I believe I’m on an assignment from God in this position.
I’ve, you know, been disobedient to God. . . . I’ve made some promise, and I’m getting a whupping for it.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
Detroit Free Press, Feb. 9, 2008
You and I know that if given the chance, men and women and children in every society on Earth will choose a life of freedom–if just given a chance. Unless, of course, you don’t believe freedom is a gift from the Almighty. The liberty we value is not ours alone. Freedom is not America’s gift to the world; it is God’s gift to all humanity.
Pres. George W. Bush
National Religious Broadcasters
2008 convention
Nashville, Tenn., March 11, 2008
I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel, and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society. . . .
From the dawn of the Republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator.
Pope Benedict XVI
Reply, South Lawn
April 16, 2008
Perhaps America’s brand of secularism poses a particular problem. It allows for professing belief in God and respects the public role of religion and the churches, but at the same time can subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common denominator.
The result is a growing separation of faith from life.
[Re: Roman Catholic scandal of pedophile priests, the Pope urged efforts to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores.”]What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?
We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults alike.
Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer service, Washington, D.C.
April 16, 2008
You have met a people of resonating faith who affirm that our nation was founded under God, who seek His purposes and bow to His will. You have seen a country where the torch of freedom, equality and tolerance will always be held high; a country where you, a herald of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, will always be welcome.
Vice President Dick Cheney
Farewell ceremony for pope
New York, April 20, 2008
What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous . . . it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists!
This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God. Get out of that seat. . . . You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.
State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago)
to a testifying atheist
Chicago Tribune, April 6, 2008
New York Times: What about your observation in a recent book that “most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews”?
John Hagee: What I was trying to express was the fact that Christian anti-Semitism–both Catholic and Protestant–contributed to an environment in which Nazi racial anti-Semitism could flourish.
Times: But why bring all of that up now?
Hagee: ‘Cause most of the world don’t know it. Christians don’t know it at all.
New York Times Magazine
March 23, 2008
I personally do not accept that there is a broad base of bishops who are guilty of aiding and abetting pedophiles, and if I thought there were, or knew of them, I would certainly talk to the pope about what could be done about it.
Cardinal William J. Levada
The New York Times
April 19, 2008
