Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee speaks at the
Freedom Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, January 24, 2015.
Former Baptist pastor and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has
said that President Barack Obama has shown an "undying support" for
Muslims, while his actions are against Christians and Jews. Huckabee's
criticism stems from last week's National Prayer Breakfast, where Obama used
the Crusades as an example of Christians doing "terrible acts" in the
name of Christ.
"Everything he does is against what Christians stand
for, and he's against the Jews in Israel. The one group of people that can know
they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community. It
doesn't matter whether it's the radical Muslim community or the more moderate
Muslim community," Huckabee said on "Fox and Friends" on Monday.
Obama said in his speech on Thursday: "Unless we get on
our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that
during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the
name of Christ."
Obama has been criticized by a number of Christian leaders
for comparing the actions of terror group ISIS to the Crusades, with The
Catholic League's Bill Donohue pointing out that the comparison is inaccurate.
"The president should apologize for his insulting
comparison," Donohue said. "Obama's ignorance is astounding and his
comparison is pernicious." He added that the Crusades, which were
initiated by the Roman Catholic Church's Pope Urban II in 1095, were a "defensive
Christian reaction against Muslim madmen of the Middle Ages."
Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas
megachurch in Texas, added that Jesus would be incensed at Obama's comparison.
"I would imagine that Jesus would be outraged that the
president would willfully mischaracterize a movement like Christianity that
bears Christ's name," Jeffress asserted. "I believe that Jesus, who
said that it would be better to be cast into the sea than to harm a child,
would be incensed that Obama would dare link Christianity to ISIS, an
organization that tortures children, buries them alive and crucifies them. I
think he'd be outraged by it."
Obama spoke on a number of faith topics during the prayer
breakfast, and said that believers need to be humble and turn to God.
"Our job is not to ask that God respond to our notion
of truth. Our job is to be true to Him and His Word and His Commandments. We
should assume humbly that we are confused and don't always know what we're
doing, and we're staggering and stumbling toward Him and have some humility in
that process," the president said.
Obama has received praise from some other Christians, such
as pastor Saeed Abedini, who is imprisoned in Iran for his faith. After Obama
visited his wife and two children in Boise, Idaho, Abedini wrote the president
a letter to thank him for the gesture and inform him that his actions inspire
persecuted Christians around the world.
Abedini wrote: "They have had a heavy burden to carry
in my absence, and your presence helped to relieve some of that burden. ...
Thank you again for standing up for my family and I, and for thousands of
Christians across the world who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.
President Obama, you have my prayers from inside of these walls."
Obama mentioned the pastor's letter on Thursday, and said
that the U.S. will continue fighting for religious freedom rights, and will
"keep up this work for Abedini and all those around the world who are
unjustly held or persecuted because of their faith."
Credit to Stoyan Zaimov
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