Bill Clinton: Hillary lives by her Christian faith

[left-of-center2012]

Days before the Iowa caucuses, Bill Clinton is making sure the electorate, many of whom are evangelical Christians, knows that Hillary lives by her Christian faith.
... explaining that the best way to understand his wife Hillary Clinton is through her Methodist Christian faith.
"It took my breath away when I realized 45 years ago that is really what motivates her … That is what she has lived by."

In a piece published by The Christian Post last September, Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy:
"To my knowledge, Hillary has not been a regular church goer since leaving the White House 14 years ago.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/bill-clinton-hillary-christian-faith-156190/#bL4oYQCK1872jIO9.99

(Is this the Clinton way of saying: "Hey! Sanders's not a Christian.&quot

[TwilightGardener]

1. Who believes this steaming pile?

[yeoman6987]

29. I don't but if a few do in Iowa that's what counts.

[FreakinDJ]

77. "steaming pile" - snark snark

[CorporatistNation]

98. Lasyt Ditch Pitch... UF Believable!

This guy should talk... When is the last time either one of them went to church... Oh she does it on line every Sunday... John Hagey out of Texas perhaps... "The Lord wants Tax Cuts!"

[reformist2]

103. Here's Hillary being religious.

[immoderate]

2. AFAIAC, this disqualifies her.

--imm

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Wouldn't opposing a person's candidacy...

Wouldn't opposing a person's candidacy because of his or religion be tantamount to opposing him or her for lack of one?

[immoderate]

17. There must be some level on which you consider a person's beliefs when you judge their fitness

for the job. I really don't like what I know of Hillary's religious creepiness. Religion is irrational.

--imm

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. She doesn't seem to share her beliefs , any more or less, than your typical pol.

IMHO, I think this is just another example of Hillary Clinton being held to a different standard. Our current president isn't reluctant to talk about his faith as were many of his predecessors.

[immoderate]

30. Admittedly her neocon tendencies bother me more, but she has a long history

with a Washington prayer group that is quite reactionary. If you don't know about it I can probably find a link.

--imm

[dsc]

32. yes people like Martin Luther King Jr, and William Barber would be so much worse than Donald Trump

[immoderate]

43. Martin Luther King Jr, and William Barber are not seeking the presidency.

They may be disqualified as well. IMO.

--imm

[hobbit709]

3. You don't hear Jimmy Carter talking about how good of a Christian he is-he just does it.

[dsc]

36. actually he talks about his faith rather regularly

and it wasn't Hillary talking it was Bill, I would bet Carter's wife has talked about his faith on more than one occasion.

[hobbit709]

38. He doesn't talk about how good of a christian he is.

[cali]

4. Trying to be everything to everybody

[Le Taz Hot]

5. I'm gonna throw up.

[restorefreedom]

50. use your bucket!

[Punkingal]

6. Too bad she didn't convert him....

[pandr32]

54. What is that supposed to mean?

[mmonk]

8. Yes

[earthside]

9. Against the TPP ...

... lives by her Christian faith ... and the check is in the mail.

And Hillarians wonder why so many people are cynical about Mrs. Clinton.

I don't think this is a retort to Sanders, I think this is pandering pure and simple.

I'm also a bit surprised at how ineffective Bill Clinton has become as a surrogate; nothing lasts forever and I think even his days as a persuasive politician may be fading.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. I called it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511057838#post2

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511057728#post3

[Ron Green]

11. "As the wind blows, so shall ye proceed."

The Church of the Iron Rooster

[Nanjeanne]

12. That's what the Republican candidates say too

But I won't hold that against her. I prefer looking at her stances on policies.

[farleftlib]

13. "We came, we saw, he died. cackle cackle chortle."

Benghazi, Iraq, Libya, Syria.

Matthew 7:15-17
You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit."

[onecaliberal]

14. Thou shall not kill.

How many deaths is she responsible for?

[saltpoint]

15. Her Christian faith? Maybe they

meant 'demographic pandering proclivity.'

So yeah. Likely a typo.

[Metric System]

16. Hillary has always openly discussed her Methodist faith.

[DURHAM D]

23. Yes she has.

And, it has never offended me as she lives her life by the social gospel. If you don't know that you are just not paying attention.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. As a lapsed Baptist I tried to get my minister to emphasize the social gospel to no avail./nt

[Thinkingabout]

105. She has talked about her faith from her heart.

[PoliticAverse]

18. Hillary Clinton: "the Bible was and remains the biggest influence on my thinking"

If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?

At the risk of appearing predictable, the Bible was and remains the biggest influence on my thinking. I was raised reading it, memorizing passages from it and being guided by it. I still find it a source of wisdom, comfort and encouragement.

From June 11, 2014:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/books/review/hillary-rodham-clinton-by-the-book.html?ref=review&_r=1

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. I ask myself WWJD

I don't have much money myself ...There is a McDonalds by my home...It seems they are magnets for homeless people. I often see a homeless person and ask myself What Would Jesus Do? and buy them lunch.

My girlfriend gives ten percent of her salary to charity. If you ask her why she will tell you that is what her faith instructs her to do


I don't believe faith is a bad thing.

[pangaia]

33. Do you mean your girlfriend needs something called "faith"

to tell her to act kindly to another human being?

[dsc]

39. yeah just like Martin Luther King did

[pangaia]

41. jesus. that is stupid.

Do you really think MLK needed some voice in the sky to tell him what was right and wrong?

[saltpoint]

42. Excellent point. It would appear that

King would know the right thing to do no matter what religious affiliation he claimed, or even if he claimed none at all.

"It says in the Bible I'm supposed to do charitable things, so I do them." Jesus. That doesn't sound very thoughtful to me.

[pangaia]

56. Does Bernie Sanders need 'god', or 'jesus' or sakyamuni

to tell him what is right and wrong?

I don't think so.

[saltpoint]

61. I'm thinking the same, pangaia.

Seems like he knows right from wrong without a formal affiliation.

Must have been some thousands of thousands of people pre-year 1 who knew right from wrong as well. Probably a stew of different religious notions and cultures and traditions, including none at all, and I'm guessing they mostly knew how to treat other people.

God I am just puking over Hillary's pandering. She needs to hire somebody with a far better ear for contemporary reality than she has. I honor anybody with a degree representing academic achievement, no matter who it is or where they are. But once in while, in Hillary's case, the old Goldwater Girl re-emerges.

[pangaia]

65. I agree with all except...

" She needs to hire somebody with a far better ear for contemporary reality than she has."

That would just be better marketing. LYING, DISTORTING, TWISTING.
What she needs, in my view, is to tell the truth - to herself, about herself, and to others.

She is a manipulator and, as you so rightly say, a panderer, as are 99.9 % of politicians.

BERNIE is one of the very, very few who is different...

[saltpoint]

73. pangaia, you hit on a huge vein running

through U.S. history -- how politicians gain and hold power and what Power means to an individual human.

I think Sanders is himself up there speaking to those large & enthusiastic audiences. If he is without many natural advantages Hillary has, Bernie is getting through with that authenticity. His approval ratings back this up. (Her approval ratings also back this up, as they're far lower.)

I think of John Kennedy. He was able to read Sorenson's language because it was not language unfamiliar to his own ears or heart. Reagan's handlers made him a political profile but long before the dementia diagnosis, Ronald Reagan was imbecilic. He seemed to have no idea at all what the words coming out of his mouth meant. He understood only that he was supposed to say them with conviction while the media noted the Statue of Liberty in the background. Kennedy viscerally understood the language, had heard it in his classical education courses, used it himself with diverse minds he and Jackie invited to the White House.

Hillary has none of that. It wounds her among true progressives. I wonder through the weeks and months of this campaign what Elizabeth Warren must be thinking. I would have loved to have her more front and center in the party's machinations.

[pangaia]

83. So well expressed, and with such perceptive historical references.

I went to JFK's funeral. I was 20.

Bernie is so rare because he is just being himself. Whether he writes his speeches, someone else, a combination, it is still him being genuine.

And people criticize him for constantly 'harping' on wealth inequality and money in politics. Over and over and over. Even I was starting to wish he would move farther afield. ( He does of course...) BUT, he knows like a laser that those two facts are perhaps the main reason everything else is so screwed up. Nobody can or will tell the truth.

And yes, what in the world must Warren be thinking about it all.

[uppityperson]

87. Being a good person? Humanity? Empathy? Altruism?

[uppityperson]

91. What an odd answer. All empathy does it "make people weak"? You poor person

I feel sorry for you if the only reason you do anything good is to gain something.

Doing something so someone else feels better or to decrease their suffering is "weak" because you personally gain nothing? Understanding other people's problems is "weak"?

I guess you think MLKjr a weak fool then?

[uppityperson]

93. Well, I feel for you. You don't "reward" others with empathy, it is what you feel within

yourself, not to reward someone. I feel for you that you are unable to understand simple decency for its own sake.

[uppityperson]

96. I have no faith, but am continuing to talk with you and feel for you because I am a good person

So no, we don't need faith. I feel for you because of who I am. I have no "faith" in you or any sort of higher power, god, or any sort of outcome.

I am sorry that you are unable to understand altruism.

[virtualobserver]

78. using "faith" for political gain is a bad thing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

79. Who is doing that?/nt

[virtualobserver]

80. why do you think that Bill is talking to these people?

This is a backdoor Jesus endorsement.

It is tiresome enough, listening to Republicans pander in this way.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

85. I don't believe faith should be excluded from the public square, as long as it is inclusive./nt

[virtualobserver]

88. when politicians talk about faith that is all that they do...it is always a red flag

hanging out with the right wingers in "the family" tells me even more about her "faith" than Bill's heavy handed pandering.

[DURHAM D]

19. I had lunch with two Methodists on Wednesday.

We got to talking about the upcoming primary and I quoted this -

"...we should do all that we can, in whatever ways we can, for all the people we can, for as long as we can"

I asked them who said it. They both responded it was probably John Wesley? I told them they were right but Hillary had quoted John at a recent town hall when she was asked about her faith. I added that she has lived it all of her life. We discussed her, John, and living by the social gospel for awhile.

Anyway, they arrived at lunch uncommitted and left as Hillary supporters.

John Wesley's full quote -

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."

jftr - I am agnostic but ethnic Methodist.

[retrowire]

81. If she had really done that...

-Then she wouldn't be against legalization, which is only going to aid the school to prison pipeline for black youth and help out her private prison business partners.

-Then she wouldn't have ever supported DOMA.

-Then she wouldn't be so adamantly against Universal Healthcare.

-Then she wouldn't support the death penalty.

And honestly, she's damned if she does or doesn't about DOMA.

Supports it? Then she's for her faith and against the people.

Against it? Then she's for the people and against her faith.

Religion is slippery. She seems genuine at times, but... Too slow to make the right decision. Like the war in Iraq.

[panader0]

99. Just curious--what is an ethnic Methodist?

[7wo7rees]

21. BS! The Methodist Church came out against Iraq!!

[Qutzupalotl]

44. An excellent point.

If her faith truly informed her decisions, where was it when life and death literally hung in the balance?

It would seem that her political life is more important than 100,000 Iraqis.

[DURHAM D]

112. They don't have a supreme leader or Pope. nt

[left-of-center2012]

22. Her faith is why she's running for President

There was the rally in Indianola, Iowa, where Hillary Clinton told a crowd that it was the teachings of John Wesley, a founder of the Methodist religion, that had inspired her to seek the presidency.

“I am a person of faith. I am a Christian. I am a Methodist,” she said. “My study of the Bible, my many conversations with people of faith, has led me to believe the most important commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/us/politics/some-in-iowa-surprised-by-hillary-clintons-ease-with-faith.html

[saltpoint]

26. She's but a humble servant of the Lord,

striving in all daily acts to replicate his quietude, pursuing the contemplative path through the dark wilderness...

Dear god I'm tearing up at her reverence for Christ's teachings...

[restorefreedom]

52. here ya go....

[saltpoint]

55. LOL. Thank you! I just can't

help but well up with tears when Hillary whips out her Methodist faith.

[restorefreedom]

58. its overwhelming, isn't it? the hearftfelt pander...er, emotion...... nt

[saltpoint]

64. : ) Yep. She has every advantage in this

campaign going on and from the onset. She doesn't need to drag in the Methodist Church as well.

Heard an interesting quotation once: "Methodists are Baptists who can read."

[restorefreedom]

67. lol. all the pandering in the world won't save her this time, imo. nt

[mikehiggins]

101. So that's why she supports cluster bombs?

Makes sense to me.

Not.

[restorefreedom]

25. uuummm, guys....

doesn't the evangelical crowd vote overwhelmingly republican, making this issue relatively moot in a dem primary?


"At the other end of the political spectrum, nearly eight-in-ten white evangelical Protestants voted for Romney (79%), compared with 20% who backed Obama."

from pew forum

[DefenseLawyer]

35. It's his way of pointing out the Senator Sanders isn't a Christian

Much less a "man of faith". If he wins Iowa they will flat out call him a "godless communist".

[restorefreedom]

45. ahhhhh..now we have moved into the faith smearing part of the campaign

wow those clintons are just a class act all the way......

[firebrand80]

59. Black vote nt

[restorefreedom]

68. i would guess, though, that with abortion not an issue, aa voters

have a variety of issues they prioritize unlike evangelical "prolife" republicans who are basically one issue voters.

[firebrand80]

71. True to an extent, but

many older AA are quite socially conservative on a range of issues. GWB had a moderately successful effort to reach out to those voters.

[restorefreedom]

72. hmm .i think the article i linked to said something about aa evangelicals going big for obama

the white ones went romney.

but without an aa candidate, i wonder how that could change things

of course, theres always carson..

[firebrand80]

75. They're going to default to Hillary IMO

Sanders doesn't seem to be making inroads

[Betty Karlson]

28. is that the same faith that told her to oppose my wedding until 2013?

Because that faith was EVIL!

[DefenseLawyer]

31. The late Paul Tsongas

Didn't call him "Pander Bear" for nothing.

[SMC22307]

108. Ha, "pander" is what I thought of first; "Pander Bear" is even better. (n/t)

[99Forever]

34. Which book of the bible did this holy line come from:

"We came, we saw, he died?"

Which nation full of brown people would Jesus cluster bomb?

Shall we go into what the bible had to say about the rich?

"Christian faith," my ass.

[hobbit709]

47. Let's not forget what Jesus did to the bankers of his day.

[restorefreedom]

49. oh yes, lets!

i'll start

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” [1 John 3:17 KJV]
1 john 3:17 kjv

[tk2kewl]

37. I think it's a bit rougher than "Hey! Sanders's not a Christian."

but i won't type what i think is implied except to say it probably contains a three letter word and maybe "commie" as well

[mikehiggins]

40. Nothing anti-Semetic in that, nope, not at all. Move along folks, nothing to see here. eom

[Mnemosyne]

46. The Family. nt

[CharlotteVale]

48. Pander, pander, desperately pander.

It took his breath away? Seriously?

[virtualobserver]

66. absolutely nauseating.....he is now the Jimmy Swaggart of politics.

[Kall]

53. She seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way

vis a vis the "not bearing false witness" thing, as she was making up stories like being under sniper fire in Bosnia.

[backscatter712]

57. Does she still pal around with Doug Coe and The Family?

Not sure I want a fundy in the White House...

[Scootaloo]

60. I'm not sure who he thinks he's playing for.

The people who most care whether a politician is a "good christian" or not are the right-wing evangelicals. Not a one of them is going to believe Bill Clinton about anything, much less Hillary Clinton's overwhelming piety. When you're hearing ads that ted Cruz doesn't tithe enough, you have to understand that this is a lost cause.

And it's not much of a benefit for Democratic Christians, either, who tend to strongly support a separation of church and state. Crowing that Hillary Clinton "Lives by her christian faith" just raises doubts on that important issue, and brings some really ugly comparisons between Christian teaching and Hillary Clinton's political record. I do not think Yeshua ben Yoseph would sell cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia.

[DefenseLawyer]

63. Because saying "Cough cough Jew cough cough"

Might get more backlash

[jillan]

62. As opposed to her opponent - that Jew?! Wow! Why else would they bring this up?

After hearing her supporters refer to her opponent as "that socialist Jew from New York named Beeernieee"....

How low can they go?!

[cherokeeprogressive]

69. So Bill's panderligious too...

Who knew?

[SheilaT]

70. So which part of the Commandment

that says something about not killing isn't part of her faith?

I keep on being blown away by self-avowed "Christians" who support the death penalty and cheerfully bomb civilians in far off countries.

[Dems to Win]

74. I cringe when Bill fawns over Hillary

All this 'took my breath away' and talking about when he fell in love with her.... just yuck. All I can think of his is philandering and wondering why Hillary puts up with it.

There may be good reasons to elect her as president (I will vote for her if she's the nominee) but the Great Love Story of Bill and Hillary sure isn't one of them.

[Faux pas]

76. Huffing and Puffing

and blaring the DOG WHISTLE. could have a lower opinion of the clintons if I lived to be 150.

[JRLeft]

82. No one lives by the Bible ever! Guaranteed most people haven't

read it from cover to cover.

[snagglepuss]

84. "Hillary has not been a regular church goer since leaving the White House 14 yrs ago"

Hey Willy her not attending church is her not living by her faith.

[2pooped2pop]

86. Lol who on here was the one to say "you'll know there are really scared when they start using Christ

Christianity against the athiest Jew". More or less anyway but spot on whoever you are.

[frylock]

89. God hates war and God hates crime..

But He really hates people
Who color outside the lines

[JRLeft]

95. God hates war and crime?

[Cheese Sandwich]

100. This will only reinforce the perception that she's a totally phony pandering politician

[Odin2005]

102. Horseshit.

[DefenseLawyer]

104. And Barack Obama is not a Muslim "as far as I know"

Blind ambition is a powerful thing.

[left-of-center2012]

106. Her campaign breaks the Ten Commandements daily

Exodus 20:16* “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

They lie about Bernie all the time.
i.e. "He'll destroy Medicare, Medicaid, etc ..."

*As Trump would call it, "Exodus two-zero, one-six"

[Nanjeanne]

107. All I can say to that is

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[ecstatic]

109. You guys are REALLY over thinking this.

Just take it at face value.

You're not doing Bernie any favors with this: A thread filled with people attacking Hillary, attacking Christians, not to mention extreme (and unwarranted) paranoia.

Just stop.

[left-of-center2012]

111. "A thread filled with people attacking Hillary"

Well, we just can't have that!
Clinton supporters never attack Bernie or Bernie supporters.

[jwirr]

110. That is not comforting to me. When she and Bill were in the

WH she attended prayer meetings with The Family a very rw conservative group.