Salem-area radio talk show host Bill Post (who not long ago said he wanted to urinate on the corpses of dead Taliban soldiers) says that he's a Evangelical Christian who shares the "world-view" of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson might argue with that but those views lead Post to question President Obama's Christian faith and American values. In fact, those views leave Post very afraid of the future if the president is re-elected. Post writes that electing Mitt Romney, a Mormon, might not be great for evangelical Christians, but consider the alternatives:
1 - Is Obama a Muslim? I don't know for sure, but we all know he has made some pretty big concessions to Muslims as well as some pretty interesting statements concerning Muslims. So, if he IS a Muslim or leans towards them, would you rather have a Muslim or a Mormon President? I haven't seen very many Mormons strap bombs to the jackets blowing up marketplaces, have you?
2 - Is Obama a Marxist/Socialist/Communist? I don't know for sure, but again, his statement and policies sure make it look that way. Have you seen any Mormon gulags, death camps or mass murders committed lately?
Evangelicals, Mainline Christians and Roman Catholics have repeatedly condemned those who question the president's Christian faith for partisan political reasons but that won't stop people like Post who are so far outside the mainstream that they actually believe the president of the United States is planning death camps if re-elected.
We can expect opponents of the president this election - big and small - to attempt to exploit racial divisions and to paint President Obama as something "other" than fully as American. Consider the new racially charged film financed by right-wing billionaire Joe Ricketts that suggests that the president has a Kenyan, not American, world-view.
These campaigns against President Obama are driven by fear, hatred and racism - let's be honest. The good news is that the American people are better than Bill Post or Joe Ricketts. We are an optimistic people at our core. But whether or not we agree with the president's policies - whether we support his re-election or not - all good Americans must reject the division and hatred promoted on talk radio and the web and use the election to engage in a serious debate over the issues this nation faces.
