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Subscribe to RSSCASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- Less than 48 hours before polls open on Election Day, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave a firm warning to a group of evangelical Christians Sunday night: President Barack Obama’s policies jeopardize Judeo-Christian values.
“And in these critical battleground states, it’s going to make the big difference as to whether or not people are worried about where America’s headed, worried about whether we’re going to reassert our Constitution, or whether or not we’re going to go down the path the president has put us on,” Ryan said speaking on a Faith and Freedom Coalition tele-townhall with thousands of voters across the country.
He continued, “It’s a dangerous path, it’s a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty, and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, western-civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.”
A Ryan campaign spokesman told NBC News about Ryan’s comments: "He was talking about issues like religious liberty and ObamaCare - topics he has mentioned frequently during the campaign."
Mitt Romney has also shared similar comments about Judeo-Christian values, such as during his commencement address at Liberty University in May 2012.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition is an influential evangelical grassroots organization headed by Ralph Reed. The tele-townhall tonight was only advised by the group and never by the Romney campaign. It was a call that had been re-scheduled at least once due to scheduling conflicts. Ryan fielded questions from several callers in between campaign rallies in Minnesota and Colorado.
Asked by a caller from Florida about how his faith has helped him as Romney’s running mate, Ryan said it “sustains” and “humbles” him.
“We [Ryan’s family] pray throughout the day. I keep a rosary in my pocket, whatever jacket I've got, and I'm given so many prayers from people,” the Wisconsin congressman said. “I'm one of those people who don't think you can separate your faith from your public life as an official from your private life. It informs you, it guides you, it makes you who you are, and it gives you great peace. First prayer I say every morning is the Serenity prayer.”
Ryan also noted he received an email from his pastor in Janesville, Wis. tonight with the words: “have no fear.” “And that's how the Lord sustains me. No fear,” Ryan added.
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The fundies have never been to keen on Mormonism. A lot of them will stay home rather than vote for a Bishop of the LDS Church.
Just Say No to theocracy with a big resounding NO to Romney and Ryan and the rest of the Republican retrogrades.
No — there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that blacks will vote Republican this year because they will NOT vote against Obama. They will instead sit home. "He didn't help me, so I ain't helping him!" is the motto this year. Count on black turnout to be at 2004 levels, not 2008 numbers the way the corrupt media is baking into all those polls that get conservatives worked up where they show Obama leading. Without blacks voting at 2008 numbers, Obama loses Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia with no hope of making up those numbers with other groups. It's as simple as that.
The main reason - the black churches have told their congregations they do not support Obama's anti christian views. Romney and Ryan believe in God, Obama only believes in himself!
Oh, go back into your stupid CAVE. Who TF are you to say who believes in God and who doesn't. Just like an uneducated Republican.. It's ok. Romney likes his supporters stupid as dirt. That's why he'll get rid of education department. And Public TV. That way you'll just belive anything that comes out his mouth because READING is just too hard.
Kiss my a!! granny. The religious right of this country still wields more power than the atheistic qualities that liberals believe. This country was founded on religious values, certainly not the values that Obamas preacher Jeremiah Wright believed in. Time to go change your depends!
Billy -- religious values yes but for you or yours that wish to abide by them. Others who do not should not be treated with distain! Separation of church from state has always been a good way to balance. What you believe in "your head" does not pertain to others' beliefs or non-beliefs if they so wish. If you are truly Christian, act like it.
Keep your religion out of my politics. Ryan you care what GOD thinks of you? Why do you lie like a rug. You & Romney are hypocites of worst kind.
Republican spend three hours a week in church and every other waking hour trying to screw their fellow man and break as many of their sacred 10 Commandments as possible. 'Judeo-Christian values'? They would know one if it bit them in the a**.
Unfortunately, the GOP tends to forget all the teachings of Christ. He said to care for the poor.
Just more scare tactics that is all. One should vote for the best for this country. What your religion is - is your business. If you are that religious, then you don't get an abortion or anything else that might be on the books. That being said, we are a country with various religious opinions and those those be kept for oneself or not.
What some clerics preach is their business, however, if they are going to delve into politics, then they should lose their "tax free" status.
The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom and openmindedness.
Question: Isn't the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? They refuse to tolerate it's importance in our lives.
Ronald Reagan
ronald reagan was an agnostic and his wife believed in taro cards to run the country
i will acknowledge that rr was shot in mar 1981 and what i say does not lessen the gravity of that sensless act. but being an agnostic he never wanted to attend church so he decided it was too dangerous for the people at his church for him to be in attendance so he never attended again. a real christian would have continued to go to church, since the likeliness of his being attacked again was really minimal. i am aware that billy graham did go to the white house on some sundays, but it really isnt the same.
As an Evangelical Christian, I object when Ryan and friends suggest that their values are in any way the same as mine. I believe I'm called to serve widows and orphans, welcome strangers, work for peace, speak the truth even when it hurts, care for creation, advocate for workers and stand against anyone who would exploit the poor or take advantage of those in need. I'm called to see that healing is available to everyone, and to make sure that those in prison are treated justly. The values Ryan demonstrates are antithetical to the good news of Jesus Christ.
As an Evangelical Christian, I object when Ryan and friends suggest that their values are in any way the same as mine. I believe I'm called to serve widows and orphans, welcome strangers, work for peace, speak the truth even when it hurts, care for creation, advocate for workers and stand against anyone who would exploit the poor or take advantage of those in need. I'm called to see that healing is available to everyone, and to make sure that those in prison are treated justly. The values Ryan demonstrates are antithetical to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Talk about a set of gonads has he ever looked at the core beliefs of his running mate? He often reminisces fondly of his grandparents in Mexico where his father was born however he fails to mention that his family wasn't just visiting but had emigrated to Mexico to practice polygamy. The only reason Mitt isn't a serial husband south of the border was a Mexican revolution in 1907 which drove the Mormons out of Mexico. His family lived there for forty five years happily practicing polygamy which is not any CHRISTIAN VALUE I have ever heard of. They believe that the trinity is false and that they are three separate flesh and blood entities with the father having impregnated Mary and fathered Jesus hence no virgin birth. Our lives are only a phase with us always having existed as spirit and then returned to spirit for an eternity spent in one of three or four existences. God was a man who lived on another planet before becoming God in our universe. Until 1978 Mormons believed that "Negroes" were decended from those angels who followed Satan and were cursed by God until the curse was lifted. After the resurrection Christ visited the US and that the bible and New Testament are incomplete without the Book of Mormon. God lives on or near the planet/star Kolob at the center of this universe. These don't even touch on the disappearing Golden Plates of Mormon revelation found in Palmyra NY where they were buried by Mormon and Maroni after the final battle between the Nephrites and the Laminites in 400 AD two groups of people no one else on earth have ever heard of are mentioned in no ancient texts no any existence of ever found . The angel Maroni showed Joseph Smith where they were buried and he translated them from "Reformed Egyptian", a written language seen nowhere else on earth, to English. Smith was a Scryer, a paid diviner of lost items and treasure a profession viewed as witchcraft by Christians.
These things make a dandy Battlestar Galactica episode but their relationship to Christianity escape somehow escape me.
jkh
I just hear Gloria Steinham speak about women's rights. It's extraordinary that we are fighting for the rights she fought for and won 50 years ago. Romney/Ryan and their party want to reverse those rights. I for one don't want any male Republican Congress telling me that I have no right to choices over my body. Remember Romney said he'd sign legislation to overturn Roe vs Wade. It's a slippery slope. If he's successful what's next, we can't own property? Have a credit card in our own name? Can't get a bank loan without a husband's/brother's/male family member's signature? That's how it was prior to the 60s. Women, the economy is tied to our rights. We, most often, are the ones who raise the children and often as a single mother and are out working our butts off to do so.
Does anyone else see the amazing hypocrisy in this? Ryan complains because the government is allegedly interferring in a religious issue by allowing any woman to obtain contraceptives. But he is perfectly happy for the government to interfere with the right of a woman to make her own decision about having an abortion. Indeed, he wants to use the government to force the dictates of a particular relgiion on all Americans.
Wow. All this kerfuffle over a statement about Judeo-Christian values? Now, what are those, exactly? Love your neighbor, don't lie, don't commit adultery, don't kill, etc. Now, agree with Romney/Ryan or not, but how are those values offensive? Or are you offended that Ryan (GASP!) carries a rosary and (GASP!) prays?
No, we're offended just as Christ was by the hypocrisy of the statement. Look it up in your Bible, if you have one. He used the word 'hypocrite' about 5 dozen times and, suprise, it wasn't a compliment.
Jesus expelled the Bankers from the temples. Romney wants to reunite the bakers with the temples.
Sounds like the Antichrist to me.
The very fact that Obama wont address the Libya,Benghazi cover-up, and by his own words saying there's no need to talk about it before the election (like that is an answer) is proof that he is dirty,And his followers don't even want to know the truth of a set-up,murder and cover-up of a ambassador that dared to disagree with him and his policy's
The official story surrounding the events of September 11, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya which left four Americans dead, has now officially fallen apart.
After numerous flips and flops by the Obama administration, which originally attempted to paint the incident as a Muslim outcry over an anti-Islamic video, whistle blowers throughout the U.S. government, including within the White House, the State Department, national intelligence agencies and the U.S.military have made available stunning details that suggest not only did operational commanders have live visual and audio communications from drones overhead and intelligence assets on the ground, but that some commanders within the military were prepared to go-it-alone after being told to "stand down."
Africom commanding officer U.S. General Carter Ham, after being ordered to essentially surrender control of the situation to alleged Al Queda terrorists and let Americans on the ground die, made the unilateral decision to ignore orders from the Secretary of Defense and activated special operations teams at his disposal for immediate deployment to the area.(if the general had not intervened' there would be 34 dead Americans and not just 4---And now Obama has the U.S. General Arrested for Activating Special Forces Teams; Ignoring Libya Stand-Down Order. (Obama does not like the real light to be shined on him,HuH!)
Either this article is factually incorrect (it misquotes Rep. Ryan), OR Rep. Ryan doesn't understand his own religion. Specifically, the article says that... "Ryan also noted he received an email from his pastor in Janesville, Wis. tonight..."
Mr. Ryan is a Catholic. Catholics don't have pastors, they have priests. A good practicing Catholic would never use the word "pastor". Instead he would say, "I got an e-mail from my priest."
This worries me. Is Mr. Ryan so out of touch with his own church that he doesn't know the basic hierarchy of its structure? Scary. ... and hypocritical, since he's making a religious argument.
Author,
That is untrue the priest in charge of the parish is the pastor. In most Catholic churches the confessional used by the pastor is marked pastor. In fact Mr Ryan knows damn little about his religion choosing to ignore the compendium of Social Doctrines and opinions of most of the Catholic clergy.
jkh
His rosary is tainted with hypocrisy!
Really Ryan? You're going to double down on the Christ speak? I'm a purple voter and what sends me running screaming to the hills AWAY from the Republican party is all the theocrat rhetoric. Every purple voting friend I have were all turned off more by Republican gay hating, lets dictate to women what they should do, bible thumping than we were turned off by Obama's economics, not that we're fans of the Dem approach to the economy but the ultra right religious rhetoric of the Republican party scares us more.
I truly weep for the Republican party if they can't learn to back away from their religious fringe.
How do people as dense and misguided as Ryan and as stupid as Trump even survive into adulthood?
The United states always has always will be secular. THATS WHY OBAMA WON CAUSE IDIOT RYAN TYPES TRY TO TREAD ON OTHER RELIGIONS AND LIFE STYLES.
Yep, you are exactly right. They (the repulican'ts) will never understand what it means to be an all inclusive party. They only know how to exclude and disenfranchise people.
You both cannot see further than your noses. Obama won because of a number of things not excluding criminal voter fraud, The republican party was created around the fact it was necessary to help society but based on putting everyone to work not giving everything to possess the soul as the democrat party has done with it's great social programs, Ask Europe about how their social programs are working or even better read the new paper, almost all of Europe is broke, you know falling off the fiscal cliff..........
Obviously, Ryan didn't get the memo that he and Romney lost the election and that he/they are both irrelevant. He needs to go and get a real job and shut the hell up.
There is a huge misconception about helping the disadvantaged, it doesn't start with government, government cannot help it self let alone the poor, this has traditionallybeen the position of private organizations with the aid of donations from the public and business. Our government has entered the aid business cause it gets votes, give people free stuff and your party gets votes, it does nothing to permanently help the people who need it. Welfare is now so lucrativethose on it can't leave it as it's too hard to find private sector jobs that pay as well, food stamps, many make a good living selling them on the black market, end result is the same as welfare, your hooked, kinda like a social drug, government keeps you there in exchange for your vote. We can call it what you want but if history is any indicator of things to come most people today will go on to experience the Europe model of social democracy and many will live to regret it. We had the best existing system but somewhere we forgot the best is somewhat expensive and if it's free we soon regard it as useless. We have become the modern Rome, it's falling as Obama fiddles.
Are these PIGS for real????. Please, "JUDEO-CHRISTIANS" Is this where the DEVIL is HIDING among the Christians.
Is this LY'AN RYAN the EVIL DOERS of this NATION who is spewing out MORE HATRED and He wants to WARN RELIGION for all His and the GOP/TEA party FAILURES with "WHAT IDEOLOGIES" may I ask folks????
It sounds like DEVIL IDEOLOGIES, Is JUDEO-CHRISTIANS use LIES, HURT HUMANS, PROFIT, DISCRIMINATE, BIGOT,CORRUPT, GREED, STEEL, PROMOTE THIEVES (DE-REGULATIONS) ETC, ETC??????
How PATHETIC, and IRRESPONSIBLE can these turds get !!!
How'd that work for you, Paulie?