Barack Obama Campaign Puts Out Faith Merchandise Despite Abortion Support
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 16, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Barack Obama couldn’t be further away from the Christian position on abortion, yet his campaign is rolling out new "faith merchandise" targeting Catholic and evangelical voters. However, pro-life advocates say a bumper sticker with a Christian message won’t be enough to persuade voters.
The Obama campaign announced the new merchandise in an email to the BeliefNet web site.
The merchandise makes Obama look as if he is moderate on issues that are of concern to Christians, like opposing abortion, even though he backs unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy and financed with taxpayer dollars.
“Check out the Believers for Barack, Pro-Family Pro-Obama, and Catholics for Obama buttons, bumper stickers and signs," Obama Deputy Director of Religious Affairs Paul Monteiro says.
“Believers for Barack rally signs and bumper stickers, along with all Pro-Family Pro-Obama merchandise, are appropriate for people of all faith backgrounds," he adds. "We’ll soon be rolling out merchandise for other religious groups and denominations, but I wanted to get this out to you without delay."
"Clergy for Change" and "Pro-Israel Pro-Obama" merchandise will soon be offered.
Obama’s attempt to appeal to Catholic and evangelical voters goes back to January, when he told Christianity Today magazine he wants to do more than previous Democratic candidates in pursuing evangelical voters.
But when told his pro-abortion views are a turnoff to pro-life advocates, Obama was unapologetic in his defense of unlimited abortion.
He said part of his job as a presidential candidate is to "reach out" to evangelical voters.
"Evangelicals have come to believe oftentimes that Democrats are anti-faith," Obama said in the interview. "Hopefully we can build some bridges that can allow us to move the country forward."
CT editors told Obama that, "For many evangelicals, abortion is a key, if not the key factor in their vote."
"You voted against banning partial birth abortion and voted against notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. What role do you think the President should play in creating national abortion policies?" they asked the Illinois senator.
"I don’t know anybody who is pro-abortion. I think it’s very important to start with that premise," Obama responded.
In his next breath, he did just that by promoting legalized abortion.
"Ultimately, women are in the best position to make a decision at the end of the day about these issues," he said.
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