Perhaps it’s easy to see how the two men’s theological differences inform their views of family, but they also yield different understandings of the path to economic advancement.
Mr. Cain’s church subscribes to traditional Christian theology, which sees the black experience in light of scripture. Mr. Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on the other hand, is known for teaching black liberation theology, which sees scripture in light of the black experience. It seeks to create a direct correlation between the black condition and the light of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. The freedom they gained from whites is a part of the freedom Jesus promised.
According to Antioch’s website, its early leaders “stressed the dignity of work and honest labor.” By contrast, Trinity’s website emphasizes God’s displeasure with “America’s economic mal-distribution.” It’s not surprising, then, that President Obama would see a government-run jobs program as the key to ending the current economic recession whereas Mr. Cain would look to private industry…
Might it be more accurate to say the Mr. Obama’s upbringing in socialist culture, association with radical revolutionaries, liberal post-graduate education, tended to influence his choice of theology and world view?
It would also explain why Mr Obama is so full of anger and Mr Cain … of optimism. Anger, as well as the other “deadly sins” — greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony — commonly arise from frustrated narcissism.
The DSM — Diagnostic and Statistical Manual — defines NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER (in Axis II Cluster B) as:
A pervasive pattern of [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiosity>]grandiosity[/url] (in fantasy or behavior), [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_supply>]need for admiration[/url], and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
* Has a grandiose sense of [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaggerates>]self-importance[/url] (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
* Is preoccupied with [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy>]fantasies of unlimited success[/url], power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
* Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
* Requires excessive admiration
* Has a [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entitlement>]sense of entitlement[/url], i.e., unreasonable expectations
of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
* Is [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitative>]interpersonally exploitative[/url], i.e., takes advantage of
others to achieve his or her own ends
* [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy>]Lacks empathy[/url]: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
* Is often [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envious>]envious[/url] of others or believes others are envious of him or her.
* Shows [url=<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogant>]arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes [/url]
Not hard for folks like Jeremiah Wright to lead the gullible down a path of deception.
Seem familiar?
Well, if you got to be President of the United States, you might not be forgiven for having a high opinion of yourself, but it would be understandable if you did. I doubt that Jeremiah Wright led Obama down any path where the President did not choose to go.
Mr. Cain may have been far more afflicted by lust than Mr. Obama has been. Certainly they are different, but I would hesitate to describe one as morally superior to the other, and I doubt that either of them has a pathological or narcissistic personality.
Bishop Jackson should look at the abortion, divorce, and illegitimacy rates among African-Americans before he claims that most of them hold traditional positions on those issues. If he had said most church-going African-Americans, he would have been more on the mark.
[i]I doubt that Jeremiah Wright led Obama down any path where the President did not choose to go[/i]
Better yet, the two fit like hand-to-glove.
[i]Bishop Jackson should look at the abortion, divorce, and illegitimacy rates among African-Americans before he claims that most of them hold traditional positions on those issues[/i]
Better yet, we could look at 50+ years of failed Federal Government welfare policies that have done nothing but create a big, new plantation. Behaviours in response to insidious inducements may not predict the deep seated positions that African-Americans would like to hold. Not to mention the incessant preaching of spectacular failures to lead people off the plantation, like the Revs Sharpton, Jackson, and Wright.
I have been trained as a historian and as a literary scholar and I think I am fairly reflective and sort of deep, but I wouldn’t even dare predict what positions left-handed, non-happy clappy, dignified low church Protestant Episcopalian RINOS about to jump to ACNA who are culturally WASP but ethnically French, Scottish, Walloon, and aboriginal American as well as English would like to hold if they had been raised away from the environments in which they were in fact raised.
Nonetheless, I have deep-seated positions and they are my own and they came from neither the Big House nor the Quarters. I wouldn’t dare say what people might believe if they were other than what they were, though I know what they should believe.
Ratramnus : no ethnic problem, and no sociological one either. It’s quite simple, actually: If you lie down with dogs, you wake with fleas.
Thank you #6 for the simple clarity. I think the Prez was actually the top dog in the Obama-Wright relationship. Agree with him or not, we should still pray for him because he is our President. I’m having my doubts about anyone who purports to tell me what people believe based on race or ethnicity, and I get particularly skeptical about anyone who pretends to speak for his race, and that includes both Bishop Jackson and the Reverend Mr. Jackson.