Why Did Obama ask Georgetown to cover a Christian Religious Symbol?
By now you’ve probably at least read a headline or two about the Obama administration asking Georgetown to cover up IHS, which is a common Christogram based on the first three letters of “Jesus” in Greek, during his speech at Georgetown the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit University.
Let’s put that aside for a second. When President Obama recently visited the Middle East he visited a famous Mosque in Turkey. US President Barack Obama visited a landmark mosque in Istanbul Tuesday, following strong messages of US reconciliation with the Islamic world on his maiden trip to a Muslim country. Taking off his shoes as tradition requires, Obama stepped into the 16th-century Sultanahmet Mosque in the ancient heart of Istanbul, accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
So the question here is why would our President, the President of a predominately Christian country, openly embrace the religious cultures and customs of the Muslim world and openly reject, cover up, the symbols of his own country that of the Christian religion at a Catholic University where he was invited to speak?
I’m sure you all remember how he took advantage, as ALL major candidates do, of religious symbolism during the Presidential campaign when he passed around literature much like the picture below and constantly invoked his Christian roots. For example here’s a good piece from MSNBC during the campaign cycle: One piece (Campaign literature) features photos of Obama praying with the words “COMMITTED CHRISTIAN” in large letters across the middle. It says Obama will be a president “guided by his Christian faith” and includes a quote from him saying, “I believe in the power of pray.” I guess embracing Christianity was just convenient or necessary during the election.
Why would a “COMMITTED CHRISTIAN” cover up Jesus? Is he making a statement that he’s more powerful than the church?
So when Obama was in Turkey why didn’t he tell the Turks that he wasn’t going to take off his shoes? Was it because he was respecting their traditions like just about any diplomat would do? Chances are this is and was the case. So then why not respect the tradition of the oldest Catholic college in the country? In his own Country!? It just doesn’t make any sense? Why is he doing this. I have my theories….what are yours?
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I hope he is a muslim, I’m sick of the christians leading our country.
This is actually the symbol/logo of the order of Jesuits. Which present meaning is, “Jesus, Saviour of Mankind”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuits
this only goes to prove he sat in a races church for 20 years because he belived all the hatered of america spuewing out was true. during the campane the said he was a christain because thats what people wanted to hear. remmber he sayes and what he will do are 2 different things.He is a muslem, like the writer said he respected turkey religon but not his so called christian religon and in his own country he is a socialest and is out to tear america down. thats what he was hearing for 20 years in rev whites church and thats what he belives these people that voted for him are soooooooooooooooo ignorent, but now we will all pay for this man in the white house , i hope he dosent do too much damage.
Umm – two comments:
Asmorex, it’s a well known fact that, while not all muslims are terrorists, practically all terrorists ARE MUSLIM. And of course it makes perfect sense for the US to be Sharia compliant in all business matters, because we want the world to be like it was 700 years ago! Awesome!
Anna Maria Vennettilli – I like where your head is at, but let’s slap a spell check on the commentary.
There’s a big difference between President Obama’s visit to a mosque and his speech at Georgetown: He didn’t give a speech at the mosque.
Perhaps the President just didn’t want to give the impression that his speech was endorsed by the Jesuits, or that he was speaking on their behalf, or that he believes himself to be a spiritual authority. I don’t see any reason to criticize him for it.
It had nothing to do with “covering” a symbol, or disrespecting ANYTHING. He just wanted a bare backdrop for the speech. People cover what’s behind them when filming all the time.
I REALLY REALLY wish conservatives would stop LOOKING for things to be offended by. They SAY that liberals do that. But conservatives do it more.
Brendan Breen -
“while not all muslims are terrorists, practically all terrorists ARE MUSLIM”
Not so. The KKK, the IRA, ETA, Aum Shinrikyo — all of these are terrorist groups, and none of them are Muslim. Terrorists come in all flavors, unfortunately.
Guy – the last time I checked the KKK wasn’t flying planes into the WTC, the IRA stopped breaking knee caps in the 90s, and the ETA confines its attacks to Spain, a country no one cares about anyway. The supermajority of active terrorist organizations on the planet are Muslim inspired. Get real.
First of all Georgetown University should have just flat out said NO. Secondly, Obama had alot of nerve allowing that to happen, considering the fact that he claims he is Christian. I have no idea what kind of a Christian he is. Thirdly, As a Catholic Christian I would like to see us become more outspoken when we are being treated in this manner. We all know that if this were any other Religion it would not fly and we would never hear the end of it in the news. I want The President to apologize for this. He’s got alot of nerve.
I love it, this article says they were asked to cover up all signs and symbols there….true. This website does NOT tell you that it had nothing to do with religious symbols, they wanted ALL signs and symbols removed for his normal backdrop of flags and a black background, like he does all the time, no matter where he speaks.
If that was not bad enough, the writer of this drivel only giving you half the story, then askes you to “put that aside for a moment” and goes on a rant about a visit to a mosque which has NOTHING to do with the story…and never does go back to the White House explanation that was brushed aside to consider the mosque story.
Anyone, like Anna Maria, who sucked right up to the teet of this obviously slanted, right wing-nut fringe “article” really need to go back to skool. And Anna has the nerve to call Obama supporters ignorant…..err, scuze me ignorent….or is it ig-nant??/
Jesus Christ and Holy Cow some Amerikans are so gullible. For those of you that need assistance, gullible means you are a “sucker” incapable of critical thinking, taking one source as gospel and running with it.
Has any president ever had such a request? It is a sad commentary that his request did not spark outrage among the Christian community. The lack of response only opens the door for more radical requests in the future. As a Christian I find it impossible to believe that a true believer in the Christian faith without precedent would even consider such a request. I think the American people need to wipe the roses from their glasses because we now not the hour.