Texas Faith: What is America’s common creed and how do we forge it together?

President Obama is one of the best communicators that there is. I am writing a full blown article on how I felt through the inauguration and I am sure some of you can relate with it. However, in this piece at Dallas Morning News, it is about his masterful skills in building bridges between the entrepreneurial individualism of Republicans and Communalism of Democrats. This is our moment in history, and we have to leave a legacy of peace, prosperity and harmony to the next generation.

Published at Dallas Morning News, Monday, January 21, 2013.
Continued at: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/01/texas-faith-what-is-americas-common.html

Texas Faith is a weekly column at Dallas Morning News moderated by Bill McKenzie and Wayne Slater. At least ten panelists contribute each week including Mike Ghouse.

Throughout his inaugural address today, President Barack Obama emphasized our common creed, we the people and taking action together. In short, his speech was heavy on the communal aspects of our work as Americans. His address contrasts with the individualism you often hear from Republicans. They regularly emphasize enterprenurialism, personal initiative and the power of local communities. So, here is the question I would like you to consider: What is America’s common creed and how do we forge it together?


MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

President Obama is one of the greatest communicators in our modern history. Perhaps he is the first president to have articulated America’s common creed profoundly, clearly and comprehensively as envisioned in the immortal declaration by our Founding Fathers: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

The success of an individual hinges on the success of others around him or her. You cannot build a successful business without the support system and consumers for your goods and services. The president said, “We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class.”

Indeed, the entrepreneurialism of Republicans will bear fruit and multiply when there is an environment for it. It is not a charity, welfare or a noble thing. Instead, it is a genuine investment in human capital that pulls up men and women from the ditches onto a level playing field. That effort allows more people to compete in the marketplace for resources and become “synergists” to each others’ success.

He also articulated the need to be free and to be regulated: “Together we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.”

The president turned the light on a bridge between individualism and the communal aspect of our life. The bridge was always there but had remained in the dark due to the chasm developed through arrogance of bigger majority in the house by each party in the last eight years. Instead of serving the purpose they were elected for their purpose became defeating the other for some.

The message of the president was for all Americans. I hope the elected ones will heed his wisdom and continue to be a catalyst in the pursuit of our happiness.

And here comes the ultimate wisdom from the president: We have always understood that when times change, so must we, that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges, that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.”..... ..

Eleven panelists contributed to this forum, to read the contributions from all the panelists, please visit - http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/texas-faith-what-is-americas-common-creed-and-how-do-we-forge-it-together.html/

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place and standing up for others as an activist. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.

Texas Faith: President Obama’s Inaugural benediction and Pastor Giglio

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S INAUGURAL BENEDICTION AND PASTOR GIGLIOShould the pastor who once gave anti-gay marriage sermon been removed from Obama’s inaugural? Published in Dallas Morning News on 01/15/2013

Although the inaugural benediction may be a small ritual, it has the power to set the inclusive tone for the nation. One of the many roles of a president is to shape and nurture the direction of the nation, and president Obama has been a good shepherd. Indeed, he is committed to building an America, where each one of us becomes a catalyst to the other, and eventually, each strand in the web of our society will coalesce in building our nation to function cohesively. The president’s wisdom is crystal clear, “We rise and fall together as one nation.”Continue - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/01/texas-faith-president-obamas-inaugural.html

Texas Faith is a weekly column at Dallas Morning News moderated by Bill McKenzie and Wayne Slater. At least ten panelists contribute each week including Mike Ghouse.

By inviting religious conservatives to be part of a broad faith-based community, Obama seemed to be saying that while we don’t agree on everything, there are areas of common ground that Americans can share. Giglio was picked because of his work against human trafficking. Obama can have whomever he wants at his inauguration – but what if he had kept Giglio on the program and showcased the broad diversity of our faith? Would that have been a strong message about bridging the religious divide in our politics?

Which invites this question: In removing Giglio from the program, did the Obama inaugural do the right thing? What good comes from his absence? And what good — or bad– would have come had Giglio stayed on to deliver the benediction?

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

One of the many roles of a president is to shape and nurture the direction of the nation, and president Obama has been a good shepherd. Indeed, he is committed to building an America, where each one of us becomes a catalyst to the other, and eventually, each strand in the web of our society will coalesce in building our nation to function cohesively. The president’s wisdom is crystal clear, “We rise and fall together as one nation.”

Reverend Giglio’s withdrawal from delivering the benediction was the right thing to do, although it may be a small ritual, it has the power to set the inclusive tone for the nation.

We are yet to be truthful to our own pledge that we take, that we are, “one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. Our benediction should strongly reflect the sentiment of oneness of our nation under God, and shed our hypocrisies of excluding fellow Americans even in our prayers.

Our nation has come a long way in fulfilling our immortal declaration, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Indeed, it was the consent of an overwhelming majority of Gays and Lesbians, Native and African Americans, women and men, Hindus and Muslims, Atheists and Wicca, Hispanics and Pagans, and others that the president derives his powers from, and he has the mandate to shape an inclusive America. Rev. Giglio’s comment about Gays and Lesbians was anathema to such a mandate, and his withdrawal bodes well in nurturing the inclusiveness.

However, had Giglio stayed on to deliver his benediction, representing his exclusive tradition, it would have sent negative vibes of betrayal to the very people who gave their overwhelming supported to bring the change.

On the positive note, we would have learned to live with our differences; that is our tradition. As long as it did not mean to impose our religious views on others, it would have done some good to the nation, including an exclusive individual to deliver the benediction would have added another feather in Obama’s hat of pluralism.

I am composing an ideal benediction for President Obama’s second term, and would be available at the WWW.FoundationforPluralism.com by Friday.

Ten panelists contributed to this forum, to read the full intro and the contributions from the panelists, please visit - http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2013/01/texas-faith-should-the-pastor-who-once-gave-anti-gay-marriage-sermon-been-removed-from-obamas-inaugural.html/

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place and standing up for others as an activist. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.