inquisition and slavery, so ISIS and al Qaeda have hijacked Islam to justify terrorism.

I think he was saying it because of all the talk that terrorism is somehow baked into Islam. I think most Muslims shudder at the way the Koran is used to justify terrorism, just as Christians today shudder at the way the Bible was used to justify slavery.

There are people who seem to think that unless we declare all-out war on Islam itself, the terrorists will take over America.

You can’t argue with these people, except to ask – then what’s the Second Amendment for?

We have armed citizens who will shoot you for knocking on the door after midnight. So that even if a terrorist horde managed to evade the U.S. military and march down Main Street – I would expect a lead tornado beyond anything even Sam Colt could have imagined!

Dave's Commentary

Dave Ross on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM
  • listen to dave rossTune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.

Dave Ross

privacy pods...

Dave Ross

Ross: Tracking employees’ vital signs at work via privacy pods, what could go wrong?

I saw a Bloomberg story about the latest innovation to reduce your stress level at work: Privacy pods.

18 days ago

car culture...

Dave Ross

Ross: Are we killing car culture? Or is car culture killing the US?

I don’t think the question is whether we're going to "kill" our car culture. The real question is can we stop our car culture from killing the U.S.?

25 days ago

drivers data insurance...

Dave Ross

Ross: As cars release driving data to insurance, is your driving my business?

Every move you make, every swerve you take, every lane change you fake – someone’s watching you. Do drivers have a right to keep driving data private?

1 month ago

rent control...

Dave Ross

Ross: Rent control was never the answer in Wash.

The rent control bill died in the Washington State Legislature this week, even though Democrats control both houses.

2 months ago

end of democracy...

Dave Ross

Ross: Conservative activist earns applause for pledging an ‘end of Democracy’

The theme from Jack Posobiec's speech is that Jan. 6 was a righteous attack not on democracy, but on those who threaten democracy.

2 months ago

Image: Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, is seen on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2023. (Photo: Alex Brand...

Dave Ross

Ross: Voters can help cull bad politicians from the herd early

Let's remember that just about every occupant of a higher office once occupied a lower office, and was put there by us, Dave Ross says.

2 months ago

The President and God