Ben Carson’s Heresy in the Church of Obama

Kengor_Catholic_Ben Carson_021213

Dr. Ben Carson

Dr. Ben Carson

The liberal media is apoplectic over remarks made by Dr. Ben Carson at the National Prayer Breakfast. Carson, a prominent pediatric surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, dared to weigh in on healthcare reform—something he knows something about. Actually, Carson’s true crime was that he dared to disagree with Obama on healthcare reform, and in front of Obama.

For liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans are never permitted to use their faith to disagree with liberal Democrats; no, only liberal Democrats are permitted to invoke their faith in support of their policies. I could give a thousand examples to illustrate the point, but consider just a few:

From the literal first year of Obama’s presidency, the Religious Left incessantly claimed God’s support on behalf of Obama-care.

In August 2009, Obama addressed 140,000 Religious Left individuals via a huge conference call. Obama told them he needed their help in passing healthcare. Obama penitently invoked a period of “40 Days,” lifting up the brethren, assuring them, “We are God’s partner in matters of life and death.”

Like a great commissioning, in the 40 Days that followed the Religious Left was filled with the spirit, pushing for—among other things—abortion funding as part of an eternally widening “social justice” agenda.

A group of 59 leftist nuns (remember them?) sent Congress a letter urging passage of the healthcare bill, in direct defiance of the USCCB.

The nuns’ brazenness was outdone only by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who, in March 2010, invoked the Solemnity of the Feast of St. Joseph on behalf of the healthcare bill. She urged American Catholics to “pray to St. Joseph”—earthly guardian of the unborn son of God.

And then came the coup de grace from Obama, who, in no less than the National Prayer Breakfast two years ago, February 3, 2011, invoked the Bible on behalf of healthcare reform.

Yes, Barack Obama, likewise at the National Prayer Breakfast, had invoked his faith on behalf of healthcare reform. Just like Dr. Ben Carson.

Question: Why is Carson’s action deemed inappropriate and out of bounds, but Obama’s is not?

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Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values. His books include “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” and “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”

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