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June 28th, 2012
04:36 PM ET
First lady implores black churchgoers to get politicalBy Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - First lady Michelle Obama made an impassioned pitch for black churchgoers to embrace political action on Thursday in a speech to the country’s oldest black religious denomination. “To anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place better,” Obama said at a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee. “Because ultimately, these are not just political issues,” she said. “They are moral issues.” With Election Day a little more than four months away, the first lady decried what she suggested was voter apathy in the black community. “How many of us have asked someone whether they’re going to vote, and (they) tell us, ‘No, I voted last time,’ or ‘Is there really an election going on?’ ” “After so many folks sacrificed so much so that we could make our voices heard, so many of us just can’t be bothered,” she said. Obama said that while some voters were “tuning out” and “staying home,” powerful interests are busy raising money to influence Washington. Barack Obama took 96% of the black vote in 2008, and strong turnout among African-Americans and other minorities will be crucial if he hopes to win a second term, analysts say. Surveys show that African-Americans attend church in higher numbers than white Americans do, and Democratic politicians have long made a habit of speaking from black pulpits in the leadup to Election Day. The AME Church has a general convention every four years. The first lady also spoke of her husband on Thursday, telling the story of a photo hanging in the Oval Office that shows the president meeting a 5-year-old African-American boy at the White House three years ago. White House photographers change the photos hanging in the West Wing ever couple of weeks, Michelle Obama said, except for that one. “If you ever wonder whether change is possible in this country, I want you to think about that little black boy in the Oval Office of the White House touching the head of the first black president.” She said blacks had to actively make good on their centuries-old legacy of political activism, mentioning names like Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks. “Today, the connection between our laws and our lives isn’t always as clear as it was 50 years or 150 years ago,” she said. “And as a result, it’s sometimes easy to assume that the battles in our courts and legislatures have all been won.” In her speech, Obama promoted causes like investing in roads and schools, creating jobs and taking care of veterans. “Our faith journey isn’t just about showing up on Sunday for a good sermon and good music and a good meal,” she said. “It’s about what we do Monday through Saturday as well.”
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Great. Encourage people who believe in talking snakes, winged ghosts, and invisible magical men in the sky to vote. No wonder the country is in such bad shape.
"If you ever wonder whether change is possible in this country, I want you to think about that little black boy in the Oval Office of the White House" – First Lady Michelle Obama.
We do not need more so called 'Faithful', especially Christians, getting involved with politics. Christians are making too much trouble for America now, as it is, with their need to control others by legislating their 'spirituality'. This is absolute BS. The founding fathers saw that it was EXTREMELY important to separate church and state, and they were right (this, 'In God We Trust' stuff came up as a result of McCarthyism in the 50's, i.e. due to fear). Anyone who believes that the so called 'Faithful' should become political is un-American.
That's was very innappropriate for M Obama. Honestly, really can not wait to see them leave office she annoys me.
But it's perfectly appropriate when Palin, Bachmann, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum, etc., openly campaign in fundiot white churches?
GOP = Greedy Ole' Piggys
Mike, how many times are you going to reveal your lack of education. Poor education=poor income.
Why is it that traditional black churches get to politicize from the pulpit? Any other church would have its tax-exempt status pulled for such behavior. Where is the ACLU on this egregious abuse of tax privilege? Oh, yeah. Picking on people for defending their border (and homes) against invaders and bulldozing crosses off hilltops.
Where have you been?? The GOP has used the pulpit to push their agenda for years. The ACLU has been silent there, too. Good for the goose, good for the gander. Preach on, First Lady!
Ed, where was your outrage when Bachmann, Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, etc., were lining up to speak in white fundiot churches?
GOP = Geedy Ole' Piggys
Just what we need. More religious wackos in the political process.
be the one,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Michael bachmann should be VP candidate of GOP
Michael 2016 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ron Paul is GOP savoir
"Savoir"? Speaking French now, are you?
He could have been, but no one listens to him. I would not choose Romney over Obama, but I would definitely choose Paul.
Religion has no place in marriage.
Can you find it out of the Bible??????????
The bible is a load of crappola.
Obamajoe
you can find marriage outside of the bible if you just look. Religion has never had an exclusive lock on the concept of marriage. People were getting married long before your religion was created by men. Thousands of cultures marry people without any bible in sight. If two atheists choose to marry, they can,with no bible quoting
Where are all the leftist screaming 'Separation of church and state'?
In a Mormon church ?
RIGHT HERE!!!
We screamed it for years when the GOP used the church during election years. No one listened. So now we're using the church, too, but for true Christian values. We'll stop when the GOP stops.
At the church i attend we confess our sins, receive absolution, we are condemned by the reading of the Law and then hear the Good News of the Gospel. That is what should be going on in church. The Bible is about Jesus and what he did for the world.
Wrong,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,if that's that simple,,,,,,,,,,,,,no need for Jesus to come,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the old testament is enough,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
What did Jesus do for the world?
Seems to me, if anything, he was focused on the 'next' world, if it exists.
Your religion has no place in politics. It is immoral to impose it on others.
I'd include secular religions like illiberalism.
Roy, secular humanism is not a religion. I"m amazed at the ignorance of religious people when it comes to religion.
Politics is just a balance of human society,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,religion is in it,,,,,,,,,,dude,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
This conservative atheist said "illiberalism," not "secular humanism."
"Illiberalism" worships government and its alleged magical curative powers, unlike classical liberalism.
I have been to a lot of churches and left because of their hate for our potus from the pullpit to the congregation.NO one should politic in the house of god.If you have hate in your heart for anyone,Than Jesus will say,Depart From ME.Sattin is decieving gods people with politic. Return to your first love before it is too late.
Since when did not agreeing with someone's politics equal hatred? That's just an attempt to keep people of faith from voicing their opinions!
That's just an attempt to keep people of faith from voicing their opinions!
The Church focus ought to be on the Teachings of Christ and the Bible.
Those who claim to be leaders in the Church first and foremost ought to live a Godly life before they can even begin to preach to another.
The woman whose husband voted against a ban on late term abortion has the nerve to tell the faithful to "get political." OMG! This is sick and disgusting and a disgrace to religious people everywhere.
Religion has no place in medicine.
OMG,,,you are sick,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
agree....not going to listen to people who do not value human life and put deviant behavior on a pedestal! wonder why America is in the shape it is in??.....heat waves, floods, wildfires...and crummy economy...II Chronicles 7:14 has the answer
That's OK, now the entire government will be telling us what to do or we have to pay a tax. There is no religion in this family except "love thyself above all others".
Exactly, Jackie. The Obamas, when they attend, go to the church of "make it up as you go along."
That's why they have no problem with abortion, and "wouldn't want to punish their daughters with a chid."
have fun guys,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,god bless you ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
You'll never hear white libs slamming black Christies as "ignorant and uneducated," even though they fit the bill marvelously.
????????????
It's people like you (and probably you parents) that are America's biggest problem – Shut up and go back to watching Fox News.
She is such a hypocrite. She was in church talking about morals and her and her husband just came out and said they support same se$ marriage.
Yeah supporting equal rights is so immoral.
@Flatpicker
You said, "She was in church talking about morals and her and her husband just came out and said they support same se$ marriage."
That only means she and her husband are on the right side of the argument. Opposing equal rights for a disliked group isn't moral, it's despicable. Opposition to same sex marriage based on religion is bigotry.
Supporting an abomination to the God we worship then speaking about morals. Take the Log out of your eye Ms. Obama so that you may see clearly enough to take the splinter out of theirs.
Flatpicker
That's what I was about to say.
By the way, what do you flatpick?
Flatpicker
She is such a hypocrite. She was in church talking about morals and her and her husband just came out and said they support same se$ marriage.
-------
That just means she wasn't talking about your morals. Doesn't make her a hypocrite, her morals aren't based on bigotry.
Moochele probably gets it in the rear too.
Being born gay is no more immoral, wrong, or a sin, than being born left-handed, or black.
Oh...Wait... It wasn't that many years ago that you religious nutters said being left-handed was a sign of the devil, and being black was the mark or Cain.
You purposefully choose to ignore valid scientific evidence in favor of substîtuting what bronze-age nomadic shepherds thought about things they could not possibly understand.