President Barack Obama's recent appointment of Harry Knox to his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships adds another redundant nail to the coffin of the irresponsible myth that he is a bipartisan unifier.
In light of the daily outpouring of evidence, one wonders whether our "moderate" Republican Obama apologists will ever admit their error in willingly suspending their disbelief in Obama's radical leftism all because of what Michael Gerson refers to as "his moderate instincts and conciliatory temperament."
Perhaps Obama's appointment of Harold Koh as legal adviser to the State Department despite Koh's unapologetic belief that American courts should sometimes refer to foreign law in interpreting our Constitution doesn't bother you. Or even his selection of Indiana law professor Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel despite her taking such positions (in a Supreme Court brief, no less) that pregnancy can be comparable to involuntary servitude.
How many in-your-face radical leftist appointments must Obama make before some realize this apparently conciliatory man is indeed a polarizing radical?
Let's just look at the Knox appointment. Former President George W. Bush originally established the faith-based program, wisely or not, to help faith-based groups participate in the public square.
Many were delighted when Obama decided to continue with the program. But with the Knox appointment and other similar ones, we have to question whether Obama is shifting the focus of the group while retaining its innocuous-sounding name. Obama has been stacking the 25-member board with like-minded leftists inclined to allocate its funds to liberal, secular causes.
Knox is the militant homosexual activist who, just last month, called Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops "discredited leaders" for opposing same-sex marriage. He said the Knights of Columbus are "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression" because they supported California's Proposition 8 ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
When CNS News questioned Knox on his attacks, he refused to back down, saying he "absolutely" stands by his criticisms. "The pope needs to start telling the truth about condom use," he added.
Knox also denounced the teachings of the apostle Paul as "not true." "Paul," said Knox, "did not have any idea of the kind of love that I feel for a partner when I am partnered. … The straight man, the heterosexual man who got the privilege of writing the book, the educated, rich heterosexual man, Paul … didn't think it was natural because for him it must not have been."
When appointed, Knox said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community "will support the president in living up to his promise that government has no place in funding bigotry against any group of people."
Sounds harmless enough on its face until you understand that Knox and the LGBT community consider the failure to support the judiciary's thwarting of the people's democratic will to define marriage as heterosexual in character to be bigotry.
Are we wrong to assume that Knox and others on the council will blacklist for funding any faith-based groups that oppose same-sex marriage? That's certainly been the MO of the LGBT community in the past, as they have systematically demonized the Boy Scouts and anyone remotely associated with them. It seems that Knox and his ilk are more likely than any faith-based groups he condemns to practice bigotry or discrimination.
If you think Obama has appointed Knox just to balance the group, then consider other members of the council, such as the Rev. Otis Moss Jr., Rabbi David Saperstein and the Rev. Jim Wallis.
Moss is the father of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's replacement at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, the Rev. Otis Moss III. Moss Jr. once noted that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas "is like seeing your brother set your house on fire with laughter while your parents and brothers and sisters are in the house." And, "When we think of Jamestown, we must think of the triple holocaust that came out of Jamestown," the "African holocaust, the Native American holocaust and the African-American holocaust."
Rabbi Saperstein condemned the U.S. Supreme Court for upholding the federal ban on partial-birth abortion, saying it was an injustice to take medical decisions out of the hands of women and their doctors. He recently faulted the United States for refusing to support the United Nations' declaration affirming human rights for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Let's just see how long it takes before this "faith-based" council begins funneling its federal monies to leftist groups such as Planned Parenthood, whose only claim to faith is in its fidelity to the "sacrament" of abortion.
