At a news conference in Turkey several days ago President Obama declared:
We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.
I agree with the essential truth of this assertion, although Obama’s oddly awkward phrasing (where’s the teleprompter when it’s really needed?) clouds that truth with a demonstrable untruth: contrary to Obama, most Americans do in fact consider the United States to be “a Christian nation” (71% according to this recent Pew poll).
My problem with Obama’s statement is that he and his party oppose, and miss no opportunity to undermine, a core value that would be at the top of nearly every American’s “set of values” that bind us together as a nation: the belief that every American has a right to be treated by the state without regard to race, creed, or color.
