All morning, CDA has been inundated on Twitter, Facebook and emails that President Obama has apologized to radical muslims instead of standing up strong for the U.S. Ambassador and others who were killed. We heard The President said that he “condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims…” and that instead of standing up for America, he has simply apologized that Muslims were offended. This is not the first time the President has been thus accused, without merit, but this time it was actually repeated by Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, who said this morning before America that President Obama had apologized and reflected on Obama as a weak leader.

We are here to set some facts straight so that you, our CDA community, know how to respond.

The statement running rampant across the internet today, and showing up in Romney’s speech before America, was not even a statement from President Obama in the first place, but from the embassy in Cairo, before the attacks even occurred. The President actually said,

“While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants” 

“I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi,” Obama said in the statement. The four Americans, he said, “exemplified America’s commitment to freedom, justice, and partnership with nations and people around the globe.”

Of course we reject the kind of inflammatory content in this video and by extremists, some of whom have murdered Muslims here in our country! If the Obama Administration did NOT stand against these practices, we would be condoning our own religious terrorists right here in the US! Secretary Clinton eloquently said,

 “This was an attack by a small and savage group, not the government” or the people of Libya, saying it should “shock the conscience of people of all faiths around the world.”

“There is no justification for this, none,” she said. “Violence like this is no way to honor religions or faith, and as long as there are those who will take innocent lives in the name of God the world will never know true and everlasting peace.”

President Obama and Secretary Clinton have ordered stepped-up security at diplomatic installations around the world and in Libya and are taking immediate action to find those responsible for the attack.

We wanted to bring this lie immediately to your attention, as is it the perfect example of the constant radical right-wing media twisting statements to the American public. It is a dangerous thing to lie about the President’s responses when we are talking about terrorism and Americans were just murdered, as  it was an obscure film that was said to be condoned by the United States that incited the violence. It is equally astonishing  that a U.S. Presidential candidate would use the assassination of a US Ambassador as an opportunity to slam the President as weak and spread more contention in the press, not even citing any facts – yesterday and in his speech before America today.

Christian Democrats, we cannot stop the rampant spread of false press, misleading quotes, or keep so many from believing everything they hear, see and are sent through forwards on emails, but we can know the truth and speak it out, praying it will be heard. We also, as Christians, must make it clear that we stand against all forms of religious oppression, bullying and hatred. If we want freedom to worship, we must advocate for the freedom of others to worship as they choose.

Sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-statement-on-attack-on-libya-consulate/2012/09/12/2460a58c-fcd2-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/12/13820723-romney-slams-obama-over-attacks-on-us-officials-in-libya-egypt?chromedomain=worldnews

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/mitt-romney-assails-obama-anew-over-foreign-attacks-1.3994488

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/obama-speech-libya-attack_n_1877454.html

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/12/mitt%E2%80%99s_shameful_libya_statement/

…and any credible news source.