A President for Everyone

8 Thoughts About the Election of Barack Obama #8

There's one line that Barack Obama spoke during his speech that was shocking in the current political environment. He said ...

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers.

The express acknowledgment that "non-believers" have a part to play in the "patchwork heritage" of our nation shouldn't be shocking, but to my ears, it was.

We are inundated with talk about how religion is threatened in our country. We are told there is a war against Christianity. We are told that religious values are threatened. It's all hokum. Atheists have no voice in our country, no representation.

Obama is a big tent President in every since of the word. For the first time in memory, a prominent American politician has acknowledged that atheists, agnostics and the generally non-religious play as large a role in our country as people of faith do. Barack Obama is truly a President for all Americans.