SmartRemarks

Just a quick post to say hear, hear!!

President Obama told reporters in Turkey that America is not defined by any one religion. “I’ve said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values,” said the president.

Also on Monday, the Associated Press reports, “Obama, making his first visit to a Muslim nation as president, declared Monday the United States ‘is not at war with Islam’ and called for a greater partnership with the Islamic world.”

Video also available at the link.

I fidn this every bit as heartening as the callout to nonbelievers in his Inaugural Address. It’s nice to have a president who actually understands the concept of diversity—not only globally, but the kind that begins at home.

Merry Christmas!

Or happy holidays. Whatever you prefer. It’s not like I have enough readers to exclude anyone on the basis of creed.

Lest there be any doubt, I am not speaking ironically here; this is most emphatically not a post endorsing the reactionary “war on Christmas” meme that’s been drummed up by Bill O’Reilly and others on the far right in recent years. (Although I have not in fact heard much about it this year… perhaps most Americans really are getting tired of the divisive culture war nonsense?)

As I write this I’m waiting to attend a Christmas Eve service in a couple of hours. (With my girlfriend’s relatives… but on alternate years we do the same thing with my own relatives.) And that’s the only time of the year that I set foot in a church. Read the rest of this entry »