Atheists keep faith with Barack Obama

[Whitney]

How much faith should the faithless put in Barack Obama?

The president said in his inaugural address that the United States is “a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers.” And in his commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, he said that the Golden Rule binds “people of all faiths and no faith together.”

While the atheist community appreciates the shout-outs, George W. Bush offered similar acknowledgements of nonbelievers during his presidency. And like Bush, Obama has repeatedly invoked religion in his speeches. The latest dose came Thursday in Cairo, in his speech to the Muslim world, during which Obama talked of the “Holy Quran” and invoked this Quranic supplication: “Be conscious of God, and speak always the truth.”

But while atheist advocates railed against Bush, they seem willing to give Obama a pass on his God talk â€" at least for now.

Full Text:  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23488.html

[Jolly Sapper]

I may not like it, but until he starts saying that God is talking to him and that Gogg, Magog, or the Golgotha shit demon are roaming the sands of the middle east I don't think I'll care too much.

[Tom62]

I don't really care, because he is not my president. People over here still admire him, but if he continues to be just a smooth talker and mingling his sentences with Jesus and God then this might change into ridicule (like what happened to the former British PM).

[karadan]

We need to remember he was talking to a bunch of rabidly religious crazy bastards, i.e., 70% of the middle east. Talk about having to walk on egg shells! If such a large proportion of the planet is as religious as we continuously say on this forum, then he's going to have to talk like that for some time to come unless he wants the majority of his audience to just turn around and close their ears.
Unless it is an incredibly elaborate ruse, from what I've seen so far, I believe the administration can see how the massive imbalance created by the Bush administration needs radical thinking to mend. If it requires atheists to act slightly christian, then so be it.

So far, I truly believe the Obama administration has been:
Honest, open, transparent, genuine, intelligent, confident and informative.

They've displayed all of the above whilst not being paranoid, egotistical, arrogant, brash, overly secretive, petulant, obtuse and ignorant. For the first time since Kennedy, the US seems to have a president with the best interests of the country and its people at the forefront of his policies.

I agree I could be totally wrong but I need to stay optimistic. The last eight years were a complete disaster for the entire planet simply because an illiterate halfwit was voted in to the presidency of one country, twice...