By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors
(CNN) - On our sister blog The 1600 Report, CNN's Alex Mooney notes a discrepancy in the official White House transcript of a California fundraiser Monday night, during which a person who heckled President Barack Obama was escorted out by security.
Here's the White House transcript's account of the heckler:
AUDIENCE MEMBER: The Christian God is the only true living God, the Creator of the heavens and the universe.
But Mooney observes that the White House pool report records the heckler as being much more blunt, yelling "'Barack Obama is the Antichrist!"
The president interrupted his remarks at the fundraiser, held at Los Angeles' House of Blues, to respond to the heckler.
"First of all, I agree Jesus Christ is the Lord," Obama said. "I believe in that. I do have a question, though. I think the young man may have left his jacket... "
Ironically, the remark about Obama as the Antichrist came the same day that The New York Times ran an op-ed arguing that the Antichrist is assuming a bigger place in the public discourse, as evangelical Christian ideas about the end times gain traction.
In a piece titled "Why the Antichrist Matters in Politics," Washington State University history professor Matthew Avery Sutton argues that, for some Christians, Obama fits into ideas about the Antichrist, whose arrival is believed to be a portent of the end times and Jesus' second coming:
For some evangelicals, President Obama is troubling. The specious theories about his place of birth, his internationalist tendencies, his measured support for Israel and his Nobel Peace Prize fit their long-held expectations about the Antichrist. So does his commitment to expanding the reach of government in areas like health care.
The op-ed was the most e-mailed piece on nytimes.com for much of Tuesday.
In the 2008 campaign, Republican presidential nominee John McCain released an anti-Obama ad called "The One" that ridiculed Obama for what it said was his messiah complex. Some critics claimed the spot was a veiled attempt to paint Obama as the Antichrist, though the McCain camp denied it.
What do you think? Is there a gathering movement to paint the president as the Antichrist? Are such charges overblown attempt to discredit Obama's critics?
Read Mooney's full report here.
Not anti-Christ... Just a failed Marxist.
You obviously don't even understand what a Marxist is. PLEASE go get a BOOK.
it always makes me laugh when someone talks about the coming of the antichirst or the 4 horsemen... or even the returning of the holy J.C. , (thats what i call him.. we're tight like that) its laughable due to where the said arrival will take place... its always where it would matter most to the person saying it, not to the world, that would make too much sense and we are talking religion, logic is something that is not allowed in religious topics or fights break out.
I don't really know if Obama is the Anti-Christ or not. I do know he is strictly black magic with all he has has accomplished in the past 5 years. Out of nowhere comes this black man and becomes President? We are near December212012...........according to the bible and also previous prophets that will be the day the Anti-Christ meets Jesus in Jerusalem for the final battle and that the Anti-Christ will be the leader of a powerful nation and all that follow him will die by fire. Whatever Obama is....he is NOT my leader nor MY President...nor MY favorite person. He is black magic.
If you are an American, he IS your President. And likely to continue being your President through 2016!!!
'We are near December212012...........according to the bible and also previous prophets that will be the day the Anti-Christ meets Jesus in Jerusalem for the final battle and that the Anti-Christ will be the leader of a powerful nation and all that follow him will die by fire."
That date is in the bible is it? i must have missed that bit.
if you are a citizen of the united states then he is your pres. if you are not then why worry... and the antichrist, if he/she was smart would first take over the U.N. as that sits the most powerful leaders of our time, and if the anit – dude controls them its as if it controls the world!
I think you're confusing your mythologies, Nacho.
I'd hate to think people really believe nonsense like this. Of course, all organized religion is nonsense if understood as anything but metaphor and mythology. There is no Anti-Christ and, in fact, no "Christ" either, just the historical Jesus, who spoke about charity and compassion, something almost entirely absent from today's GOP.
Just because you're un-Patriotic doesn't mean you should be racist to boot. Or maybe the two go hand in hand? If you're an American citizen, he IS your president. No, you don't have to agree with him, but, hey, we had to put up with the shenanigans of the 8 Years Of Terror by the Bush Administration. Killed more Americans than 9/11 in Iraq, a trumped up war. Approved torture. Oversaw the greed that caused the economy to implode. Made the US worse than a laughingstock to the entire world. If you traveled outside the US in those 8 years, you would have heard it everywhere.
I'm not surprised in the least. Because the crazy republicans/conservatives are well... crazy.
Christianity is getting goofy.
Too funny. Obviously the GOP and it's sympathizers are flailing madly. No good candidates. No good agendas. "Ok people, lets try throwing the old OBAMA'S THE ANTICHRIST against the wall and see if that one sticks."
It's funny how Liberals try to paint Republicans with a broad brush. There is no conspiracy, there is no under minding movement. Liberals are leaving and trying to create a controversy to rally around. It's over boys and girls. Obama is way over his head, his supporters have bailed and your party is going to sink. Socialism won't work, didn't work and Americans know it.. Leave Christ out it, losers
I'm Jewish and there can be some pretty crazy religious zealots in my religion, but hats off to fundamentalist Christians for taking crazy to a whole new level. Also if Obama is the Antichrist and the world is going to end, why even bother worrying or carrying about politics at all?
Once a muslim is always a muslim !
your an idiot, the dude was never a muslim... you really need to stop listening to talk radio and have thoughts of your own!
disagree with you
Well, I know we say that about Catholics, but why are you saying that about Obama? He's not and never was a muslim?
not anti-christ, try anti-american
disagree with you.
so he hates mexicians and canadians as well? you should think about what america is before you speak ignorances.
AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The funny thing is Obama fallows WWJD. What would Jesus Do?
Help the poor – Obama wants to have a more balenced tax system and increase the taxes on the rich
so services the government provides to help the middleclass, and the poor are still there.
Care for the sick – Health care
Trying to help people only to be hated for doing so – Obama gets that everyday.
Trying to be a mesured man of peace while his fallowers want him to be more agressive.
Though Jesus overturned the Money Changers tables and Obama however is soft on
big banks.
Whats Very Antichrist like is Paul Ryan and his love for Ayn Rands views on the wealthy vs. the Poor.
If Obama were the Antichrist none in the circle of politics could oppose what he plans. Having looked at what is going on in the US. politics under President Obama, I can not consider Obama as the Antichrist. President Obama has so far done nothing compared to what I believe the Antichrist will do.
I cannot reject the notion that some individuals and international organizations on this earth are preparing the way for the Antichrist such as all US Presidents both former and current president and other world leaders including the EU.
it always makes me laugh when someone talks about the coming of the antichirst or the 4 horsemen... or even the returning of the holy J.C. , (thats what i call him.. we're tight like that) its laughable due to where the said arrival will take place... its always where it would matter most to the person saying it, not to the world, that would make too much sense and we are talking religion, logic is something that is not allowed in religious topics or fights break out. now i am curious as to what makes this dude the antichrist – he doesn't quote much of anything except what his writers say, so maybe its his writers! or maybe there is no christ and therefore no antichrist and yay with logic we are saved – wow, now we can get back to our pointless lives.
For more insight on Obama and current politics read the novel -- king of Bat'ha
whatever happened to keeping relgion out of politics...I love how Obama had to declare his loyalty to christianity when some idiot made a rather iintolerant remark....tolerant people would never say that "My God is better than your God", Muslims may say there is only one God, but he is the same God that Jesus refers to as "the Father", the God of Abraham.
John, YOU better watch your step! You need to stop blaming the Tea Party and Republicans in general for what are obviously this administration's clueless rhetoric and bandaid approaches. The fact is that in three years President NObama has tackled a supposedly bad situation and made it much, much worst. Throwing money at the problems has not solved much, if anything. Also, it's estimated that the latest jobs effort will end up costing about $200,000 per job. I ask you John and other NObama supporters, is this a REAL solution to the jobs problem? If you are realistic and a patriotic American, the answer needs to be a resounding NO!
Unemployed and other American would be much, much better off if they were handed the $200,000 with certain conditions.
I realize this is not the real solutions to the jobs situation. However, it's better that blowing more taxpayer funds.
Stay tuned...
so if anyone disagrees with you then they are not a partriotic american right?
It's good to see you get all your answers from one source, FOX. Step back and do something unthinkable. Read American history from about 1910 and you will see how the relationship between citizens and government developed and why, and then you will realize that without compromise, this country would have been doomed 100 ears ago. But you keep blaming and watching FOX and drink beer and get all P'd off, very constructive and patriotic
Last time I spoke to my wife's cousin he told me he hadn't made his mind up yet whether Obama is the antichrist or not but thinks he might be.......and he was serious.
Is it any wonder I prefer to stay home when she goes visiting?
You know this sort of nonsense would gain far less traction if the big news stations wouldn't give these nutters to time of day...
Stupid, nutty people think stupid, nutty things...news at 11.
I believe that Tea Partiers, and over zealous Republicans will do and say anything that they think will discredit Obama. Smear tactics are a frequently used weapon in the GOP's bag o tricks. Can you say Swift boat?
There's no movement on in the GOP elite to paint Obama as the AntiChrist, and I'm doubtful that they also wanted to paint him as a Muslim and a Kenyan. However, they are doing nothing to stop the people saying it. If both sides just said, "This is ridiculous. Obama's not any of those things. I may not like his politics at all, but he's not what you are saying he is."
Alas, it won't happen. The GOP elite plays on public misconception (Iraq attacked us on 9/11, for example).
And to be fair to McCain he was more than willing to correct someone at one of his events where she said she had heard he was an arab, but you are right about the rest not only keeping quiet but adding fuel to the fire about birth certifcates and stuff.
If he is the anti-christ, then the devil must be really incompetent too so there is nothing to worry about.
I am agnostic and that shi+ was funny!
Your comment is just about the only one here that makes any sense.