Obama and Irish Christianity

Once again, our president has attacked Catholicism: blaming Catholic schools for creating division in Northern Ireland. Obama believes that having Protestant and Catholic schools is a force behind the historical and painful tension between these two peoples of faith. What would the president rather Northern Ireland offer for its young students?It doesn’t take a wild imagination to presume that the president would rather remove God (and religion) from every classroom, thus damaging a vital part of many Irish children’s upbringing and identity. That sentiment is best evidenced by this quote from his speech:

“If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings, and Protestants have theirs—if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear or resentment are allowed to harden, that encourages division. It discourages cooperation.” Read more: here.: 

This is not the first time the president has expressed his belief in a secular society or his first jab at Catholicism. From the HHS Mandate forcing Catholic institutions to provide contraception and abortion for its employees to his anti-subsidiarity view of the role of government, Obama has not been silent in the war on Christianity. What would happen if Catholics (and Protestants) removed themselves from education? Children of these respective faiths would be denied incredible opportunities to pursue their faiths further and become more educated on Christianity and spirituality.

The president should also recognize the role that Catholicism plays in his own country.:  Catholic hospitals serve millions, while Catholic charities feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked.:  Without these (yes, Mr. President) RELIGIOUS institutions, many of the poor and suffering in our own country would be much worse off. While Obama may continue to try and make Americans more dependent on their government (from healthcare to financial stability), it seems foolish to attack the organizations that presently take care of those in need, especially the Catholic Church.

It is sheer hypocrisy for a man who has dwelled on the importance of ethnicity/race as a form of self-identification to blame religion as a contributor to segregation. To suggest that Christian schools (of any denomination) foster division and segregation is naïve. To believe that a secular and powerful government will help the poor and needy better than the Catholic Church and other Christian churches have for 2,000 years is insane. Until Obama has public schools performing superior to Christian schools, has the government aiding its needy citizens better than Christian charities, and finds a suitable replacement for spirituality in the human mind and heart, he should perhaps find a new organization to blame. Christian churches and their respective schools, hospitals and charities should be viewed as role models for how every government should treat its own people.

This article was originally published on Counter Cultured’s “Spiritually Awakened” column.

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