Obama Doesn't Mention God Enough, Says Prayer Caucus
Religious lawmakers say the president intentionally omits talk of God.
Dec. 9, 2010— -- President Obama doesn't mention God frequently enough in his speeches, a group of religious House Republicans said in an open letter to the president, chastising him for skipping over mention of the "Creator," especially in a recent overseas address.
Forty-two members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus complained in a letter sent to the White House Monday that in a speech delivered last month in Indonesia, the president substituted the U.S.'s religious-themed national motto for a more secular alternative.
The letter suggests the speech was not an isolated incident but part of a series of remarks that "establishes a pattern" of the president intentionally excluding talk of God from his public remarks.
In a Nov. 10 speech at the University of Jakarta, Obama compared the diversity of Indonesia with that of the United States, saying, "In the United States, our motto is 'E pluribus unum' -- out of many, one."
The president was wrong. Though "E pluribus unum" appears on the Great Seal of the United States and was for centuries an unofficial motto, in 1956 Congress established "In God We Trust" as the official motto.
In addition to the misstep in Indonesia, the caucus, which includes arch-partisan Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn, accuses the president of intentionally editing God out of other recent speeches, too.
"Additionally, during three separate events this fall, when quoting from the Declaration of Independence, you mentioned we have inalienable rights, but consistently failed to mention the source of those rights. The Declaration of Independence definitively recognizes God, our Creator, as the source of our rights. Omitting the word 'Creator' once was a mistake, but twice establishes a pattern," reads the letter.
The prayer caucus members who signed the letter, however, neglected to mention that in the Indonesia speech, Obama mentioned God four times.
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