Obama: The West vs. Islam or is it Christian vs. Middle East???

Last week, I found it interesting, yet disturbing to read all of the events surrounding President Obama's trip to the Middle East... Before jumping to any conclusions, let me explain what I mean.

One of the things that perplexed me was how our President made such an effort to praise the Muslim cultures, yet seemingly belittle our own nation's Christian heritage. I do understand that this speech was delivered from within the Muslim epicenter of the world, but there simply was no mention of the relevance of Christianity to our Western culture...

After reviewing the transcript of his Cairo speech on June 4, 2009, I could not help but see the numerous comparisons between "Islam and America". But this is comparing a religion with a country. Shouldn't we be comparing "Islam with Christianity"? or "The Middle East" with "America"? To compare a religion with a geographic region is seemingly condoning one and weakening the other...

The rhetoric from the speech praised the Muslim culture and did little to even acknowledge the Christian culture that has defined our nation of Americans. A strong case can be made after reviewing the speech that the President went so far as to dismiss any relevance of Christianity within today's American culture! That is the same as dismissing the majority of American citizens and voters!

Just to cite the facts, during this Cairo speech President Obama mentioned the words:
. - "Christian" a total of 6 times
. - "Islam" and "Muslim" a total of 69 times

In short, the President seemed to explain that the differences we (American's) experience with the Middle East were one between "the West" and the "Islamic Culture"... but isn't that the same as a "Christian Culture" and "Islamic Culture"? The President's speech certainly went to the extreme of belittling our own American culture and heritage in order to praise and elevate the Middle Eastern culture.

The thing that made me look twice at the speech was the glorification of Thomas Jefferson (one of our founding fathers) and the fact that he kept a "Holy Koran" on his bookshelf. I also have read the Holy Koran, with a focus on understanding and learning about Islam. The reality is that America was in large part founded upon a Christian worldview, which is still a significant (though weakening) part of our culture today.

Following is a link to a commentary that I read, which really got me thinking. That is why I also wanted to share some thoughts here. Please share your thoughts!!!

Link: DE SENO: Obama’s Christian-Muslim Double Standard: Our First