Very powerful speech. It seems to be a very a-religious speech. My impression from it, unless I'm reading too much into it, is that Obama doesn't literally believe the Bible, but feels people unite under some of its powerful stories to find inspiration and move forward towards improving their lives.
I don't think the Bible as a whole is inspirational (far from it), but there are admittedly some good stories in it here and there. If all people could only view religion as Obama seems to in this speech, then the world would be a much better place.
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."
I thought it was a very good and powerful speech! I heard everyone talking about it and i had to see what all the fuss was about. Well i am impressed and it was worth the whole entire time it took. The things he said about racism and how we can change as a nation were so on the money. I hope a lot of people look at this speech and take it into consideration. I do agree with you that he looks at religion in different way, and its very inspirational. Way to go Obama.
2 comments:
Very powerful speech. It seems to be a very a-religious speech. My impression from it, unless I'm reading too much into it, is that Obama doesn't literally believe the Bible, but feels people unite under some of its powerful stories to find inspiration and move forward towards improving their lives.
I don't think the Bible as a whole is inspirational (far from it), but there are admittedly some good stories in it here and there. If all people could only view religion as Obama seems to in this speech, then the world would be a much better place.
"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."
I thought it was a very good and powerful speech! I heard everyone talking about it and i had to see what all the fuss was about. Well i am impressed and it was worth the whole entire time it took. The things he said about racism and how we can change as a nation were so on the money. I hope a lot of people look at this speech and take it into consideration. I do agree with you that he looks at religion in different way, and its very inspirational. Way to go Obama.
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