Read his article in The American Interest here. If you cannot wait, read the snippet I have provided:
...every presidency creates an institutional culture, which trickles down all the way to city halls in the provinces. This administration has shown itself remarkably tone-deaf regarding religion. This was sharply illuminated at the launching of Obamacare, when the administration was actually surprised to discover that Catholics (strange to say!) actually care about contraception and abortion. Eric Holder’s Department of Justice has repeatedly demonstrated that it cares less about religious freedom as against its version of civil rights. Perhaps one reason for the widespread failure to perceive this attitude toward the First Amendment is that Barack Obama is seen through the lens of race–“the first black president”. I think a better vision comes through the lens of class–“the first New Class president”–put differently, the first president, at least since Woodrow Wilson, whose view of the world has been shaped by the culture of elite academia. This is evident across the spectrum of policy issues, but notably so on issues involving gender and religion.
One commentator has suggested he thinks Berger may have overstated yet he does see the tie here between the deafness of the Obama administration to the impact of faith upon the culture of America. He also suggested that perhaps the population has responded opposite of the administration in its growing desire to have faith communities speak on political issues facing Americans. You can read him here.
According to a recent Pew survey, almost 50 percent of Americans think churches and houses of worship should express their views on political and social issues, an increase of 6 percent since 2010. Three-quarters of the public think religion’s influence in our national life is declining—and most of those people think it’s a bad thing. If anything, the Obama Administration seems to be contributing to a pro-religion backlash.
What I think is that we have never had a political institution so overtly insensitive to or opposed to churches than the Obama administration. Some may blame the President and others may see this simply as a consequence of his failure to lead with an appreciation for the faith that is interwoven into nearly every aspect of American public and private life. Whatever the dispute here, the administration should certainly be held responsible for its failure to accurately estimate and appreciate that faith is here to stay. No President in my own memory has shown such blindness to this fact although I am not sure that privately some might have equaled Obama in their disdain for the religious point of view. What remains to be seen is the legacy of his tone deafness on matters of faith. Maybe he does not realize this tone deafness because the one thing that this President (like many others before him) is constantly in tuned to is himself.
"Our Tone Deaf Administration ?!"
ReplyDeleteOh no! Not that! "Tone Deaf"? Our narcissistic, leftwing, islamic-pandering, lawless, lying, murdering, racist Traitor-in-Chief and his regime of thugs are "tone deaf."
Can it get any worse?!?
The President is not tone deaf in the sense of being unaware of the perception given his administration. He is quite autocratic and superior in his outlook, narcissistic in his character, and ideologically radical in his politics. He is not alone. Few of the world's totalitarian leaning leaders are operating in a vacuum. The power they have is derived from appealing to like minded individuals and surrounding themselves with reinforcing operatives, enforcers in their bureaucracy, and other like minded "enablers" who carry water for his policies, even failed and inept policies. And of course, all such leaders need their accomplices in the media, with both Party spokesmen and women willing to forsake integrity and truth to prop up their anointed leader, in whom they have invested their hope for a transformed society suitable to leftist ideals. There is pushback of course, but progressives and leftists care little whether half or more of the country is unhappy with them. For they know that the power is what they need most to further their cause. America is under stress and in bad need of new leaders and a new president who will follow the Constitution. I say without apology that we need a strong believing Christian in this office, a wise and prayerful individual who will realize that the enormous power of the office is to be used in righteousness, and it is not given in order to subvert the laws and power of government.
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