Obama and the "Christian Nation" Quote - https://www.factcheck.org/2008/08/obama-and-the-christian-nation-quote/

Q: Did Obama say we "are no longer a Christian nation"?

A: He said we are no longer "just" a Christian nation, but a nation of many other faiths as well. A chain e-mail drops that key word and thus changes the meaning.

FULL QUESTION

Is this true? It is now traveling around the Internet.

U. S. 'no longer a Christian Nation'

As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride…'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a Nation of Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, . .' [EET ] As with so many other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that from a presidential candidate in this nation. To think our forefathers fought and died for the right for our nation to be a Christian Nation–and to have this man say with pride that we are no longer that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers intended it to be. I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now–send your concerns, written simply and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation! [/EET]

FULL ANSWER

Obama, June 28, 2006 (prepared remarks): Given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

That quote appears also on Obama's campaign Web site. Unfortunately for Obama, he stumbled just a bit when he delivered the actual quote, as can be seen in this video of his speech, posted on YouTube by the Obama campaign. The way it actually came out was:

Obama, June 28, 2006 (as delivered): Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation – at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

[edited for space limitations - go to URL above]

The second version, supposedly from another person in another state, appeared Aug. 3 in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Calif. In this version the writer tells of watching the news program alone, not with a spouse, but otherwise it contains strikingly similar wording. It begins:

California Letter to the Editor, Aug. 3: As I was listening to a news program recently, I was horrified when Barack Obama said with pride, "We are no longer a Christian nation. We are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists." I never thought I'd see the day when I'd hear something like that from a presidential candidate in this nation.

Public relations campaigns in which boilerplate letters are sent to editors around the country, hoping to get them printed, have been a staple of persuasion campaigns for generations. The Internet has provided a new avenue for such organized efforts. If this is one such effort, it has succeeded. An Internet search for the words "Obama says U.S. no longer a Christian nation" brings up page after page of blog entries and other Web postings repeating the altered Obama quote, without the word "just." And if this is the centrally organized effort that it appears to be, we would like to remind its supposedly Christian organizers of the Ninth Commandment: "Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour." Words to live by

-Brooks Jackson

Obama, Barack. “ ‘Call to Renewal’ Keynote Address.” Obama.senate.gov. Washington, D.C., 28 June 2006.

Obama, Barack. “ ‘Call to Renewal’ Keynote Address.” YouTube. Washington, D.C., 28 June 2006.