Obama Makes Final Appeal to Religious Voters
President Barack Obama, who has professed his faith in Jesus Christ numerous times, is making one final push before Election Day to appeal to American's religious voters with a video focused on his beliefs and values, which he says guide him in every decision-making process as a leader.
The video, titled "President Barack Obama is Leading With Faith Values" features a number of clips of Obama throughout the years talking about the way faith motivates and inspires his leadership of America, and features several religious scholars and theologians highlighting the ways his Christian faith has inspired him.
"In my moments of prayer, I'm reminded that faith and values play an enormous role in motivating us to solve some of our most urgent problems," Obama's first message in the video, spoken at a campaign rally, begins.
"I believe in a country that rewards hard work and responsibility, a country where we look after one another, a country where I say I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper," he adds.
Obama talks about two of his most important decisions as president – his vision of health care in the U.S., dubbed Obamacare, which many conservatives are opposed to, and his decision to bail out auto businesses when they faced the risk of being shut down. The president says that both of these decisions were motivated from the core values that stem from his faith, mainly to look after people who are sick, and to protect jobs and families.
"When I talk about making sure insurance companies don't discriminate against those who are already sick, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the country stronger for everybody, but I also do it because I believe in God's command to love thy neighbor as yourself," Obama explains.
"This country succeeds when everyone gets the same shot. When everyone does their fair share. When everyone plays by the same rules."
Some of the religious voices in the video praising Obama point out the ways in which the president is inspired by the Bible in his decisions.
"President Barack Obama is leading with faith values," says Bishop Vashti McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. "We who are strong are obligated to take care of the least, the left, and the left-out among us."
Stephen Schneck, Ph.D, Director of the Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies, says: "This is a man of deep Christian faith that has a real sense of the common good. The Bible tells us that to whom much is given, much is expected."
He also says in the video that the president has proven that he takes care of people of all faiths and religious backgrounds in America, which stands at the very core of what the country is all about.
"This is a president who reaches out to people of all faiths. From Muslims to Buddhists and every Christian denomination. We need a president with arms reaching out in that kind of interfaith way," adds Schneck.
Both President Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney have promised to protect religious freedom and lead with a sense of faith and purpose, as discussed in a report by The Christian Post focused on each of the candidate's campaign promises.