Quote Originally Posted by IAmKowalski
Nope. Watched the video, and that's not what Obama said. Looking at Texas Grass's message, and that's not what he said either. So in anwer to your question.... Nope.

The cliff's notes of Obama's speech:

Democracy requires logical debate and logical decisions based on a plurality of beliefs. "Because my god says so" is not a rational argument, and is not acceptable to the democratic process.

In other words, it isn't a matter of whether someone is pushing their belief - no matter how many times a speaker brings up his god(s), he isn't going to suddenly make me start believing in his god(s). At most, it is just irritating - HOWEVER, if he uses his god(s) as a basis for policy discussion, if he uses his religious beliefs as a justification for legislation that effects us all - then we have a serious problem. We become a theocracy by proxy rather than a Democracy.

One's personal religious beliefs are a private matter, they have every right to practice and believe in any religion they want. However, when an elected official steps onto the floor of congress, they have a different roll. Their decisions, and their arguments should be confined to concrete reality, their goals should be for the best interest of their constituants both near and long term. Their positions must be backed by fact, and must stand logical analysis and debate - scripture cannot be debated, for those who believe in a religious edict, it is set in stone. For those that don't, it is irrelivant fantasy. Either way, it has no business being discussed in congress, and cannot be used as a basis for policy in a Democratic society.
Good summary and very well said! And I agree with this policy 100%.