Essay: Bible In Politics - Obama's Speech Analysis

The Use of Biblical Instances in Political Speech

Discuss about the Exertion of the Bible in Politics.

Exertion of the Bible has withstood and influenced certain corruption of language and that has been witnessed through thorough ensemble of radicalism and liberalism. However, in most of the cases, paradigmatic examples of biblical instances have often been used in political elocution and convincement (Segall & Burke, 2013). Moving beyond the art and depiction of logical human life, the Bible of different notions (variable with testaments) has been devised as a useful instrument for the purpose of political power game and its establishment.  The purpose and objective of using such examples from the holy book is nothing but to attract greater number of vote- bank from radical school.  This essay thus intends to look into robust use of the biblical instances in political speech with special note on Obama’s speech (Bonin-Rodriguez, 2014).  

In 2006, former President of United States had delivered certain speeches on the mountainside sermon of Jesus Christ and in his book named “The Audacity of Hope”; he had analyzed the speech of Jesus.  It has been observed by him that the speeches of Jesus are not appropriate for the strategies taken by the defense department (Patterson, 2013). Obama called the suggestion of Jesus as radical. It has been stated by him that the moral view of Jesus Christ, to certain extent, not proper for the appropriate political sphere (Bennett, 2016). 

It has been stated in the sermon that there are two types of establishment can be exist in the world. The first one build on the rock and the other that has been built on the sand. However, in his speech in the Georgetown University, he told that the establishment should be based on the rock only and therefore, the evangelical supporters have started to enchant slogans against him. Christian leader James Dobson and Tom Minnery opposes Obama’s views. It has been stated by Dobson that Obama had misinterpreted the sermon of Bible and he is severely engaged himself in the corruption of language (Rowland, 2013). It has also been pointed out that the political leaders are using the verdict of Jesus Christ to attract the people and the vote bank. In many cases, Obama has continuously pointed out the quotations of Bible and failed to keep the dignity of the holy book.

Considering the political view of the present economic policies, it has been stated by Obama that it is impossible to build the economy of a country on the sands and it has also been narrated by him that the policies should be effective in nature (Blomberg, 2014). If there will be a laxity in the rules of the government, the same could be misuse by the citizens. Therefore, Obama believed on the rock doctrine of Jesus in lieu of the sand doctrine.  Another controversy made regarding the speeches of Obama that he told that scripture could not be treated as the best source of the public policy (Benoit, 2016).   

Obama's Views on the Sermon on the Mount

The theories of Bible are divided into two groups; they are the old testament and the new testament. It has been stated by Reverend Cornel West that it is important to love the neighbors. He was a supporter of holy Bible and Jesus Christ who narrated the speeches to his disciples has propounded this theory. However, from the modern political view, it has been observed that this theory cannot be applied to diplomatic relations and in the modern politics. The structure of the modern politics has been changed a lot and therefore, it is no doubt to state that certain verse of the holy Bible could not be accepted in the modern politics (Yang, 2015).

The speeches given by former American president Barrack Obama in 2006 was criticized by number of testament supporters. Allegation has been made against Barrack Obama that he had misinterpreted the verses of the holy Bible and it has also been alleged that the tales of Jesus Christ have been misused by them in a wrongful manner. The application of the verses in the defense department has also been criticized and it has been stated that the spellbound Sermon on the Mount are appropriate to reduce the possibility of war by the evangelists. Certain Bible supporters are denied the fact that Obama is a Christian.

James Dobson made certain criticism against Barrack Obama and it has been mentioned by him that the presumption of democratic nominee is not appropriate in case of Obama as he is not eligible for the same. It has been stated by him that Barrack Obama had failed to interpret the verses of holy Bible and his notion regarding the tale of Jesus are disgraceful. Obama had also opposed the policy of scriptures. The slavery system confirmed by the scriptures is needed to be changed in the modern democratic world. It has been stated that scripture has supported the slavery system and that is not the appropriate version of democracy (Pennington, 2015). This view of Obama is also criticized by Dobson. According o the view of Obama, the verses of the Sermon on the mount are radical in nature and therefore, each step of the Sermon are not applicable on the modern politics (Dobson, 2014).   

It has been alleged by Dobson that Obama had shown the verses of old testament and the scope of the old testament are not valid as the whole Christianity is depending on the new testament. Dobson titled the view of Obama’s theory as a confused theology and expressed his views over the theory in a sarcastic way. He had charged Obama with the corruption of language and told that Obama is dragging the Biblical understanding by way of playing guitar. Dobson also criticizes the democratic conception of Obama. As per the words of Obama, democracy does not want to implement its policies based on any specific religion. Dobson had contradicted the democratic policy of Obama (McDuffie, 2016). As per his view, Obama’s concept is working as a denominator of morality.

Criticism of Obama's Views on the Bible

It has been observed from the political overview that the political leaders are using the verses of Bible and construct the theories of it as per their own notions to achieve the proper vote bank. It has also been observed that politicians are trying to attract the vote bank and therefore, concocted the stories regarding the verses of Bible and in certain circumstances, misinterpret the visions of the Jesus Christ to feather their own nest. It is accordingly state that in the political history of America, many leaders including Martin king Luther, George Bush and Abraham Lincoln had used the theories of Bible for their own purpose (Myers & Cibulka, 2014).

However, it is to be noted that the criticism made against the views of Barack Obama had been made by the radical supporter. It is obvious to state that time has been changed and the circumstances of the system are also affected by the system directly. In the modern point of view, the liberal theories of Jesus Christ are not applicable and the message of friendship to the neighbors is also improper in case of diplomacy or defense system (Bonin-Rodriguez, 2014). The theories or the verses of the holy Bible are beyond any doubt and they are universal in nature. However, the effectiveness of the theories in the modern politics is not applicable in the modern politics. The message of the scriptures on the slavery is also not welcomed by the democratic system. Therefore, though many of the radical supporter have criticized the speeches of Obama, yet from the modern political view, the notes of Obama has been rightly observed.

References

Bennett, Z. (2016). Using the Bible in practical theology: historical and contemporary perspectives. Routledge.

Benoit, W. L. (2016). Barack Obama’s 2008 speech on Reverend Wright: Defending self and others. Public Relations Review, 42(5), 843-848.

Blomberg, C. (2014). Can We Still Believe the Bible?: An Evangelical Engagement with Contemporary Questions. Brazos Press.

Bonin-Rodriguez, P. (2014). Performing Policy: How contemporary politics and cultural programs redefined US artists for the twenty-first century. Springer.

Dobson, J. C. (2014). The new dare to discipline. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc..

McDuffie, K. (2016). COLOR-BLIND RHETORIC IN OBAMA’S 2008 “RACE SPEECH”: THE APPEAL TO WHITENESS AND THE DISCIPLINING OF RACIAL RHETORICAL STUDIES. Rhetorics of Whiteness: Postracial Hauntings in Popular Culture, Social Media, and Education, 71.

Myers, N. R., & Cibulka, J. G. (2014). RELIGIOUS FAITH AND POLICY IN PUBLIC EDUCATION. Handbook of Education Politics and Policy, 267.

Patterson, E. (2013). Latin America's Neo-reformation: Religion's Influence on Contemporary Politics. Routledge.

Pennington, D. (2015). Barack Obama's “Authentic Self” as a Spiritual Warrior: Discipleship to the Apostolic. Howard Journal of Communications, 26(1), 74-94.

Rowland, C. (2013). The Oxford handbook of the reception history of the Bible. OUP Oxford.

Segall, A., & Burke, K. (2013). Reading the Bible as a pedagogical text: Testing, testament, and some postmodern considerations about religion/the Bible in contemporary education. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(3), 305-331.

Yang, S. (2015). Discourse Analysis of Obama’s Inaugural Speech From the Perspective of Culture. Studies in Literature and Language, 10(6), 33-37.