Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama, a senior lecturer on Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago, does not understand the Constitution. This is according to Dr. James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family. Dobson, who has a Ph.D. in child development from the University of Southern California, also claims that Obama does not understand the Bible.
As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.
Dobson accuses Obama of 'distorting' Bible
Dobson bases his claims on a June 2006 speech by Obama. In that speech, Obama asked whether chapters like Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK while eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which "is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application", should guide public policy.
Dobson accuses Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. According to Dobson, "(Obama) is deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology."
Of course, Jesus Himself must have been confused or else He didn't get the memo about the Old Testament no longer applying. In fact, He (apparently mistakenly) said
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matt 5:17-20
Dobson's takedown of Obama will air in an 18 minute segment Tuesday on Focus on the Family's radio program. His harshest criticism concerns Obama's argument in which he stressed that debates over issues like abortion must be framed not just in religion's terms but in arguments accessible to all.
Dobson said Obama, who supports abortion rights, is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," labeling it "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."
UPDATE: Also diaried here by quaoar.