[ExI] Yes Sam Harris Can

[Kevin Freels]

I can't say I'm for or against Obama at this point, but from what I can 
tell, he's been involved with this church much longer than he has been 
running for elected offices. If I am wrong here, feel free to correct me.

I can say from experience, it is much more complicated to break away 
from a church than disassociating with the minister. There are often 
very strong ties to the people who make up the congregation itself. To 
sever the relationships with them all because of one person would not 
seem reasonable unless one was running for a high profile political 
office where this would be an issue. So the question then becomes 
"Should one sever many relationships built up over years simply because 
one is running for president". One could argue that separation from a 
church does not separate you from the rest of the congregation, but this 
argument would likely be made only by those who have not been a  part of 
such a thing. The minister is not the church. The best example I could 
give would be someone here running for president and deciding to 
withdraw from here entirely because of some of Robert Bradbury's posts. 
(Where has he been by the way?)Of course, it's not a great example, only 
the closest I can come for some who have never been exposed to the 
church environment.


aiguy at comcast.net wrote:
>
> > Olga Bourlin>Maybe Barack Obama can't say it, but Sam Harris, can 
> ... and
> > does:
> > 
> >http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/what-barack-obama-could-n_b_92771.html 
>
> > >Here's hoping ...
> >
> >
> Mr. Harris seems to be drawing the false conclusion that it Obama 
> would have severed his relationship
> with Wright and his church that he was severing his relationship with 
> his religion.
>  
> As long as he made clear publicly that the reason he was changing 
> churches was to embrace what he
> thought was a truer teaching of the principals of Christianity other 
> Christians would have applauded and
> perhaps even followed his example.
>  
> Mr. Harris seems to be portraying Obama as a closet atheist who must 
> stay with his church and pretend
> to believe if he is to have a chance at election.
>  
> I hope Mr. Harris's depiction of Obama is based his imagination and 
> not any inside information.
>  
> Because any man who would be so hypocritical, deceitful,  dishonest, 
> and manipulative  as to pretend to believe in a religion just to get
> get elected would be the last person I would ever want to see elected 
> into the highest office of this land.
>  
> I know what Mr. Harris believes in now.   I just wish I knew what the 
> real Obama believes and what he couldn't or wouldn't say!
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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