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Barack Obama’s campaign has been outraised and outspent by Gov. Mitt Romney’s GOP machine during several reporting periods already, and surveys show that the Democrat’s supporters are much less excited about his candidacy this year than they were in 2008. That means they’re less likely to work at getting out the vote.
Now, the tremors underneath Obama’s hopes for the 2012 election have expanded even to a core constituency – the black community – with a coalition of pastors promising to raise opposition to Obama because of his endorsement of same-sex “marriage.”
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“We voted for Obama. We campaigned for Obama. But he has left our founding purposes,” Rev. William Owens Sr., the founder of the coalition of African American Pastors, told WND today.
“With all of the problems in America within the black community – education, jobs, business, the economy – with all of our problems, he chooses to get in front of same-sex marriage,” he continued. “That flies in the face of the African-American community.
“We feel betrayed.”
Owens’ comments come just a day after his organization, a “grass-roots movement of African-American Christians who believe in traditional family values such as supporting the role of religion in American public life, protecting the lives of the unborn, and defending the sacred institute of marriage,” held a news conference.
At the Washington event, CAAP leaders issued a statement in which they “responded strongly to President Obama’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage.”
“We cannot and will not remain silent while marriage, the most fundamental institution in our and any nation, is undermined by our own president while using Christian language and relating it to civil rights. We stood, marched and fought against racial discrimination as legally and morally evil. It is a violation of the first principles of our faith that God created all men in His image, and the first principles of our nation that recognized that all men are created equal,” the statement said.
“For activists, politicians and now the highest office in the nation to link sexual behavior God calls sin to the righteous cause Martin Luther King gave his life for is abominable in and of itself. There is no civil right to do what God calls wrong.”
The statement continued: “Marriage between one man and one woman was created and ordained by God, is the only stable union in which women are protected and cared for, in which children are born, reared and nurtured in safety, and upon which the very stability of our society rests. The propaganda spun by moral anarchists who have taught our youth that sex is for entertainment and marital commitment is optional has brought death, chaos, poverty and great harm to our community for decades.
“The hijacking of the civil rights movement by homosexuals, bisexuals and gender-confused people must and will stop. There is no legitimate comparison between skin color and sexual behavior. In addition, the high cost of achieving racial parity by ours and previous generations demands that we speak out against President Obama’s support for this destructive agenda. Our God requires it, our nation needs it and our people deserve it.
“We will stand in our pulpits, stand in the streets, stand in the chambers of policymaking and stand at the ballot box for those who are for God’s design of marriage and family. We, like Martin Luther in his crucible hour, can only say, ‘Here we stand, we can do no other.’ This fight for marriage, family and the very existence of a moral order has just begun.”
Among those joining the action are Bishop George D. McKinney, general board member of the Church of God in Christ and senior pastor of St.Stephens Cathedral in San Diego, Calif.; Bishop Felton Smith, senior pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Nashville, Tenn.; Bishop Ed Stephens, Jr., senior pastor of Golden Gate Cathedral in Memphis; Bishop James H. Gaylord, senior pastor of Kelly Temple in Harlem, N.Y.; Dwight Montgomery, pastor of Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church, Memphis; Chuck Singleton, senior pastor of Loveland Church in Ontario, Calif.; Bishop Robert Jefferson, senior pastor of Cullen Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas; Bishop Janice Hollis, presiding prelate of the Covenant International Fellowship of Churches; and Owens, Sr., founder and president, Coalition of African American Pastors, Memphis.
Owens said he intends that the campaign will make a difference in the presidential race by making members of the black community aware of how Obama’s view conflicts with the standards in the community.
“The black community has spoken very loudly. In every state [where there have been votes on same-sex "marriage"] … in not one state did the black Americans vote for same-sex marriage. Overwhelmingly they are against same-sex marriage. We resent the president coming out [with something that is ] not the will of the people. He’s in the most powerful position to endorse it. It means a lot to people.”
Asked about the GOP candidate, Romney, Owens said: “He’s not the president. When he becomes president [we may criticize him]. We’re dealing with the person who now is the president.”
The CAAP statement was released just hours after the Democratic Party announced its 2012 platform would endorse same-sex marriage.
A recent poll said African Americans oppose homosexual “marriage” 55 percent to 41 percent, an opposition level well above that of other constituencies.
It was in 2008 when some 95 percent of the African American voters supported Obama.
But a recent Public Policy Polling survey said Romney would collect 20 percent of the black vote this year in North Carolina, a sea change from the 2008 result.
The report noted: “All of Obama’s numbers with African Americans are sliding. His approval rating is down from 86 percent to 77 percent. Romney’s favorability, meanwhile, has doubled from 9 percent to 18 percent.”
