Criticism over his coddling of Islam and his refusal to call radical Islamic terrorism by its name has been a hallmark of Barack Obama’s presidency. His most recent comments at the National Prayer Breakfast show either a galactic tone-deafness to the problem or that he simply doesn’t care.
With the brutal burning alive by ISIS of a Jordanian prisoner only days past, President Obama took the occasion of his address to the ecumenical crowd to denounce heinous barbarism. But then, in apparent attempt draw a sort of moral equation between various forms of religious radicalism, he continued by denigrating Christianity.
Obama cautioned against getting on our ‘high horse’ reminding that the Crusades and the Inquisition were similar acts of barbarism by Christians, a quip that lit up the Internet with criticism. The full transcript of his remarks can be found here.
Former VA Gov. Jim Gilmore responded, “The president’s comments this morning at the prayer breakfast are the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime.”
Charles Krauthammer was “stunned” by Obama’s words, calling them “offensive” and “ridiculous” on Hannity. “For him to say that all of us have sinned, all religions have transgressed, is adolescent stuff,” he continued. “The present issue is Muslim radicalism and how to attack it.”
Other critics were softer. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said Obama’s words were “an unfortunate attempt at a wrongheaded moral comparison,” He continued, “The evil actions that he mentioned were clearly outside the moral parameters of Christianity itself.”
Ultimately, the root of the issue with Obama’s remarks lie in that he seems to me in denial about the nature of ISIS. It is not merely a group of people using Islam for political means. Rather, as Krauthammer points out, it is a problem “coming from one source: and that’s from inside Islam. It is not the prevalent idea of Islam, but it is coming from Islam… and there needs to be a change in Islam.”
